Business services are the activities that assist a business but do not deliver a tangible commodity. Examples of business services include IT support, procurement and shipping.
Businesses have many needs for a variety of services. They need advertising and marketing, customer service, logistics (including travel and facilities), waste handling, staffing services, shipping, administration and security.
The business services industry is a major sector in all countries. These businesses provide services to other businesses and also to end consumers, both domestically and internationally.
Business-to-business services help other businesses achieve a goal that they would not have been able to accomplish independently, such as building new offices or upgrading their technology infrastructure. Business-to-consumer services, on the other hand, help individual customers achieve a goal that they would not have achieved on their own due to lack of expertise or training.
Typically, these business services are delivered as part of an organization’s core services. However, organizations can also consolidate business services into dedicated service delivery groups to better meet the needs of the entire organization.
A dedicated service delivery group allows an organization to focus on its strategic-based internal goals and hire an external workforce to carry out tasks that require specific expertise. This arrangement can reduce costs and provide employees with opportunities for career development.
Unlike product businesses, service companies are primarily concerned with building and managing systems that deliver value to their customers. The quality of the system and the quality of the service are primarily determined by the customer. This is why service pricing is generally based on value rather than cost.