Is a Remote Assistant Worth the Investment?

Many successful business owners believe that true leadership lies in delegating. When you are too busy building your empire, it’s redundant for you to spend your valuable time, money, and effort on small, mundane things. However, this doesn’t mean that the said tasks aren’t necessary. 

Administrative tasks are crucial in the company’s grand scheme to work smoothly. It would help if you had someone in your corner. Meet remote assistants; they are the pillar of support for businesses worldwide. So what does a remote virtual assistant do? Are they worth your money? Read more to know!

A remote assistant is someone a company/ entrepreneur hires to outsource all their admin/business operations. Outsourcing has been one of the biggest trends of the past year. According to Deloitte's 2022 Global Outsourcing Survey, the total outsourcing expenses will exceed $971.2 billion by 2023. Think of remote assistants as a personal all-in-one tool. Whether sending out emails, scheduling appointments, or handling calls, your remote executive assistant controls everything.

The remote assistant can provide many services depending on the company's needs and wants. Some of the most common ones are: 

Answering emails and communicating with your clients will keep your business running, but you will notice that most of the correspondence exchanges add more workload. Your virtual executive assistant can save time and keep emails organized by sorting them priority-wise, forwarding or replying to emails, sending e-invites, managing your subscriptions, and sending follow-up or reminder emails. A dedicated remote virtual assistant ensures you are directed toward emails that need your attention and lessens your burden.

As a busy business owner, it can be hard to keep track of all the dairy bookings/appointments, let alone find ample time to coordinate these meetings. While you focus on building your corporate empire, your remote assistant will handle all the back-end tasks for you. They have got you covered, from managing your day-to-day calendar to organizing virtual and in-person meetings and scheduling appointments. Furthermore, you can also task them with handling your travels and planning trips.

Why hire a social media manager or agency when your remote assistant can do the job for you? Many remote assistants are skilled and have years of experience handling social media accounts for businesses. Your company can benefit from inexpensive but efficient social media marketing strategies. A virtual assistant remotely working can create content calendars, track analytics and help your account grow. 

CRM systems can be tricky to handle and take up a considerable amount of your time. Instead of overwhelming yourself with these CRM platforms, let your remote assistant handle it. They will manage and polish your content on various platforms like WordPress, Drupal, Magento, etc. These assistants are also skilled in preparing presentations for projects or meetings, conducting content research, publishing blogs, and more. 

A remote assistant can come in really handy if your business model relies heavily on audio and video recordings. They will edit the audio and visual recordings into 100% accurate written content. A remote executive assistant can provide transcription services for various industries, such as interrogation transcription for legal purposes, time coding, subtitling, documentaries, medical transcriptions, etc. It saves your time and gives you the information needed efficiently.

Get back hours in your workday by hiring a remote assistant. They will carry out mundane tasks like tracking deliverables, compiling meeting minutes, filing and organizing e-files, managing spreadsheets, and cleaning up any cloud or drive accounts. These activities may seem trivial, but they significantly impact your workflow and increase productivity. Your remote assistant makes your business easier to manage by coordinating with your employees, vendors, and tasks.

Planning and organizing a conference, team event, or workshop is tiring and stressful. There are a lot of aspects to it, such as finding a venue, catering, promoting, inviting guests, and so on. You need an assistant on your team who can help with all the details. A remote assistant will help you find the best vendors for your event at a budget-friendly price. They will ensure that every part of the event is perfectly organized and oversee the successful execution.

Your remote assistant can lessen the workload of the HR team by helping them with various administrative activities. They can post job listings on social networking websites like LinkedIn to attract talented people. Remote assistants also pre-screen these potential applicants and set up interviews for you. Other than that, they can also lend a hand in employee management and workforce planning.

Data entry can be highly complicated and time-consuming, and if it’s not done right, it can lead to business problems. The remote assistant will precisely enter any numerical or alphabetical data into the database. The information is presented so that it can be easily accessed and understood. A skilled remote virtual assistant is on top of the current data entry norms and technology standards to cater to your data entry requirements.

It is yet another helpful service provided by remote assistants. Any financially competent business y needs meticulous bookkeeping. Unfortunately, most business owners have too much on their plate or do not have the required knowledge to carry out accounting tasks. Additionally, hiring an accountant can be expensive. Your remote assistant can be your in-house bookkeeper. They can perform tasks like processing invoices, taxes, monitoring cash flows, etc.

There are specific criteria the remote assistant must qualify for before you hire them. These criteria are a benchmark of a great remote assistant. Evaluating the individual based on them tells us if they have potential and are suitable to work with you. Some of these qualities are:

Since the work will be completely offline, strong communication forms the foundation of a good working relationship. The remote assistant should be proficient in English and any other language relevant to your business.

