Managed back office · outsource admin and IT together · small business Australia
Managed back office: one team for your IT and the admin around it.
Once someone already runs your IT, phones and email, the line between IT and admin gets thin. Booking systems, invoice reminders, a new hire's logins on day one. A lot of the busywork drowning a small team sits exactly on that line, and it can be handed to the provider who already knows your systems.
Most of your admin is actually a systems problem.
Here's the short version, then the detail.
Your booking system is software. Your invoicing is software. Setting up a new starter's email, calendar and logins is software. When those jobs land on the owner at 9pm, it's rarely because they're hard. It's because nobody owns the machinery underneath them.
We already run that machinery. If we manage your IT, your email and your phones, handing over the admin that lives inside them isn't a leap. It's the same systems, looked after by the same people, with one more layer of busywork off your plate. Here's what can genuinely be bundled.
- Reception and scheduling, the systems side. Booking systems that fill the calendar without phone tag, shared calendars the whole team can actually see, and call routing and overflow so a missed call lands somewhere useful. It all runs on the same business phone system we already manage.
- Document and process plumbing. Quote and letter templates, e-signing that clients actually complete, onboarding forms that file themselves into the right folder, and shared drives arranged so people can find things without asking you.
- Invoicing and bookkeeping systems. The software side only: setup, integrations and automation, so invoices go out on time and reminders chase themselves. Your accountant stays your accountant. We make the tools work; the advice and the numbers stay with them.
- Routine digital admin. Directory and listing updates, mailboxes and logins created when someone starts and shut down properly when they leave, and licence housekeeping so you stop paying for seats nobody uses.
One provider beats five logins and three subscriptions.
Most small businesses don't have an admin problem. They have an ownership problem: five systems, five logins, three subscriptions, and nobody responsible for how any of it hangs together.
We already know your systems
Your email, files, phones and security are already ours to run. Adding the booking flow or the invoice automation on top isn't a new project with a new vendor. It's the same machinery, extended.
One place to call
When the booking form stops emailing or a new starter can't log in, you don't referee three suppliers blaming each other. You contact us. Whichever piece broke, it's our job.
Changes stop slipping through
Someone leaves, and their mailbox, logins, licences and calendar access get handled in one pass. Not discovered six months later as a security hole and a subscription you were still paying for.
What we don't touch.
Naming the line clearly is what makes this work. We build and run the systems. The professional judgement stays with the professionals.
- Payroll decisions. We'll make sure the payroll software connects to the right systems and that new starters appear in it. What people are paid, awards and entitlements are calls for you and your accountant or bookkeeper, not for us.
- Legal. We'll set up the e-signing and keep the templates tidy so contracts go out and come back signed. What the contract actually says belongs to your solicitor.
- Tax and accounting advice. We connect and automate the software your bookkeeper and accountant work in. BAS, deductions and the numbers themselves stay with them. Nothing we do replaces professional advice, and we won't pretend otherwise.
Scoped to what you actually hand over.
There's no rate card on this page because the honest answer is that no two bundles match. A firm that wants bookings and calendars sorted is a different job to one handing over invoicing systems, document plumbing and every staff change. We look at what's actually eating your week, scope it, and give you a monthly figure. Month to month, no lock-in.
The comparison that matters isn't our fee against zero. It's our fee against the owner doing admin at 9pm, or the part-time admin hire you keep putting off. And if a piece of the bundle stops being worth paying for, we'll say so and drop it from the scope.
Good to know
What is a managed back office in plain English?
It's the systems side of your admin, set up and run by the same provider that manages your IT. Booking systems, shared calendars, invoicing software, document templates, staff logins. You keep making the decisions. We keep the machinery underneath them working.
Is this the same as hiring a virtual assistant?
No. A virtual assistant does tasks inside your systems. We build and run the systems themselves, so there are fewer tasks to do in the first place. Invoices that chase themselves need nobody to chase them. Plenty of businesses fix the systems first and find the task pile shrinks on its own.
Do you do our bookkeeping, BAS or payroll?
No, and we're upfront about that line. We set up, connect and automate the software your bookkeeper and accountant work in. The numbers, the advice, BAS and payroll decisions stay with them. Your accountant stays your accountant.
What does a managed back office cost?
It's a monthly figure scoped to what you actually hand over. Bookings and calendars only is a smaller job than invoicing systems, document plumbing and staff changes together. We look at what's eating your week, scope it and quote it. Month to month, no lock-in.
We already have an office manager. Is this still worth it?
Sometimes. The sweet spot is 2 to 20 person firms where admin lands on the owner because there's no office manager to catch it. If you have one, we sit underneath them and fix the systems they wrestle with daily, which usually gives you back a chunk of their week.
Can we start with just one thing?
Yes, and most do. Pick the thing hurting most, usually bookings or invoice chasing, and hand that over first. Once it's running, add the next. There's no minimum bundle and no lock-in, so starting small costs you nothing.