Front and back office application

A front office application is any software that has a direct relation to customers. In turn, a back office application has no such direct relation.

Examples

The software enabling the customer to order a product from a company is considered a front office application. If a salesperson is typing the order into the application, it is still considered a front office application even though the customer is not directly interacting with the software.

If the company uses different software to order the product from a manufacturer, it is considered a back office application.

If a single application handles an order from customers and sends orders to manufacturers, it would be considered both a front office and back office application.