12 Business Operations Categories You Can Outsource as Virtual Assistant Tasks

A business is a success when it grows, but are your daily tasks making your growth too slow? Maybe it is time to allocate some of your business activities as Virtual Assistant tasks?

As an entrepreneur, it is important to acknowledge the fact that a single person cannot fulfil all roles for the smooth functioning and development of a business. This is why all growing businesses need resources that can share the workload. However, they can’t always afford such an enterprise. But what good is a world of globalized business if it doesn’t solve this problem for you? The answer to your business’ never ending to-do list is – Outsource Virtual Assistant Services.

Who is a Virtual Assistant and Why Should You Get One?

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is simply a person who works to share your business workload from a remote location and for a fraction of the cost of a full-time employee. These include both freelancers and organizations providing Virtual Assistant services. As a business entity, you can hire individuals or entire organizations that provide varied services as per your requirement. However, in our opinion it is more conducive to opt for the latter as it is more efficient in terms of time and resources to have all your needs streamlined through one organized setup.

Astoundingly, there are a large number of business operations which can be outsourced as Virtual Assistant tasks. VAs can assist in your business by not just handling routine and repetitive tasks but also by developing and growing activities like marketing, analytics and sales.

To make things easier for you, we have devised a list of operational areas which are relevant to the functioning of most businesses. Virtual Assistant services has shown great scope and unprecedented success in the enlisted operations. VAs can make your work life more productive by giving you time to focus on expanding your business and managing a healthy work and social life balance. Each of these 12 listed operational areas consists of a plethora of things a Virtual Assistant can do for your business.

So, let’s get into it without delay…

Business Operations and Associated Virtual Assistant Tasks

1. Management and Organization Tasks

No matter the scale of your business, there are always general management tasks and storage or organizational streamlining that needs to be done.  These activities usually fall in the category of General Virtual Assistant tasks (GVA). Most GVAs are equipped to efficiently perform activities like –

• Scheduling and managing calendars
• Reminder services
• Email response support
• Organizing meetings and events
• Keeping up with social requirements
• Contacts and database management
• Customer support services
• Organization of cloud-based drives (Dropbox, Google Drive)
• Management of online filing system
• Management of MS Office suite services (Docs, Spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations)

2. Administrative Tasks

The number of administrative tasks for a business is a constantly growing list of activities. The more you work, the more you need to maintain track of your work. These operations are also covered by the GVAs and include Virtual Assistant tasks like –

• Records management
• Deliverable tracking
• Transcription of minutes of meetings
• Report drafting and analysis
• Receptionist duties
• Preparation of training modules
• Drafting of operations processes
• Managing information flow within the organization
• Management of other specialized teams working for the business
• Human resources services including virtual recruitment, on-boarding, training and management tasks
• Business process outsourcing
• Offshore staffing
• Remote location staffing
• Consultant and freelance management

3. IT Outsourcing

The most frequent kind of outsourced Virtual Assistant services that are taken on-board by businesses are covered in this category. These services fulfil both daily basic requirements as well as specialized requirements concerning IT software and hardware needs specific to a business. Business owners tend to hire Virtual Assistants as –

• IT support
• Frontend developers
• Backend developers
• Database programmers
• Software testing analysts
• CMS developers
• Embedded systems developers

4. Web and Mobile App Developers

This is a specialized category of Virtual Assistant tasks which serve multiple facets of business growth and management. VAs can assist in an entire range of services in the field of website and mobile technology development and maintenance. Thus, organizations offering Virtual Assistance services usually provide you with the following choices to hire –

• Website developers
• Coders
• Experts in Java, Python, WordPress and others
• Software developers
• Site maintenance, security, update and troubleshooting
• Integrated systems development
• Payment gateway integration
• Swift and Flutter app developers
• Mobile app developers for iOS and Android
• Microsoft app developers
• Developers of mobile game apps

5. Graphic and Web Design

The digital revolution has brought remarkable change in global business practices. Internet and social media platforms have proven to be very conducive for the growth of a global market. Maintaining an online presence is increasingly becoming a dominant requirement for all aspects of business growth. Thus, most businesses these days have a huge corpus of graphic and web designing requirements. These can be easily off-loaded to outsource Virtual Assistance services. These include services offered by –

• Web designers
• Graphic designers
• Video editors
• Audio content specialists (Podcast organizer, etc.)
• Multimedia animation creators
• 3D animation experts
• Logo and business necessities (cards, headers, etc.) designers
• Photoshop and Adobe InDesign Experts
• Illustrators and digital art experts
• Content creators (videographers, photographers, infographics designers, etc.)

