Business services provide support functions to help a company operate efficiently and effectively. They include administrative, financial, marketing and legal services, and also may encompass security, travel arrangement, cleaning or waste disposal services. Major companies in this sector include payroll service providers (such as ADP, Allegis Group and ManpowerGroup) and staffing agencies (such as Adecco), security firms, temporary work agencies and notary services.

In the US, the industry includes around 420,000 establishments (including single-location businesses and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual sales of about $950 billion. The industry employs about 3.3 million people. Work-related fatalities and injuries reported in the industry totaled about 170 per 100,000 full-time employees in 2015.

Success in this sector depends on effectively combining four key elements: providing value to customers; developing an attractive market offering; building sustainable competitive advantage; and managing customer participation. Firms need to provide value that is differentiated from the competition and be capable of delivering it at an attractive price. They need to develop a market offer that provides clear benefits to customers, including cost reductions, increased productivity and more effective management of resources. They need to build a sustainable competitive advantage by using the unique skills, knowledge and experience of their personnel and investing in technology that supports these activities. And they need to manage customers as participants in the production process, since they can have a significant impact on costs and quality. Business services mapping helps enterprises gain visibility into their service offerings across hybrid infrastructure, and understand how they interconnect with other business processes and applications.