What is a Virtual Assistant?

EM Admin
Apr 1, 2019
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In a general sense, the virtual assistant is an expert providing specialised solutions from a remote location. In the 1990s, this term was coined. It was the time when high-speed internet, document sharing, and other technology advancements got together to turn remote assistance into a reality.

The corporate world seeded this concept. It is popular among entrepreneurs who don’t want to board staff in their location. These are majorly the mid-size businessmen. They churn the name of the best outsourcing virtual assistants who possess the key skills that their niche requires. The entrepreneurs approach the best players for sampling. If the sampling matches their quality standards and protocols, the businessmen will hire them. This is how they outsource to the virtual partner for its drawing benefits in resolving non-core operational complexities.

However, it’s really tough to maintain a short turnaround time and quality consistently. This is why big players, like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, are bringing machine learning, artificial intelligence, and speech recognition technology together. Google Duplex, for example, is evolved with the efficacies of voice assistants. It can challenge a BPO’s customer support officer in booking an appointment or meeting. It’s an extension of virtual assistant technology.

What Skills Does a Virtual Assistant Need?

The phrase ‘virtual assistant’ describes effective and indirect support.

There are some common skills that are mandatory to have in the remote assistant:

Virtual support can be classified per domain and discipline, which differ from one another. Let’s say, a data solutions outsourcing company holds expertise in A to Z or specific data solutions, like data management, data mining, data extraction, classification, and so on.

So, the companies that require data for email marketing, lead generation, voice support, or any other non-core job (to be done) can have a good option. They can hire virtual support. It’s simply because the remote support outsourcer possesses specialization in a particular domain. An eCommerce merchant, for example, may not be an expert in content development for products and feed management. His core competencies lie around the supply chain. But, digital marketing and its detailing can’t be his main job.

Hence, it completely depends on the requirement of the business to select from the best outsourcers offshore/onshore.

What services does a virtual assistant (VA) offer?

Here is a quick overview of the most trending roles being offered by the VA:

Trending Services of a Virtual Assistant

Virtual Assistant Duties

As aforementioned, the duties of the virtual assistant service provider are directly linked with the business requirements. So, you should follow these steps to look for some outsourcers who could really insert a breakthrough in your business:

Mention the key project.
Clearly define and exaggerate the jobs.
Determine the work experience.
Catalog the quotation of prices, which can be per week or per hour, or per month.
Ask for a sample.
Clearly discuss the way and means of coordination, turnaround time, delivery, quality criteria, and reporting method besides training.
Never share confidential details.
Don’t hire support for core jobs to retain customer relationships.

Conclusion

The term “manual virtual assistant” is commonly used or recognised in the outsourcing industry. However, the term is being used to refer to virtual assistants who perform tasks that still require some level of manual intervention, such as data entry or research. In this case, a human virtual assistant would be using technology to assist in completing tasks, but the tasks themselves may not be fully automated. It is important to note that the term “manual virtual assistant” is not an industry-standard term, and it is recommended to clarify the specific services and level of automation offered when working with any virtual assistant.