Virtual assistants can help businesses tremendously in terms of time, money, resources, and more. However, it can be difficult to find the right virtual assistant. Some businesses, however, may not believe that it is worth hiring a virtual assistant. Ultimately, you must decide whether it is worth it for you and your business. Keep reading to look at some of the pros and cons of professional virtual assistants to help you make an informed decision.
Pros
Low Cost
With full-time and/or permanent employees, you pay them on a set basis, along with other fees like insurance. Virtual assistants, however, are only paid for the duration of their contract and do not receive extra benefits. This can be beneficial for start-up businesses that cannot afford to pay full-time staff members.
More Time
As a business owner, you need to be able to focus on running your business. With a virtual assistant, they can take away many of the tasks that are causing you to stress out so that you can focus on some of the more important tasks that must be taken care of. This also allows you to increase productivity at work.
Time Difference
Virtual assistants do not need to work the same hours as you since they do not work in the office. This means that you could hire someone from a different country in a different time zone, allowing them to get work done during the night while you are asleep. This also means that you could give them work that needs to be done before you get into the office the next morning. This gives your business round-the-clock productivity and efficiency.
Cons
Communication Issues
Since your virtual assistant will not be in the office, you will be unable to communicate with him or her face-to-face. Unfortunately, this can lead to communication issues via chat, phone call, or video call. Many things tend to be lost in translation via text. This can also be a problem when there is a power outage or internet connection issues.
Lack of Personal Supervision
While virtual assistants can indeed be efficient, it is difficult to supervise them, which can prove to be a problem if a task that you provide them with requires supervision. You will only know whether they are producing the needed quality when they submit their finished task. It may be possible to track their progress on tasks via software, but comments and clarifications via chat can only go so far.
Data Security Risks
Due to the fact that you will be passing sensitive pieces of business information to your virtual assistant over the internet, there is always a risk of data being copied. Therefore, it is imperative that you conduct a thorough background check prior to hiring a virtual assistant. You must also make certain that the virtual assistant has the necessary software on their computer to protect your data.
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