Kaya Systems : Back Office Support | Virtual Assistant Services

BPO services are like Easter Egg Hunt

2013-03-29T20:34:00.000+05:00

Bright colorful eggs filled with Cadbury sweetness and yummy jelly beans are the biggest treat of Easter. Hunting them out from the different places they are hidden, it gives extreme joy to find the egg of your desire. Children of all ages and most of the adults too are seen peeking behind bushes climbing trees and looking down holes in the tree trunks in hope to find an egg that they can claim as a reward. The Easter egg hunt is one of the widest celebrated event in which everyone gets a treat to enjoy after a joyous hunting.

The world of internet is just like a huge field with many bushes and trees where things can be easily hidden. BPO services are just like the Easter Egg Hunt. When you are in need of a good service provider who will handle all your internet activities like a pro, you have to search over the internet without any directions pointing at which one is the best. While you may get a huge list of results about the service providers, you can’t judge which of them is more suitable to your needs.

Internet Controllers

The internet is controlled by the giant web search engine Google, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media and many other services. People who are not a pro at digging out relevant information on the internet rely on Google to do it for them and to a certain extent, social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. Finding the right outsourcing services provider on the internet is just like finding the egg of your choice on Easter. While everyone is searching for the same egg in the hunt, the person who finds it first hits the jackpot and starts climbing the success ladder.

Success on the internet can be termed as being available to the right client at the right time. If your website appears to the client who is searching in your niche, then undoubtedly you will have the product sold without an effort. Professional BPO service providers make it happen for you. While your competitors running amok, you have a greater edge taking professionals’ help who make the tasks easy for you.

Why a Professional Service Provider Should Not Mention Pricing on the Website

2013-03-22T18:06:00.000+05:00

Internet business trends keep changing according to consumers needs. There was a time when desktops were ruling products of the market, but today they are replaced by mobile technologies that allow you to keep connected while on the go. This is a clear indication that the market is never constant and change is inevitable.

BPO companies are the ones that provide online services to their clients. While you may find millions of websites offering a variety of services, you will not find any site quoting their charges openly. Ever wondered why is that so? Do you think that these companies are being unfair to their clients by not posting prices before contacting? The reason for not displaying the charges becomes valid for the following reasons.

Client consulting varies and everyone cannot be measured on the same scale as the each business requirement is different

Based upon their nature of business, target audience and the market competition they require different services

Internet trends change rapidly; what may be creating buzz today might be dead tomorrow. So, tactics and methods can change with the change in marketing trends.

Payment plans that are available for the ease of clients

Pay per use

Companies charge their customers per hour under this pricing plan. The more they work for a client, the more they charge him. This type of payment plan might be suitable for some people who are only seeking help for a short time or want to get their project freelanced for a while. But as we are aware that the work on the internet requires to be extended than just a couple of hours, in case additional professional services are required, additional payments have to be deposited.

Monthly package

Tailored to the client’s needs, this payment plan is the most affordable and suitable. It does not matter how much time the administrative consultants spend on rectifying the client’s issues, he is not charged extra. Every requirement is adjusted in the package and all you have to do is pay for it in a fixed package price without worrying about how much time is spent on the project.

Deadlines are always set out for a project and it is ensured that they are clearly met. Client communication practices are strictly adhered to keep him informed with every phase the project is undergoing. Paying per hour might be suitable to some people, a majority of clients aim to avail the monthly package for the best results.

Kaya Systems - A really convenient Web Designing and Developing Service

2013-03-22T16:44:00.000+05:00

If you are looking for ways to expand the territory of your business, then you need to have a website for your business. A company without web presence cannot think of any way to expand its business. Customers of the modern age find it feasible to search for a professional services provider on the web rather than ask people for referrals or hunt brochures for it. Gone are the days when you could rely on the print media to advertise your services and expect people to read your ad in it.

Kaya Systems is an exponentially goal oriented company that excels in providing web solutions to the people who are in search of web services. Having the presence in the market for more than a decade, the in depth knowledge and adapting to the latest trends has succeeded in developing a huge list of satisfied customers. Kaya systems excel in providing complete business solutions in the following areas.

Kaya Systems Web Administration

Business Process Outsourcing

BPO is a process which is widely being practiced globally not only by the small and medium companies, but the huge names that can be termed as household names are also involved in it. It increases the company’s flexibility and provides it a chance to make use of the great talent that is scattered worldwide. Without paying a hefty amount, the organization that aims to broaden their office timings and workforce, a BPO company acts as its representative handling all the tasks that have been given under its custody.

