Virtual Personal Assistant – Top 5 Positive Impacts on business

Introduction

Imagine yourself as a busy entrepreneur who has very little time for petty issues. Once you close your office in the evening, you certainly would like an office in the morning with all the emails, meetings, and reminders streamlined, and all you have to do is continue your work from where you left off a day ago.

This is the job of a VPA which at one stage of life was a futuristic concept and was not opted for by many, but now its importance cannot be overlooked by any business.

Virtual assistants increase the efficiency of the business and since all the tasks are streamlined therefore efficiency of the business is also enhanced. 

A virtual assistant is an artificial intelligence-driven software that handles every business task which includes appointment management, reminders, questions and answers to the customers, recommendations, etc.   

It is pertinent to mention here that with every passing day, the ability of machines to learn and process is increasing so these machines by the ability to learn are now capable of providing a more personalized experience.

In this article, the ever-increasing importance and the need for the virtual personal assistant shall be studied. The benefits, challenges, and the role that virtual assistants are playing in shaping the business world.

Virtual Personal Assistant’s Positive Impact on Business

Virtual personal assistants are inevitable for boosting the productivity of the business and streamlining the operations of the business.

We will have a closer look here now how VPAs impact the efficiency of the business.

Repetitive Tasks of the business can be Automated through Virtual personal assistants

One of the basic ways through which VPAs help accelerate the speed of the business is by automating the repetitive tasks of the business, which if done manually would require a considerable amount of time.

Once these tasks are delegated to the VPAs, a considerable amount of time for the company is saved. This saved time is used by the company’s employees to complete other strategic tasks. 

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A few of the tasks, which can be automated include:

1.  Email management of the company

Virtual personal assistants can filter, and sort emails. Some of the specialized VPAs can even respond to email queries and perform email marketing tasks. A considerable amount of the company’s time is saved by this.

2. Scheduling the Meetings:

VPA not only schedules the meetings of the company but also sends reminders and coordinates between participants of the meetings. Furthermore, VPA ensures the distribution of meeting agendas among all.

3. Data Entry Job

VPA inserts all the related and necessary information into the database of the company. Furthermore, it updates the data entry record of the company along with the inventory record of the company.

Keeping Operations of Business Organized and Saving Time

In this busy world, time is of vital importance to any business and businesses adopt virtual assistant services for the improvement of the time management of the business. VPAs keep the operations of the business organized and on track. VPA provides the staff with the services of automation of the repetitive tasks of the company. This saves a considerable amount of time for the staff of the company to concentrate on other strategic tasks. Some of the time management tasks performed by VPA include

1. Flagging important tasks and assigning deadlines

2. keeping track of the progress of the tasks, and setting reminders so that tasks are not missed and are completed on time.

Providing Customer Service

Customer is an asset for the business and all businesses look after their customers with utmost effort. Since all the revenues, profits, marketing strategies, revolve around the customer and customer retention is essential for the profitability of the business.

The important area of business includes customer service. Customer service is also looked after by a VPA. With the help of A VPAs businesses become able to provide their customers with 24/7 support, which includes non-business hours too.

Some of the important customer support services that are provided by the VPA include:

1. ChatBots

VPA integrated into the live chat cannot only assist the customer, but also help in updating customer data, tracking the order of the customer, and can also answer the queries of the customer in real-time.

2. Ticketing System

VPAs also provide ticketing services to the customer. A VPA issues tickets to the customer and upon their turn refers them to the related department. Furthermore, if the nature of the query is simple, the VPA may solve the same itself.

Power To Analyze Huge Database

With enhancements in information technology, the VPA are also gaining strength day by day. Now a VPA is equipped to analyze huge databases and assist businesses in making informed decisions.

These assistants can identify key performance indicators (KPI) and even suggest areas that require improvement.

The Virtual Personal Assistant without waiting for the instructions generates easy-to-understand reports, which saves the time of the business and helps the company heads to make quality decisions in time.

Minimal Use Of Manpower And Saving Overhead Costs

The minimal use of manpower and replacement of manpower with machinery can have a considerable positive impact on the cost-saving strategy of the business.

A considerable cost can be reduced by the replacement of manpower with a Virtual Personal Assistant in work such as administration and repetitive tasks. A huge amount of work can be done through Virtual Personal Assistant in a fraction of the time which if done manually would require a huge amount of time.

This is especially useful when the scale of the business is small and the business cannot afford many administrative assistants and customer sales representatives as a full-time employee.

Challenges and Limitations of Virtual Personal Assistants in the Business World

Virtual personal assistants are improving the experience of the customer with every passing day. The business is being completely transformed and is moving towards a flawless system.

It is however pertinent that Virtual Personal Assistant do not only come with benefits rather there are certain limitations too that accompany them and they must be thoroughly considered before merging the Virtual Personal Assistant into the company.

