Virtual personal assistant – A Helping Hand For You

Virtual personal assistant – A Helping Hand For You

Being an entrepreneur is not like employment, it’s a 24X7 engagement where you have to have a 360-degree control over your activities. Needless to say, there’s very little respite given that you have to do core productive work as well as support functions of your business and then be a contributing member.

Enter the Virtual Personal Assistant who will complete a wide range of tasks as per your requirement. Having a virtual personal assistant is like having the luxury of having a Personal Assistant minus the exorbitant cost of having to hire one. 

Like every Virtual Assistant, even the Virtual Personal Assistant offers her services remotely from an offshore location. The difference is in the expertise of a Virtual Personal Assistant. While other Virtual Assistants offer services according to their area of expertise, the domain of the Virtual PA lies in accomplishing tasks more personal in nature and hence sometimes the Virtual PA is also called a helping hand of the entrepreneur.

Know What is a Virtual Assistant?

Let’s take a look at what the Virtual PA delivers.

  • Travel Management – Researching on travel options, locations, flights, hotels, etc. Going ahead with the actual bookings. Forming out well-planned itineraries. Obtaining necessary permits. Keeping you updated with your travel details and giving you timely updates all fall under the purview of managing your travel. 

  • Personal Research – We live in an online world, where a lot of online research generally takes place before we purchase something or even enroll ourselves or our children in schools or other institutions. A virtual personal assistant can handle all these online research for you and supply you with ready answers on all these topics.

  • Online Business Research – Like our personal lives, our professional lives too have come to depend a lot on online research. Your Virtual Personal Assistant can provide in-depth insights into your Competition, can keep tabs on upcoming opportunities in your field of business and even research on the most competent and preferred Service provider relevant to your business. This kind of research is highly invaluable and can prove to be a vital edge in running your business.

  • Planning events and parties – Event planning is a tiresome activity that may keep you or your employees away from productive office work. Virtual PAs can easily shoulder the responsibility of planning an official event like a conference or a seminar as well as a party for personal celebration. From researching the venue to available dates to decorations to all other things associated with planning a successful event you can be sure that the Virtual PA will come through.

Virtual PA’s responsibilities are not limited to the above tasks, but as pointed out they are adept at any task assigned to them. The Virtual PA’s from Abroad Assistants embodies the very spirit of efficient delivery. Each of our Virtual Personal Assistant has been selected through a rigorous selection process that vets them for confident virtual Personal Assistantality, flexibility and the willingness to go beyond the call of duty.

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4 Signs You Need a Virtual Assistant

4 Signs You Need a Virtual Assistant

While the awareness about Virtual Assistant Services is on the rise and businesses are realizing the potential benefit of hiring a Virtual Assistant. However, the adoption of Virtual Assistants is still through word-of-mouth or stumbling upon such services.

While entrepreneurs are aware that Virtual Assistant Services are provided by experts from a remote location and their associated benefits, more often than not they think that it is not for them.

The ideal scenario would be when businesses and entrepreneurs understand the position of their company and make an informed decision about the right time to avail Virtual Assistant Services. Here are 4 common signs which tell you that the time is right to avail of the services of a Virtual Assistant.

You are scaling up rapidly – Companies in the rapid growth phase find it difficult to scale up their teams at the same pace. As a result, some business function or the other suffers. At this point, the entrepreneur spends their time simply managing a hygiene level of service delivery until a proper team is in place. If you are facing a similar situation, this is a sign that you need Virtual Assistant Services.

Your costs are escalating disproportionately – Businesses undergo phases of escalated costs some time or the other. This may be due to a variety of reasons ranging from capital expenses to employee-related expenses and sometimes losses. The need of the hour is to reign in costs without compromising on the quality of services. Enter the Virtual Assistant Services which are cost economical as compared to in-office employees due to the simple reason that there are no hiring, training or retention costs involved.

You plan to diversify – If you are planning to offer a completely new service to your clients, then it may be a good idea to try out delivering the service through Virtual Assistant Services on a pilot basis. The idea is to simply gauge the response from your consumers before committing any investments to that service. Also, since the Virtual Assistant is a highly experienced and qualified resource you are assured of a strong performance from day 1.

You are a start-up – If you are the promoter of a Start-up you very well understand the importance of hiring the best resources for your business while keeping the costs at a manageable level. No matter if you are a well-funded start-up or a bootstrapped one it’s always a question of finding the most productive resource for the company. The good news is that with Virtual Assistant Services start-ups can get the best of both worlds. World-class qualified experts with years of experience at economical costs.