Web Design

Every company needs to have a web presence in the modern age. Developing a website can be a hectic task if things are not done in the right way. Today search engines play a vital role in directing potential customers towards your website. This entails knowing the latest trends and following the patterns set out by the search engines. A cool looking website can be easily left out of the searches to an odd looking one if it does not follow the requirements. It is necessary to have the web design which is not only user friendly, but also search engine friendly.

Website Administration

This is one of the most important parts you need to look out for after you have your website up and running. If in case you don’t have a capable web administrator, then unfortunately you are as good as nonexistent on the web. There are many tasks that are required to be well looked after to have a prominence on the internet. Kaya Systems is your ultimate savior when you are looking to gain popularity on the internet and beat your competitors. Providing unmatched Website Administration services to our customers, we have managed many newbies in the race and competing with the giants on the web.

Grow Your Business with Offshore Outsourcing

2013-03-06T21:10:00.000+05:00

With the advent of technology, offshore outsourcing has emerged with a fresh new definition of being a practical approach for determining business growth. From Philippines to Pakistan, countries have been indulged in providing a full spectrum of technology services to huge business entrepreneurs all over the world.

What is possibly the biggest advantage of hiring an offshore resource is cost effective productivity followed by an edge for competitiveness. Understandably many companies in search for strategic approach to the growing dilemma tried innumerable response. And one of the most popular approaches is offshore outsourcing, as the growing trend suggests the recent discoveries of elements that can be outsourced spurred the growth of the many industries all over the world. And here are some of the reasons why a lot remains to see it as sensible solution.

In this arena of digital technology and globalization, hiring an offshore organization not only reduces cost budget but also lets in any business or organization into the boundaries of one global village, introducing it to every nook and corner of this earth while at the same time, also expanding its business revenues and worth in market place.

The top offshore destination such as Philippines, India or Pakistan are globally renowned for expertise and innovation of the latest technology in serving the business functions of their international clients with less expenses and yet 100% customer satisfaction. Especially Pakistan is considered immensely attractive offshore outsourcing destination because the salaries of IT professionals in Pakistan are approximately 30% less than other countries, while Telecommunication costs are also lower as compared to other offshore countries.

Moreover, in the recent years the competition in the offshore outsourcing business has hugely increased, due to which the quality and the standard of such services has also risen up the bar to attract more and more customers in this global pool of online businesses and outsourcing services. Organizations increasingly take advantage of external expertise to make up for its in-house limited capacity, making it one of the most desirable benefits of outsourcing.

In addition, outsourcing your business responsibilities to an offshore organization greatly reduces the burden on entrepreneurs’ heads, while giving them extra time to focus on their key competencies and ultimately to grow their businesses to further heights

There are loads of benefits of offshore outsourcing. However, companies and organizations should be reasonable enough to go through a profound vendor selection process and must not be overtly driven by cost, when searching the right vendor for its business growth. The proficiency and the expertise of the potential vendor should also be highly considered to make the most of offshore outsourcing.

Web Development Job oriented Course (3 month) - Tribune Classifieds

2013-03-04T19:50:00.001+05:00

Web Development Job oriented Course (3 month) - Tribune Classifieds

How to Choose a Back Office Support Service Provider

2013-03-01T22:17:00.000+05:00

In the last few decades, Business Process Outsourcing has become a vital part of Small & Medium Enterprises. As the bandwidth costs came down with technological advancement, outsourcing got strong footings in low cost regions rapidly. In the modern era, SMEs are paying keen attention to Back Office Support in order to manage their day to day operations effectively and efficiently. The Back Office Support offers a wide range of services right from a simple data entry task to writing a viable business plan to designing and developing advanced software systems. This way, on one hand, SMEs gain benefits in terms of business growth, cost effectiveness and shorter turnaround time and on the other hand, they are in a better position to concentrate more on core business concerns. No doubt, the job demands a provider who better understands your business needs and comes up with a solution that could cater the said. Following are a few steps which can help you find the right provider:-

Right Size Provider

This is not a wise approach if you are representing a Small to Medium Enterprise and go for a large back office support provider. Though size matters a lot as a large provider will prefer to have big clients but it will be a better option if you manage to have a mid size service provider who can provide you with better value, service and flexibility.

Background

Best service is the one that has been well researched before hiring. Inspecting provider’s background, examining management profile and looking over customer testimonials are all parts of a best service research.

