Business services are a broad category of activities that help businesses but do not produce a tangible commodity. They can include professional services like legal advice or insurance consulting, as well as information technology and other support functions. Business services can also be a way for companies to outsource noncore tasks so they can focus on their primary goal of making a profit.
Services are not as tangible as products, so they can’t be stored and used again later, unlike physical goods that can be shipped from one location to another. This makes it more difficult to control quality, which is critical for business services because a single bad experience can have a major impact on customers’ willingness to use the service again or recommend it to others.
A variety of factors can influence the quality of a service, from the efficiency of a delivery company to the speed at which a customer gets served by a fast-food worker. This can create unique challenges for managers in a service company, where employees are directly involved in operational processes. Employees’ individual attitudes and behaviors can also affect the quality of service they provide, such as when a rude employee can make a customer feel uncomfortable or when a slow employee makes it harder for other workers to serve other customers quickly.
A good business service aligns IT infrastructure processes with the needs of an organization’s employees and customers and supports its ability to be profitable. For example, a service can ensure that IT support staff are available to answer questions when employees need them, and it can also document how IT services are performing based on business metrics.