Virtually Assisted Disruption

The new generation of businesses is doing things differently. They are lighter. They are faster. They use more data and, somehow, less paper. Modern businesses are breaking ties with tradition whilst embracing disruption, the ever-constant eventuality in any dynamic system.

Across the globe, brick and mortar storefronts are giving way to websites. Warehouses are being consolidated and centralized so that we can ship Shari Shopzalot that cashmere scarf within a hundred and twenty minutes of the click of the place order button without having to stock it in her city. The trend is speed, efficiency and as little fuss as is manageable.

This madness is not for nothing, really. It saves companies a lot of money. One could in fact argue that this movement from physical to virtual is entirely about saving companies money. For instance, virtual administrative assistants save companies thousands of dollars each year on costs such as: payroll, employees benefits, equipment, direct supervision, office space, supplies, HR concerns, and even the silly little things like coffee! These are all real costs associated with hiring in-house workers that even small businesses must contend with month after month. And they add up.

Moreover, when one considers the fact that most administrative workers are paid based on an eight-hour workday, whereas much less than eight hours of actual work occur within this time, the waste factor is further magnified. A UK-based study reveals that most office workers spend less than three hours on productive work in an eight-hour day. A similar study in the US shows that the average administrative worker spends about two and a half hours on actual work in an eight-hour day.

But, to be fair, these statistics do not necessarily demonstrate languor on the part of the employees. On the contrary, administrative work by its sheer nature allows for hours of downtime since it typically involves multiple pauses between actions as one waits for verification, responses, further instructions, etc. The traditional model of full-time employment also strongly encourages the idea of the eight-hour day irrespective of how much real work is available to be done. Employers tend to think of it as having an employee “cover” a shift: be available to do actual work between 9am and 5pm.

And it is from these cracks which eventually form in old-fashioned ideas of this sort that disruptors emerge. What once seemed to work perfectly begins increasingly to betray flaws which lend themselves so eagerly to disruptive ideas. Quite like the disruption of the taxi-cab industry by the likes of Uber and Lyft, the upsurge of virtual assistants and other virtual workers is slowly but surely disrupting the traditional employment model of crowded cubicles and in-house administrative workers. And as is the case with the rideshare industry, cost is reduced, efficiency improves, the purchaser’s options increase and the world becomes functionally smaller.

Naturally, there are several reasons a business might resist going the virtual route. Entrepreneurs starting up new businesses may have difficulty deciding what aspects of the daily tasks to outsource. More established enterprises may struggle with the fear of losing control or giving up that warm, eyes-on-target feeling which comes with having an employee present on location. Even general unfamiliarity with the whole concept can also be a strong enough deterrent to going virtual, for most businesses. Despite these concerns, the trend appears to be taking hold in a way that just makes business sense. And, more often than not, what makes business sense inevitably becomes common business practice.

For businesses that do not need a physically present employee to meet and greet customers, fetch beverages or perform other tasks requiring the employee’s physical presence, considering whether to hire virtual assistants is certainly worthwhile. Besides the direct savings from paying for only the hours spent on actual work, hiring virtual assistants comes with additional benefits.

Reducing Overhead Costs: For most businesses, maintaining even the smallest workforce comes with its inevitable overhead costs. While these costs are necessary for business, they can be made much more affordable by outsourcing the paper-pushing to a virtual assistant or a virtual administrative services company. Doing this immediately saves the business the cost of the extra office space, associated payroll taxes and fees, supervision costs and cost of supplies.

Reduced HR Concerns: Human resources issues can be especially difficult for businesses that are not large or established enough to have their own HR departments. Hiring, training, management and termination (or resignation) are all events that can significantly impact a business. The virtual option practically strips away those concerns since the hiring business is not responsible for the HR concerns of a virtual employee.

Increased Flexibility: One common problem most employers face is the issue of responding quickly and effectively enough to unpredictable changes in the market. For instance, business may slow down seasonally or temporarily, forcing an employer to cut hours, lay-off employees or even fire good workers. Similarly, a short-term contract may require additional staff for just a short period of time. In cases like these, having virtual administrative assistants means that the employer can pay for more labor when it needs it and pay for less when it needs less. This ability to instantly alter the strength of a company’s admin staff makes a business more responsive to the constant changes in the market and greatly reduces the short-term administrative expenses most businesses must incur at such times.

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