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At 8:00
p.m. one evening, I received a frantic telephone call from a
client. She was desperate to schedule an emergency meeting
with her staff who was on a much-deserved 2-week vacation.
Their client was displeased with the PR campaign they had
recently pitched and wanted to change directions quickly.
Ah, technology! What would we do without it?
As a virtual assistant who frequently receives “frantic
calls,” I literally looked into my grab bag of tools and said,
“No problem, meet in my online voice meeting room. Call your
reps and have them log into this URL. I’ll provide unlimited
access so you can speak to anyone in the world and show
documents at the same time, right over the Internet. The voice
quality is superior to a telephone. Once you’ve completed your
review and edits, I can save the documents to your hard drive
or an internet-based storage area, and then transmit it
directly to your printer or client for production and review.
My client was so relieved. She said, “I’ve never heard of this
technology.” Smiling, I replied, “That’s why you have me as
your VA.” We live and breathe this stuff.”
In today’s fast paced business society, technology can provide
shortcuts and business solutions never imagined. Entrepreneurs
either need to know about the technology or hire someone with
the skills and knowledge to operate these platforms. By doing
so they can save time, money, and energy and streamline a
business’ administrative operation.
State-of-the-Art Technologies
Enhance Capabilities
Three such platforms include the interactive, real time voice
meeting rooms, Application Service Providers (ASPs), and
Project Managers.
For example, Dennis Gerik of Voxwire, (www.voxwire.com)
a supplier of online voice meeting room technology says,
“With a computer, internet connection, and microphone, a
person can click into an online "Meeting Room" and speak to
anyone in the world and show them shared visuals at the same
time. It can be one-on-one or with hundreds of people. It’s
an enhanced service that Virtual Assistants use in their
day-to-day operation.”
Another
technology, Application Service Provider (ASP) is also
regularly used by VAs. An ASP allows VAs to rent a server with
a particular application or suite of tools running on that
server. Companies in need of the ability to collaborate over
large distances utilize the services of ASPs to do things such
as manage company inventory, sales, purchases, events, etc.
Virtual Assistants use them as a tool of their practice to
support their clients. In addition to the above-listed
functions, they can capture voice recordings and transcribe
the material for distribution while the client is sleeping.
When the entrepreneur is ready for work the next morning, the
document can be sitting at her email address, waiting to be
read. Yes, enhanced technology allows individuals these
flexibilities and much more.
On the move entrepreneurs sometimes leave “important files” on
their desktop computer. By using software like PCAnywhere,
Virtual Assistants can login on the client’s computer,
retrieve the missing file, and then forward it to the client –
fast and efficient! Virtual Assistant to the rescue!
Project Managers are sometimes called calendars. But these
aren’t your “normal calendars.” Project Managers can be
industry-specific designed to document a project from its
inception to conclusion, including sharing files, date
sensitive actions, note recording, call reminders and much
more. For example, the real estate industry has a product
developed by Gurunet.net that produces a web-based transaction
management system with listing, task, document and contact
management tools. Through the use of Action Plans and
Auto-populating templates, users
are able
to automate the transaction process and reduce redundant data
entry. The data is accessible to all parties in the
transaction based on the permissions assigned to them as a
participant. This allows users to reduce phone calls, increase
quality service and keep a permanent audit trail of all
communications and interaction during the entire pre-listing
to post-closing process. The Virtual Assistant manages the
transaction and the real estate agent has time to make the
sale.
Technology! Virtual Assistants depend on it to run their
business and manage tasks for their clients. Be it the frantic
call in the middle of the night or the mundane processing of
orders and reports, VAs are aware of technologies that
simplify the job. Why? Because we live and breathe this stuff. |
Message
from Denise Trifiletti of 