6. Digital Marketing and Content Writing

Marketing – both traditional and digital – is the backbone of any business. Even though business development is a complicated process, a very simple understanding of a growing business is determined by growing sales. In the new field of digital marketing, this need has become a round-the-clock requirement. It also requires a great deal of creative input and time. Thus, Virtual Assistant Services have tremendous scope in this category. Moreover, a larger pool of human minds indulging in this process has often shown better results in terms of branding and online presence. There is an entire array of services available for these business operations. For instance –

• SEO experts
• Off-page optimization
• PPC and CRO experts
• Google Analytics experts
• Advertisement operations
• Content marketing specialists
• Video marketing experts
• SMM specialists
• Website analysts
• Link building experts
• Social media handlers (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Content writers for various purposes like website development, website promotion, social media engagement, press releases and media outreach etc.
• Bloggers
• Dedicated transcriptionists
• Dedicated researchers
• Market research analysts
• Competitor analysts

7. Email Marketing

This is a very specific Virtual Assistant task category which has wide ramifications for any business. An inbox full of unread messages is a nightmare! What is even worse is losing customers because of it when it could have been used for promoting and growing the business and the consumer base. Having an outsourced Virtual Assistant service perform email management and marketing operations ensures not just a growing list of emails but also regular engagement with your network. This work includes activities like –

• Email marketing software management
• Updating email lists
• Scheduling broadcast emails
• Creating email newsletters
• Managing auto-response emails
• Response and follow up management
• Drafting, editing and proof reading of emails

8. Accounts and Financial Services

Most people often assume that financial expertise is a prerequisite for establishing a successful business. In reality, businesses thrive on the dedication and passion of their creators regardless of their book keeping and accountancy skills. However, accounts and finance are areas that definitely require expert supervision. An entire range of need based Virtual Assistant services are available for business owners in this category in the market, which includes –

• Accountancy services
• Bookkeeping services
• Financial planning experts
• Accounts receivable and payable experts
• Financial controllers
• Payroll and tax assistance services
• Financial analysts

9. Data Analytics and Management

Data has become a very significant entity in global commercial practices including business growth and management. An understanding of the data required to run a business and the analysis of data produced in the course of conducting business – have both become crucial for the stability and longevity of any enterprise. However, not all business owners have the ability or the budget to manage and harness information from data that is being collected by them. This informational power can be tapped into like an energy source by simply outsourcing data management and analysis as Virtual Assistant tasks to online service providers. The following list includes Virtual Assistant service experts who are available to cater to the needs of this category –

• Data analysts
• Big Data engineers and experts
• Data entry experts
• Dedicated data specialists

10. Legal Services

Every business requires legal advice and services on a time-to-time basis. However, neither an in-house legal team nor big legal firms with high retainer charges can provide a cost effective solution for these requirements. Virtual Assistant services have emerged as a suitable alternative in this category for both new and established businesses.

• Paralegal specialist services
• Document drafting support
• Intellectual property services
• Dedicated legal assistant services

11. Engineering Services

This category includes a wide range of service providers across technologies. Some of the experts available as VAs in this field include –

• CAD designers
• HVAC designers
• MEP engineers
• Civil engineers
• Architects
• Electronic engineers
• Electrical engineers
• Mechanical engineers

12. Specialized Consultancy Services

This is more of an umbrella category for Virtual Assistant tasks that may be specific to only certain types of businesses. These include a wide range of intersectional service experts that cater to various requirements.

These may include –

• Medical process outsourcing specialists
• Bioinformatics management experts
• Artificial Intelligence experts including Machine Learning specialists
• Cybersecurity experts

and many other experts with varied skill sets, who may prove to be conducive for the management and scalability of your business.

You may not need a Conclusion but you do need a Decision

Outsource Virtual Assistant Services is growing into a huge enterprise with the digital revolution and associated growth of business activities. Remote staffing and virtual working are swiftly growing areas in the business domain. The above-listed 12 categories broadly cover various aspects of business operations required for the stability and growth of any venture. The services which are already listed under each category are by no means exhaustive. There may be many more roles and activities that can be outsourced to Virtual Assistant service providers. The key lies in beginning the process of understanding what a business owner needs to do themselves and what they need to simply get done.

Business is not for the faint hearted. It requires complete dedication, constant monitoring and nurturing passion – all at the same time.  However, business owners often get too caught up in performing daily operations for their businesses when instead they should be really focusing on expanding these operations. If you have realized that your business growth curve is flattening because you are too busy handling business operations than enabling business development, then you must take a leap of faith and opt for Virtual Assistant services.

No matter which level your business is at, you always want to take it to the next one. All it’s going to take is to decide and sort operations that can be enlisted as Virtual Assistant tasks and get looking for Virtual Assistant service providers that fulfil your needs and enhance your vision.