Are Virtual Assistants Good or Bad for Business?

Many companies around the world generally have two types of employees, the office-based ones and the remote ones, and both are valuable for a company’s growth. Virtual assistants have been on the rise all around the world, and the current corona virus pandemic will likely see more people who will work from home.

The only problem is that many companies still have doubts about whether or not they should hire virtual assistants to fill their ranks. Virtual assistants can be assigned back-office work so that their regular workforce can focus on more pressing tasks. An entrepreneur, however, can still doubt whether or not a VA is suitable for their business since it is significantly challenging to look for the perfect remote worker.

It’s natural for business owners to worry about their business when relying on virtual assistants since they’ll likely suffer from communication problems. Both the employer and the remote employee will only be able to communicate via chats or calls resulting in more frequent misinterpretation of messages, especially if the worker is a foreigner. There’s also the risk of losing contact with the virtual assistant.

The lack of personal supervision will make it hard for employers to monitor and manage their virtual assistants. The VAs may be assigned tasks remotely, but the managers wouldn’t be able to ensure that their work is of high quality. The virtual assistant’s output can only be reviewed once it’s submitted.

There’s also the risk of compromising data security when giving remote employees access to sensitive information for their work. Business owners will need to conduct a thorough background check to ensure that they can hire the right VA, but some entrepreneurs might be content with not having to deal with them at all.

A business owner should also consider the advantages of having a virtual assistant before deciding that they’re bad for business since many companies owe their growth to VAs. For starters, entrepreneurs can save money when hiring virtual assistants, especially when they look for them in the Philippines. Many Filipinos are engaged in the Business Process Outsourcing industry because of the demand for cheap labour, which the Philippines offers.

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Virtual assistants can also ease the burden of a regular workforce and allow for effective workload and time management. A company won’t have to decline a client when the opportunity arises since their virtual assistants can take on additional work. Due to many virtual assistants’ cheap labour, companies won’t have to spend much to work with other clients.

Entrepreneurs who hire foreign remote workers will be able to keep their businesses operating 24/7 since they work in a different timezone. The time difference ensures that a company has people so it can achieve round-the-clock efficiency.

Being able to take on more clients and achieve round-the-clock efficiency should be enough to convince any entrepreneur that a virtual assistant and a remote workforce is beneficial for a company. However, it’s still natural for them to worry. To know more on whether virtual assistants are good or bad for business, see this infographic by OVA Virtual so as to decide if you should hire one.