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Have you ever considered a virtual assistant? With the right software,
and the right employee, it could be the most efficient, and most cost
effective, move you've ever made.
The trend toward remote
employees has been on the rise for years. There are currently millions
of people working from out of the office. Analysts predict the number
will reach one billion employees worldwide by 2011, a whopping 75% of
the global workforce. Although this trend runs the full gamut of
industries and job descriptions, there is one position that's really
taking off - the virtual assistant: your right-hand man, or woman. Virtual assistants
are not only cost effective, they often do the job more efficiently
that their in-office counterparts. But to derive the full benefit, you
need cutting edge collaboration software.
What
does a virtual assistant do? Just about everything except make you
coffee. They can take care of your appointment book, schedule your
flights, answer your emails, pay bills, transcribe your dictation - all
the usual stuff.
But they often offer much more; they are
specialists, experts in your industry. And they are usually very tech
savvy. They can whip together a relevant spreadsheet, write articles or
briefs, handle your social media and other online initiatives - they
might even handle your on and offline promotion and marketing.
All
it takes for this to be a success, other than finding the right person
for the job (and the recruitment industry is catching on to this trend
as well, so you'll have some help), is good collaboration software.
Why
is collaboration software so important? That's what turns two people
(or more) who work in different locations into a team. With collaboration software,
you can meet face-to-face, view files on a common screen, coordinate
tasks, manage documents, discuss topics, you can even edit the same
document simultaneously - and on the fly.
In-office employees can cost a company two to five times their salary - a virtual assistant
charges only for the time they're working, and you have virtually (no
pun intended) no overhead. In this tough economy, it's a very smart
move - but don't forget the collaboration software.
