What is a Virtual Assistant and What They Can Do for Your Business?
By Leslie Radford
Key Takeaways
What is a Virtual Assistant?
What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
More on Virtual Assistants
Virtual assistants are a cost-effective staffing solution for companies of all sizes and are becoming very popular. Let’s explore what they are and how they can help your business.
What is a Virtual Assistant?
A virtual assistant is basically like having an executive assistant who provides administrative work and office support on a remote basis. They usually work as an independent contractor, although some are hired as full-time remote workers and are employed by companies of all sizes and across many industries.
What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
Just about anything! Here are some of the most common jobs given to virtual assistants:
Administrative Work
Virtual assistants are most commonly hired for admin work like scheduling meetings, booking travel, organizing calendars, and even answering phones.
Bookkeeping
Keeping track of finances is an essential part of running a profitable business, and virtual assistants can help manage a budget, make purchases, and track expenses.
Personal Assistant
Virtual assistants can help organize tasks outside of work, in addition to their standard duties. Booking vacations, organizing a calendar, and purchasing gifts for friends and family are some of the more common personal duties.
Data Entry
In this role, a virtual assistant can easily compile data, check for accuracy, and delete unnecessary records. This is especially beneficial for patient recording, billing, postal work, and school administration.
Research
Research can be a time-consuming endeavor, even with dedicated resources, so some companies use virtual assistants to assist with compiling this information. Because these tasks are typically more manual, they’re best suited to virtual assistants specialized in data analysis.
More on Virtual Assistants
From digital marketing tasks, scheduling appointments, and managing events to personal errands, a virtual assistant can help you with every aspect of your business.
Business Wire estimates that virtual assistants’ market size will reach $25.6 billion by 2025. With low overhead and limited commitment, virtual assistants are a cost-effective staffing solution for companies of all sizes.
