Websites and back offices, by industry

Every business here gets the same two things from one description: the website its customers use, and the back office it is run from. What changes between them is the work in the middle.

Pick the one closest to your business. Each page lists the tools that come switched on for it, and what the back office does with them.

Businesses that sell booked time

The work is a slot in a diary. The website takes the booking, and the back office holds the customer, the staff member and what was done last time.

Businesses that quote for a job

The work starts as a request with no price on it. The website collects the request, and the back office turns it into an estimate, a schedule and an invoice.

Businesses that sell from a catalogue

There is a list of things and an order against it. The website sells, and the back office keeps the stock, the orders and what goes out of the door.

Businesses that take on clients

The first conversation is the product. The website qualifies the enquiry, and the back office keeps the client, the documents and the work done for them.

Businesses that put something in front of an audience

The website is the shop window. Something is listed — a property, a platform, a candidate — and the back office keeps what each visitor did about it.

Not listed? The platform is not restricted to these. They are the industries with a page of their own, because the tools they start with are already decided. Everything else starts from the same place — what it builds and what it costs.