Although numerous challenges are faced by Artificial Intelligence amongst them the most prominent is the limitation of Virtual Personal Assistant.

The Virtual Personal Assistant may excel in solving common queries of the customer however, the Virtual Personal Assistant fails to understand and tackle complex human interactions. For instance, the Virtual Personal Assistant fails to understand the emotional tone of humans or address the complex complaints of the customer.

This would simply mean that the business, even after employing the Virtual Personal Assistant, would be in dire need of a human being who would solve the customer’s problem after considering the emotional distress or complex complaints of the customer.

Another problem faced by businessmen with Virtual Personal Assistant is that the businesses do not stick to one tool or software only, rather there may be numerous software and tools working at the same time in the company.

Expecting the Virtual Personal Assistant to get along with these tools and software seamlessly becomes difficult at times. This results in system breakdowns and crashes for companies that lack updated systems. 

One of the most important concerns for any business is the security concern. The company cannot afford security breaches. Virtual Personal Assistants have access to the sensitive information of the company which includes client information, financial information, and most importantly business marketing plans and strategies.

If any of the Virtual Personal Assistants become a target of cyber-attacks, the reputation and the finances of the company can be badly hampered.

Well, another important aspect to be kept in mind is the implementation and training cost of the staff for using a Virtual Personal Assistant.

In the case of a small business setup, the cost of implementing a Virtual Personal Assistant might not seem worthwhile since the ROI is also not immediately clear.

A virtual personal assistant can be a good option however if they are regularly updated and the company keeps the backup of the data. Implementing it carefully reduces the risk of cyberattack damage and makes it a viable option for business.

The Future of Virtual Personal Assistants in the Business World

The virtual personal assistant has a very bright future in the business world since information technology is continuously evolving at a very fast pace and every day new facilities are being introduced.

Not only people but business companies are also feeling excited and comfortable about making a Virtual Personal Assistant an integral part of their systems.

It is obvious that in the coming years, Artificial Intelligence will advance even more, So Virtual Personal Assistant, which at this stage can only handle small queries and jobs, will be powerful enough to answer complex queries and carry out complex tasks for the company including learning from the past without hassle. 

This would allow the companies to appoint more complicated tasks to the virtual personal assistants resulting in either downsizing the companies or giving more time to the limited man force to focus on higher level strategic tasks assigned. 

As discussed earlier, at the moment the Virtual Personal Assistant is not very efficient in collaborating with other tools and software implemented in the company however when the Virtual Personal Assistant can collaborate with other software and tools like media platforms and customer relationship tools. Etc. Virtual Personal Assistant will have a huge control over the business activities. Just for instance, the Virtual Personal Assistant may update the customer relationship program automatically or schedule follow-ups.

Businesses will be able to customize their Virtual Personal Assistant according to the needs of a specific industry. Personalization of virtual personal assistants will play a vital role in the upcoming days. 

So, it would not be wrong if we say that the future of virtual personal assistants is very bright. In the future, once they become smarter, they will be an essential tool for increasing the efficiency of the business and driving growth in the business.

Virtual Assistant Services List

Virtual personal assistants have become necessary for businesses in today’s market to grow, increase customer retention, and increase productivity.

These virtual assistants are very powerful and their abilities are powered and driven by artificial intelligence.

Since they are driven by artificial intelligence which is becoming smarter with every passing day therefore they virtual assistants can perform both administrative and specialized jobs.

The virtual assistants are designed to help businesses by automating their repetitive tasks and saving time.

These assistants are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and can perform a wide range of tasks, both administrative and specialized. VPA is designed to support businesses by automating repetitive tasks, improving efficiency, and saving time.

The virtual assistant services list includes but is not limited to these top 10 services,

• Email Management
• Calendar and Schedule Management
• Customer Support
• Data Entry
• Travel Planning and Booking
• Social Media Management
• Book-keeping and Accounting
• Research Services
• Content Creation
• Project Management

These 10 services help businesses to optimize their growth and productivity.

Conclusion

Virtual personal assistants have moved far ahead from just being a trend they are now an essential part of the business industry.

By implementing a Virtual Personal Assistant in the business, the business earns considerable benefits like reduced cost, low staff, and increased work efficiency. A Virtual Personal Assistant allows more time for the workers to focus and spend time on strategic tasks that are assigned by the higher management.

The trend in the market of Artificial Intelligence indicates that in the upcoming time, Artificial Intelligence will become even more smart and this will enable Virtual Personal Assistant to handle even more complex tasks. Furthermore, it is also forecasted that Virtual Personal Assistant will easily collaborate with other software and tools operational in the business which will make them even more capable of performing tasks. 

In a nutshell, entrepreneurs by implementing Virtual personal assistants in business with the few precautions mentioned above, can shape the beautiful face of the business and make it very profitable.