If you find yourself facing one or more of the above signs then its time to lookout for a good agency providing Virtual Assistant Services. Abroad Assistant offers a wide range of business solutions and virtual assistant services to individual clients and small businesses across the world. It is trusted because of stringent hiring protocols of professional experts as well as its no-compromise attitude on confidentiality and privacy. Focus on the important priorities of business while Virtual Assistants handle other tasks for you.

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Why to Outsource Email Management to a Virtual Assistant?

Why to Outsource Email Management to a Virtual Assistant?

Have you ever noticed that a very large proportion of working hours goes into email correspondences? The time that should ideally be spent on focusing on business growth and developmental activities ends up going into the black hole of email communications.

According to research, a person on average spends over five and a half hours a day checking and responding to emails. Email is the most essential part of a business and the most preferred way of business communication compared to chat, phone call and text messages. So what’s ideally the biggest business enabler is ironically the biggest guzzler of time and productivity. And the significance of emails is expected to only increase in the days to come.

In today’s connected world, a quick response to an email is expected and appreciated by business associates as well as customers. However, handling emails 24X7 is not easy. A virtual assistant can help respond to your customers’ emails almost immediately, increasing your business’ engagement with them. Here are a few reasons why you should consider outsourcing your email management to a Virtual Assistant.

Organized – Most of our email inboxes are chaotic and cluttered beyond recognition. With more than a dozen subscriptions emails on an average the chances of missing out on crucial emails are very high. Sometimes these emails may mean a missed business opportunity or worse may have serious legal implications. If you don’t have the time to get your inbox under control, a virtual assistant will organize it for you. The assistant will unsubscribe from irrelevant emails, opt out of others, delete unnecessary ones and may even create separate folders for each email head.

Cost-effective – Email Management Virtual Assistants are generally available at the affordable end of the spectrum. Investing in an Email Management Virtual Assistant will turn out to be one of the most prudent business investments.

Email deaddiction – A 2014 research shows that a person checks her email on an average of 15 times a day. That’s once every half an hour. If you are one of those people who checks your email every half an hour or less then you should consider outsourcing your emails. As it will not only reduce unwanted stress but also prime your brain to work on productive issues at hand.

Deal with disturbance – With an avalanche of spam and unsolicited emails hitting our inboxes every day. The incessant pings can be irritating. Also, every new email comes with the expectation of engaging us meaningfully. But 80% of emails are unwanted which takes us away from our work. Outsourcing email management can leave you dealing with your emails for a maximum of 4 times in a day. This has shown to exponentially increase the productivity of the brain.

Email Management Virtual Assistant from Abroad Assistants use software with advanced algorithms to intelligently sift through your emails and automate a big chunk of them according to the guidelines provided by you. It’s time to feel lighter and more productive with Abroad Assistants by your side.

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What does a Virtual Personal Assistant do to lower your workload?

What does a Virtual Personal Assistant do to lower your workload?

Entrepreneurs and businesses that have a laser focus on their defined objectives generally want someone reliable who can handle non-core business functions. Once free from work which doesn’t contribute directly to the bottom line, entrepreneurs can then direct their energies towards their profitability and strengthening their brand. Virtual Personal Assistant have emerged as the best ways to do so.

So how do Virtual Personal Assistant prove to be useful? You could reason that hiring a Virtual Assistant for other specialized tasks could still add to your company’s profitability, but how could a Virtual Personal Assistant do that? Here’s a look at some reasons that will tell you the importance of Virtual Personal Assistant and how they can lower your workload.

  • Ease your travel – With a Virtual Personal Assistant by your side all the tedious parts of traveling like researching travel options, locations, flights, hotels, etc. are taken care of. So is doing the actual bookings and chalking out interesting itineraries. A virtual Personal Assistant can do this for both your personal and professional life so that you travel in style.

  • Researching on the WWW – We live in an online world, where a lot of online research generally takes place before we purchase something or avail of any services. A virtual personal assistant can handle all these online researches for you efficiently with her knowledge and supply you with intelligent answers.

  • Providing Business Intelligence – Today businesses turn to the internet like never before to gather important information. Rather than scouring the net yourself, you can let your Virtual Personal Assistant do it. And you will be surprised by the information you get on your Competition, upcoming opportunities in your field of business and even competent and preferred Service providers.

  • Organizing events – Businesses and our personal lives are dotted with events. Although they last for a couple of hours, there’s intense preparation that goes behind the scenes for days or sometimes weeks on end. A Virtual Personal Assistant is an elegant solution for event planning. From researching the venue to available dates to decorations to all other things associated with planning a successful event you can be sure that the Virtual PA will come through.

These are just some of the ways a Virtual Personal Assistant can prove useful to you. The beauty of a Virtual Personal Assistant is that they are highly trained to complete a variety of tasks and go beyond a specific specialization.