You're investing in a remote assistant to save time and money, and they should be able to do the same. Prioritizing tasks, daily appointments, scheduling meetings with clients, etc., should be made to make your life easier. Furthermore, the remote virtual assistant should be a stickler for deadlines. 

Digital tools are the backbone of a world of virtual assistants. A 2022 Statista report states that 79% of remote assistants have been using digital tools for digital transformation. Being well-versed in technology will make the assistant's daily tasks more efficient and increase the company's productivity.

The remote assistant should have a keen eye for intricate details. They should double-check any form of content or communication that goes out publicly or to the clients. Small mistakes in scheduling or messages can harm the company's reputation.

In today's cut-throat corporate world, you need someone to help you manage your business. Remote assistants are the all-in-one go-to individuals for several companies worldwide. Now that you know what to look for in a remote executive assistant, let's talk about the benefits you will reap by hiring a remote assistant. 

The data collected by Stanford University shows that remote workers are 13% more productive than in-house employees. They take fewer breaks and have more time, space, and energy to work. It means they can complete all their tasks efficiently, which leads to increased profits and helps your business grow. 

Throwing yourself at work will eventually lead to burnout. Since you will be delegating mundane tasks to a remote assistant, it frees up your schedule to spend time on something worthwhile. In an interview with VirtuDesk, 84.4% of the business owners said their business had a positive impact since hiring a remote assistant. Furthermore, 3.1% of the entrepreneurs also witnessed a similar effect on their personal lives. 

Even though you might have to pay them a little more than your in-house employee, remote assistants save you money. You save a lot on operating benefits (about 78%, according to data!) It is because they are not liable for benefits like insurance, training resources, and other employee benefits. 

Hiring a remote assistant allows you to build an efficient team and help you retain talent. Since their schedule is flexible, they will be less prone to stress or burnout, which invariably allows them to carry out all tasks successfully. Moreover, business owners don't have to worry about constant absenteeism or tardiness with a flexible work schedule. A survey suggests that 43% of these workers felt that flexibility helped them be more productive.

After several interviews, you might have found the ideal candidate. However, the process doesn't end after hiring them. Just like any other employee, remote assistants need to be managed too. Many employers face a fair share of hassles while working with them. Below mentioned are a few common challenges:

The applicant might have gotten the job due to their stellar interview and resume, but when it comes down to it, you might notice they are not delivering their tasks. The deadlines are never met, the responsibilities are never fulfilled, etc. This underperformance could end up hurting your business, and the whole recruitment process would end up being useless. Therefore, one needs to be careful while choosing the candidate.

If you're outsourcing the job to a freelancer or an individual with no tie-ups to a virtual assistant agency, there's a possibility of abandonment. It had happened to business owners before where the remote assistant disappeared on them in time of need, leaving them high and dry. This is another hassle you have to handle, which means directing more of your precious time cleaning up the mess. 

During their time at the company, it is natural that the remote assistant will handle private and sensitive information regarding the company. They will have access to passwords and confidential data since they will work closely with you. It may raise some privacy concerns if they are unethical and unprofessional. It's advised to do legal work carefully before sharing any such information.

Initially, it's understandable that remote assistants will take time to adjust to your company's style and culture and deliver the kind of output you expect. However, it may take longer for some, and a lot of micromanaging and training will be required. Sometimes even after all that training, there will be quality issues with the work. So there's a waste of company resources and decreased productivity, which again is a loss for your company.

…but is there a way to overcome them?

All these issues are common in today's business world, but you won't have to face them if you choose to hire from Office Beacon. With about a decade of experience in the industry, Office Beacon has been a trusted agency to outsource remote assistance needs. Our assistants are fully trained and have the professional skills needed to work in the industry. You can rely on our virtual assistants anytime, from meeting deadlines to establishing a solid communication line. You won't face any hassle regarding onboarding or managing. The company legally protects your sensitive data, so there are no privacy breach concerns. You can pick from personal remote assistants to executive assistants remote specializing in specific roles to meet your requirements.

As a business owner, your time is invaluable, and you need someone to help you achieve your goals. With all the data supporting the facts, it's a no-brainer that remote assistants are the future and worth every cent. If you are looking to outsource work, then Office Beacon has several trained and experienced remote assistants. These professionals are highly qualified and specialize in different fields. Whether you are looking for executive virtual assistants or remote operations staff, Office Beacon scouts for them easily and onboard them in no time!