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Slide 1: Virtual Assistant Gone are the days when you came across the familiar sight of an office secretary rattling away on the keys of a typewriter, busy filing the boss’s work, answering phone calls, keeping track of anything and everything that crossed her path. She was the one-stop destination for all the secretarial work in the office. Switch to the present day scene in an office, where all jobs are attended without the usual hustle and bustle of a secretary. The reason being…Virtual Assistants have replaced the ubiquitous secretary! Now picture the same assistant seated in a garage in Philippines with a computer, efficiently handling all your calls and other important office work! This is the new age secretary called the Virtual Assistant. Who is a Virtual Assistant? The definition of a Virtual Assistant or VA, as given in Wikipedia, is an entrepreneur who provides professional administrative, technical or creative (social) assistance to clients from a home office. In other words hiring virtual assistant that may or may not even live in your country – it is like having your cake and eating it too! The term Virtual Assistant surfaced in the mid 1990’s and till date an estimated 1.5 million virtual businesses exist worldwide, including 35,000 entrepreneurs who call themselves Virtual Assistants have come into existence. Several trade organizations and vocal advocates are promoting the occupation as a growing industry. Some consider this to be a cottage industry while others consider the trend to be the small-business owner’s equivalent of enterprise outsourcing. The business of Virtual Assistants started as an offshoot to the rapidly striding outsourcing business. For entrepreneurs who start their own small company, few things are as annoying as having a physical assistant asking too many questions and slowing down the breakneck speed of daily operations. On the other hand the same business can grow rapidly with the help of a highly trained, knowledgeable and professional Virtual Assistant. VAs came into being to serve the small companies, but many larger firms too are hiring them to handle a variety of specific support functions. Virtual Assistants is an emerging occupational niche spurred by the internet and a desire of some tech-savvy professionals – typically working mothers – for more flexible hours.
Slide 2: Asian countries like India, Philippines, and Thailand have thousands of companies that offer the services of VAs to companies in other countries. A Virtual Assistant performs a range of assistance jobs like screening calls, connecting calls, making travel arrangements, writing articles/newsletters, managing databases, handling appointments, organizing and maintaining electronic files, editing publications, managing calendars, managing events, managing benefits, taking care of legal/ paralegal/real estate matters and scores of such secretarial functions. Thanks to the technology and the shrinking globe, the one person office in a remote location, manning a few of your needs has grown into a full fledged service industry with specialized Virtual Assistants to cater to your every need. This trend is here to stay! <a href="http://www.talentgurus.net">Virtual Assistants</a> are out and out professionals. They work hard to live up to their reputation. They go the extra mile to satisfy customers because they know, a botched up work can cost them the customer forever. Needless to say, you can rely more upon them than your employee, because unlike an employee, Virtual Assistants see their success in your success.