Business services are intangible goods that are sold to businesses rather than individuals. They include everything from consulting and accounting to cleaning, repair, travel and maintenance. They also include utilities, technology, management and professional services and a range of other support functions.

There is significant untapped potential in the sector. However, it is challenged by relatively low average productivity and persisting legal barriers across the EU Internal Market. Recent policy actions aim to remove these barriers and stimulate competitiveness.

Unlike products, business services cannot be stored like inventory and delivered to customers at a later date. They must be produced and consumed at the same time, in order to meet demand and expectations at that exact moment. This has a major impact on costs, which must be kept under control.

As a result, leading firms are now consolidating their support services into shared service models. This enables them to achieve greater efficiency, cost savings and better service delivery across multiple business units. These models can also drive alignment and collaboration between businesses, enabling them to act as a single enterprise organization or network and deliver predictive insights at unparalleled speed.

Some examples of business services are a security firm providing guards to a business, a temporary work agency and a notary. Other common examples are computing services such as a cloud infrastructure platform, telecommunications and internet connection, management services such as a facility management service or software development services such as an IT consultancy for a company’s sales automation system.