Virtual PA’s responsibilities are not limited to the above tasks, but as pointed out they are adept at any task assigned to them. The Virtual PA’s from Abroad Assistants embodies the very spirit of efficient delivery. Each of our Virtual Personal Assistant has been selected through a rigorous selection process that vets them for confidentiality, flexibility and the willingness to go beyond the call of duty.

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Role of the Virtual Administrative Assistant

Role of the Virtual Administrative Assistant

Running a successful business is challenging. Not only does an entrepreneur have to ensure excellence in delivering the core proposition but also look after myriad functions ancillary to the existence of the company itself. That’s how an administrative department eventually crops up in every company. It is an important department that ensures that the company operates in its core area without any hiccups.

Many businesses are now waking up to the possibility of outsourcing their entire administrative function to Virtual Assistants. A virtual administrative assistant is actually a virtual assistant that provides administrative assistance to their clients remotely from an offshore office.

Having said that, let’s take a closer look at the tasks that come under the scope of services of a Virtual Administrative Assistant.

  • Booking appointments with clients

  • Performing basic follow-ups with your clients and customers

  • Calendar management

  • Answering support tickets with standard replies

  • Writing and sending invoices to your customers

  • Producing graphs from your spreadsheets

  • Setting up to-do-list reminders for you

  • Offering basic customer support

  • Managing accounts payable and accounts receivable

  • Managing your email inbox by responding to basic questions

  • Setting up meetings on your behalf

  • Ensuring the timely payment to vendors

  • Sending newsletters to your prospects and customers

  • Market research

  • Making professional travel arrangements

If the role of a Virtual Administrative Assistant were to be defined briefly it would be of a business enabler who takes over day-to-day office management in an efficient manner leaving you to focus on business and things that you love to do.

When you bring on board a Virtual Administrative Assistant, the resource not only provides seamless services to you from a remote location but also comes with a host of benefits. Some of them being –

  • Expertise – Virtual Administrative Assistant bring years of experience at managing a variety of routine office tasks. They are able to deliver a variety of tasks at a much faster speed due to their experience and proficiency. This leaves you with more time and headspace to focus on other important things.

  • Cost Savings – An in-house admin personnel is more expensive to a Virtual Admin Assistant due to investment in salary, workspace, other benefits, etc.

  • Automation – Once the Virtual Admin Assistant is explained rule-based tasks or handed over guidelines for handling tasks, you can be pretty much assured that the Assistant will deliver results with 100% accuracy time after time. Imagine the benefit to your business with such a resource by your side.

Virtual Administrative Assistant offered by Abroad Assistants are typically handpicked for their efficiency and proactive attitude. They have years of experience in handling most administrative tasks expected of them. Besides being adept at regular tasks, Abroad Assistants are open to delivering on tasks that are new and a result of the evolving workplace. After all, flexibility should be the hallmark of an administrative resource.

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Advantages of Hiring a Data Entry Virtual Assistant

Advantages of Hiring a Data Entry Virtual Assistant

Perhaps the job profile lowest in the pecking order in an organization is data entry. Also, it is the job which is the most important as it’s the foundation of all other data manipulation and analysis that follows. Any person in your business who updates records, enters information on new sales leads, logs billing information, creates user profiles, populates spreadsheets with data, keeps your CRM updated, scheduling, and enters payment or delivery information in the systems is performing Data Entry.

Since Data Entry is a very important cog in your business, it is imperative that it is performed on-time, every time and with zero errors. Here’s why hiring a Data Entry Virtual Assistant has a lot of benefits vs getting this done in-house.

  • Boost employee morale – It’s the duty of businesses to ensure the work satisfaction and career growth of employees in their organization. However, repetitive dull work can sag the spirits of the brightest of people. When a Data Entry Virtual Assistant handles the work, it frees up your staff to engage in meaningful work giving their work-life more meaning and enthusiasm.

  • Error-free work – Virtual Assistants are specialists. By the very definition of the word, they are trained, qualified and experienced in doing especially this work. The result is error-free work, which ultimately results in a boost to your business.

  • Cost savings – Data Entry Virtual Assistants are generally the low hanging fruit for any business. In a straight comparison, a Data Entry Virtual Assistant is always more cost economical than an in-office resource as it involves hiring and training costs as well as the costs of potential mistakes.

  • No downtime – Data Entry Virtual Assistant do not take a break. So even if you or your business is on a holiday, you can be assured that your work is being handled all the time to ensure that you have timely access to 100% accurate information. Hence, there’s no additional cost of absenteeism as well.

