AI in the Back Office: 12 Months to 20% SG&A Efficiency

Real Estate • ~7–9 min read • Published Mar 1, 2025

Most back offices run on heroic effort and swivel-chair workflows. The fastest cost wins come from standardizing decisions, instrumenting processes, and letting AI handle the repetitive high-volume work—with control by design.

Why this matters now

SG&A inflation, hiring constraints, and quality expectations are colliding. Many enterprises have piloted task-level AI but haven’t reorganized work to capture durable savings or risk controls. The opportunity is to build a small number of shared capabilities that power dozens of use cases across functions.

Our point of view

Back-office AI works when you treat it like a portfolio, not scattered bots. Three design rules:

  1. Standardize first: codify decision rules, SLAs, and exceptions before you automate.
  2. Platform over point tools: shared data connectors, doc intelligence, workflow, and human-in-the-loop.
  3. Govern by evidence: quarterly gates on value, quality, and risk metrics; retire what doesn’t earn its keep.

Evidence & examples

Finance

  • AP automation: invoice capture → 3-way match → exceptions; 50–70% cycle-time cut, DPO control.
  • Close acceleration: variance narratives, flux analysis drafts, and intercompany reconciliations.

HR

  • Case resolution copilots: policy Q&A, forms guidance, status lookups; reduce handle times.
  • Talent ops: scheduling, offer letters, background checks orchestration.

Procurement

  • Smart intake: classify demand, route to catalogs/contracts, enforce thresholds.
  • Contract insights: obligations, renewals, and price-increase flags.

Legal

  • Self-serve NDAs/SOWs: guided forms with risk-based clause controls.
  • E-discovery triage: classification and de-duplication with audit trails.

IT & Service

  • Tier-0 copilots: password, access, and device playbooks automated with safe escalation.
  • Knowledge mining: consolidate KB, ticket history, and change logs for faster MTTD/MTTR.

Implications & strategic actions

  • Stand up a Back-Office AI Platform (document AI, workflow, identity, audit, observability).
  • Define quality gates (accuracy, bias, explainability) and controls (approvals, retention).
  • Fund with quarterly tranches tied to realized savings and service outcomes.

12-month roadmap to results

  1. Months 0–2: Baseline & design. Map volumes, costs, and SLAs; choose 6–8 starter use cases.
  2. Months 3–5: Platform & pilots. Stand up connectors; launch AP, HR case, and IT Tier-0 pilots.
  3. Months 6–9: Scale & standardize. Expand to procurement intake, contract insights, and close acceleration.
  4. Months 10–12: Prove durability. Lock in policy, training, and run-state ownership; re-base budgets.

Closing

Sustained SG&A gains come from shared platforms, decision standards, and evidence-based funding. Start where volume and error-costs are highest, then scale with strong controls.

Thought Leadership by Dr. Dodi Mossafer, DBA

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