back office - technical definition

Refers to systems that do not deal directly with the customer such as inventory management and accounts payable. Contrast with front office. See back office application. See also BackOffice.

An earlier suite of network server software products from Microsoft that was licensed and supported as one inclusive bundle. The suite was discontinued in late 2001, but some of the underlying products and their client access licenses (CALs) remained as stand-alone products. BackOffice included Windows NT Server, SQL Server, Systems Management Server (SMS), SNA Server and Mail Server.