  • Lean organization – Needless to say that Data Entry being a huge task requires a dedicated team to do so. Which means additional layers of hierarchy. Imagine working through all that to get access to your data. With Virtual Assistants managing your data entry, your organization can be lean and flexible which means faster decision making and a nimble structure.

  • Beyond Data Entry – Virtual Assistants are going beyond the cursory entering of data into your systems. They can also analyze your data for you and generate basic reports, cleaning up the data, checking for accuracy thus making the data absolutely ready for consumption.

Abroad Assistant works to enhance your business profitability by helping you outsource repetitive yet crucial tasks like Data Entry. The Data Entry Virtual Assistant offered by Abroad Assistants are experts with years of experience and have time and again consistently demonstrated error-free work in record turn around times. The time has come to set your business free from the Data Entry function.

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Why Virtual Bookkeeping Service are Rapidly Adopted?

Why Virtual Bookkeeping Service are Rapidly Adopted?

Virtual Book keeping Services or Virtual Accounting is a new global trend where certified accountants offer their services remotely. Since the accounting activity doesn’t happen at your office, you save on the cost. Also, the accounting professional doesn’t travel to your office, so he can better utilize his time to service more businesses like yours.

The Virtual Bookkeeping function is exactly the same as a conventional Bookkeeping function performed in a company. However, it happens at a remote location. The difference doesn’t end here. Rather it just gets better after this. Here are the reasons why Virtual Bookkeeping Services are being rapidly adopted by companies.

  • Hit the ground running – Virtual Bookkeeping is performed by certified accountants with years of experience in local accounting laws and procedures. This way you don’t need to hire and train employees in your bookkeeping department.

  • Any time Reports – Generally Virtual Bookkeeping services offer dashboards or other means of instant access to your books. With just a few clicks you can access your financial reports and understand your financial positions. It saves businesses the cost of maintaining databases and books.

  • Flexible – Scaling up your Accounts department as the business grows can be expensive and difficult. The difficulty lies in finding the right resources. But Virtual Bookkeeping services are very flexible and can be scaled up within a day. They are also ideal for very small businesses that may need intermittent services.

  • Strategic Inputs – Virtual Book Keepers are equipped to provide strategic inputs like Job Costing and Unit Costing. A properly calculated value can actually enhance the profitability of a business. Businesses don’t have to rely on expensive consultants now.

  • Economical – Since every Virtual Accountant is telecommuting and is servicing more than 1 client, their charges come down significantly. This provides businesses with the double benefit of getting an economical yet highly experience resource.

  • Range of services – Virtual Bookkeeping covers the entire gamut of an Accountancy or Bookkeeping Department. Services include but are not limited to maintaining Simple Books of Accounts, Ledgers, Reconciliation, Bank Statements, Final Accounts, Management Accounting, Unit Accounting, Accounts Analysis, etc.

Around 2 decades ago, during the global outsourcing wave, payroll and taxation processes were outsourced to countries to earn cost arbitrage. This is certainly the logical progression of that initiative. In today’s connected world, businesses have the option to run a part of or the entire Bookkeeping function Virtually from any corner of the globe. Today businesses across the world are gradually moving on to this efficient, flexible, and cost-effective accounting practice as it allows them to focus on their core business.

Abroad Assistant provides specialized Virtual Bookkeeping Services with a focus on handling end-to-end operations. Abroad Assistant brings on board highly experienced and certified accounting professionals to handle all your Virtual Bookkeeping needs. The idea is to help clients focus on their core businesses and provide top class streamlined Virtual Bookkeeping services that help the bottom line of the clients.

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7 Minor Changes That’ll Make a Big Difference with your Virtual Assistant

7 Minor Changes That’ll Make a Big Difference with your Virtual Assistant

So you have hired a Virtual Assistant? Congratulations, you have demonstrated vision and acuity. But hiring a Virtual Assistant is not the end game. Rather it’s the beginning of an entirely new way of operating. Want to truly get your investment’s worth in a Virtual Assistant? Then try to incorporate these changes in your business processes. 

  1. Impart a sense of ownership –

    Let your Virtual Assistant feel invested in the tasks assigned to her. Since you will come to depend on your Virtual Assistant a lot more as the days go by, you should be able to completely trust her. For that, the person should feel responsible for the task at hand. If you successfully impart this feeling then be assured that the Virtual Assistant will stand shoulder to shoulder with you.

  2. Create rule-based jobs –

    Try and create rules and guidelines for most if not all the jobs handled by your Virtual Assistant. This way the assistant will need minimum training and will hit the ground running. Also, clearly defined rules mean lesser chances for mistakes or time spent on consulting with you for clarifications and directions.

