Vanderbijlpark, South Africa - “Applying outsourcing as a business strategy delivers value beyond just cost savings” says Marietjie Steyn, co-founder of Be-Virtual-Assistant-
Partnering with a Virtual Assistant gives businesses access to specialized capabilities and skills, reduces stress, eliminates administrative hassles, frees up time and enhances business flexibility.
A Virtual Assistant is a highly skilled individual business owner (not a company employee) who provides administrative support and/or specialised services to entrepreneurs and business owners, typically from a home-based office. They communicate with clients through on-line messaging, fax, phone and internet technology.
Most Virtual Assistants specialise in one or more areas such as administrative support, bookkeeping, marketing, transcription and/or web design and maintenance to name but a few. Virtual Assistants can be hired to help entrepreneurs with once-off tasks, short-term projects and on-going tasks such as call-answering, e-mail management and bookkeeping or account management.
The economic meltdown boosts the fast growing job sector of Virtual Assistance in South Africa as more businesses realise the benefits of Virtual Assistance. “Making use of a Virtual Assistant for the past eight years, works perfectly well for us” says the spokes person of a very successful orthopaedic surgeon in the Vaal Triangle.
With a VA you only pay for the time they spend on your project and need not provide office space or equipment. Since Virtual Assistants run their own businesses, no pension fund and medical aid contributions or SARS deductions are involved which result in cumulative cost savings.
Entrepreneurs starting a new business often find themselves at the entrepreneurial impasse, spending more time being their own administrative assistant than concentrating on the things that drive their bottom line. “Working virtually and outsourcing non-core activities is a global trend and is causing a revival in normal business trends in South Africa” says Marietjie Steyn.
Running a business successfully generates pressure from all directions. It might just be worthwhile to investigate the benefits of outsourcing non-core administrative activities to Virtual Assistants.