  3. Notice proactiveness –

    Be on the lookout for proactive behavior displayed by your Virtual Assistant. Encourage your VA to look for ways to create work for himself. Be open to suggestions and improvements from your VA. Be sure to reward your VA when he displays proactive and productive behavior. This will ensure that your VA always works like your in-office employee.

  4. Hire with Parity –

    Always hire your Virtual Assistant the same way that you will hire your in-office employees. This way you will look beyond language expertise and technical skills. You will also look at the overall personality and cultural fit with your company. In the long run, this will pay rich dividends by way of continued loyalty and higher productivity.

  5. Gradually increase complexity –

    Virtual Assistants work remotely from your office location. Hence there is always room for a communication gap. This will eventually be smoothened out as you work more and more. Hence, start with simpler tasks and gradually increase the complexity. This will cut your losses if things go wrong.

  6. Invest in your Virtual Assistant –

    Most Virtual Assistants will be happy to finish the tasks at hand to the best of their abilities. However, to really make a difference with your VA, invest in them. Interact with them, mentor them to get their fire burning. An invested employee is a productive resource.

  7. Establish a healthy feedback mechanism –

    Create a two-way feedback channel early on in the relationship. When it’s safe for both of you to communicate with each other then the chances are that the work will be done right the first time around. Also, this will establish a healthy relationship in the long run. The Best Virtual Assistant Services help structure a feedback mechanism in case clients need assistance in that.

As with all work relationships, Virtual Assistants too need some working. But if handled correctly, VA can be a boon to your business and work life. Abroad Assistants is among the best Virtual Assistant Services in the market today as every resource is taken on board after evaluations of soft skills and trainability besides their technical expertise. We regularly train our resources to help them build strong bonds with clients while providing the highest level of productivity so that they make a difference to your business.

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7 Things About Virtual Assistant You May Not Have Known

7 Things About Virtual Assistant You May Not Have Known

In today’s competitive world an entrepreneur is focussed on expanding the business and increase revenue and hence left with very little time to handle tasks that are not at the core of the business. Fortunately, with the changing times, the way to conduct business has also undergone a sea change. That’s where a Virtual Assistant comes into the picture. A virtual assistant is an employee who works from a remote location. In fact, the best Virtual Assistant Services in the market provide a healthy combination of economy, specialisation and seamless operations. Let’s look at 7 things you may not have known about Virtual Assistant:-

Personal Assistant – Gone are the days of hiring an online personal assistant, a virtual assistant can be that and much more. Assisting you in taking over your core or non-core business activities, the virtual assistant can also help you plan a business trip or a holiday, schedule an appointment with a business associate and manage your calendar in an effective and productive manner.

Highly Skilled – Highly skilled and experienced resources are available as Virtual Assistants across a variety of specializations. Whether it is creating your website, or managing your finances, or looking after you Human Resource functions like payroll, or creating pro-level marketing presentations and other communication collaterals, you can literally choose a very specific function for which you can hire a virtual assistant.

Ideal for Start-Ups – Starting a new business is not easy and entrepreneurs need all the support at a cost that is easy on the finances. A virtual assistant can be a wonderful support system for new entrepreneurs. Without taking on additional full-time employees, new entrepreneurs can efficiently streamline their operations with the help of Virtual Assistants for small business & Startups.

Increase productivity of businesses – Virtual Assistants can take the routine office tasks off the hands of the employees, thus freeing them up for leading their functions to perform strategic level jobs.

Can enhance customer engagement– A quick response to a customer is highly appreciated in today’s connected world. However, it isn’t easy to be on the button on social media and emails. A virtual assistant can help respond to your customers’ emails almost immediately increasing the promptness of your business which is directly linked to customer engagement.

A very valuable team member – Virtual Assistants become important parts of businesses. Since they are often entrusted with sensitive business information, at the outset itself Virtual Assistants are bound to utmost confidentiality. With the trust placed in them, they are loyal and work with the same zeal as an employee who physically works out of an office.

Cost matters – Virtual Assistants are easy on the finances due to a variety of reasons. Firstly, they don’t need to work out of your office saving on some really expensive real estate space. Secondly, as Virtual Assistants are located across the globe they provide a healthy saving on the cost of hiring an equally talented resource in your location.

In a connected world, where even big corporations are encouraging work from home, Virtual Assistants are the future of the high-efficiency workforce. Among the plethora of options available in the market, Abroad Assistant is considered one of the best Virtual Assistant Services providers as it employs strict recruitment, training and evaluation criteria that ensure that clients get the maximum benefit out of employing a virtual assistant both in terms of cost and output. Welcome to the world of Virtual Assistants.

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