Start Small

Rather than looking for a long term commitment with your service provider in the first go, we strongly recommend that initial contract should cover at least two months so that the provider can be tested on the following grounds:-

Service Quality
Prompt Response in case of urgency
Effective communication especially under stressful situations
Handling Disagreements
Documentation of the information provided in support of the work done

“Remote Local Office”

Consider your service provider as “Your Remote Local Office” i.e. an extension of your company. This implies that you have to facilitate your remotely located employees with the opportunities through which they can understand your company’s culture and come up to your expectations. Make sure that they must know the right people to contact when needed. Be open to new ideas they come up with. Successful integration of these remotely located employees with your company will undoubtedly result into a long term growth of your business.

Kayasystems proudly announces Kaya IT center

2013-02-25T18:35:00.001+05:00

.@Kayasystems proudly announces now Kaya #IT center starting its 1st #training course session on #3rdApril #lhr: .@Kayasystems proudly announces now Kaya #IT center starting its 1st #training course session on #3rdApril #lhr

Some Powerful Online Tools: Best of all, most are FREE

2010-03-04T05:04:00.001+05:00

Now that we are past 2010 New Year celebrations and are approaching end of January, it is time to take a pause and ask an important question: am I using all the FREE tools to my advantage? If the answer is no, or maybe, then read on. In this short blog, we discuss some of the simple, yet powerful tools, that when used properly can give you a competitive edge. Let’s start with a few that have proven their worth.

LiveZilla Live Chat Support

If you are running an online business and do not have live chat support then you are losing an important channel to connect to potential customer and, thus, are losing sales. LiveZilla live chat support tool offers great value – its FREE! It is a solid tool with good number of options and, best of all, it’s an open source application that can be easily customized and branded to fit your requirements. Research consistently shows that if the visitor has a question when visiting your website then he or she is likely to ask it to your chat support – assuming of course that it is available. Bottom line, chat support increases your probability of generating sales. Some technical expertise is required to install and configure the tool but its well worth the effort.

Google Analytics

The saying goes something like this – “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” For an online business, the ability to gather and analyze relevant sales and marketing data, is a must. Google Analytics enables you to understand website traffic sources, keywords used, and a whole range of data about your website visitors. The tool is FREE and provides intermediate level analytical information that can enable you to fine tune your marketing efforts. The cost to you is only few hours of setup time.

Skype

Skype is probably one of the best voice calling tool available in the online market place. Skype-to-Skype calls are FREE and now include video calls as well. With a large user following, this tool offers a great way for businesses and individuals to connect with each other and to potential customers. Skype also advertises reasonably priced plans which allow the users to place calls to land lines and offers other great features such as voice mails, ability to send SMS messages, and Call Forwarding. Skype is also available on popular Smart phones which is very useful for cost conscious businesses and users.

Twiddla

There are quite a few popular desktop sharing and meeting tools such as WebEx.com, GoToMeeting.com, and LogMeIn.com to name a few. Another interesting tool that is very useful for one time use or single session is Twiddla. Say you are working with a vendor to update your website and you quickly need to point out a required change. Simply go to Twiddla, generate a meeting session (with one click), and pull up your website. Send the meeting link to the other party and now both parties can mark up the site together. Once the meeting is done you can save the edited file. This tool is very useful for one-off online meetings. And best of all, its FREE.

Google Docs

This is another powerful and FREE tool available from Google. Lets say you do not have Microsoft Word installed on your PC. You receive a Word document from a potential client and need to edit it and send it back. You can go to Google Docs, upload the document, make the edits, save it as a Word document, and send it back to your client. This is very useful for SMEs who do not want to install Microsoft Office, for cost or other reasons, on some or all of their PCs. Google Docs does lot more than just editing of common document formats. Other benefits include ease of sharing and collaboration. For example, you can setup a spreadsheet and other individuals, who are authorized, can update that on a daily or weekly basis. The document can be saved in Excel, OpenOffice, or PDF format. All you need to access and start using Google Docs is a Gmail account.

Stixy Bulletin Board

This is a web-based bulletin board that can be shared with friends, family, and colleagues. On this board you can put widgets; a widget could be a note, task, appointment, photo, to-do item, or a document. There are no rules on how you can arrange your bulletin board. Its completely up to you. We found the tool interesting to use. However, this is a not a formal project management tool but a casual sharing platform. So far Stixyboards are FREE or at least we couldn’t find any pricing structure given.

Gliffy Diagram Creator

Gliffy is an online diagram creating software tool. You can draw up professional quality flow charts, diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings, and more. Moreover, you can collaborate and share diagrams with your team. The tool has a good size object library that should fulfill most, if not all, of your requirements. The basic version of the plan is FREE with certain limitations, but if creating diagrams is important to you then a single seat license for $5/month might be worth the cost.

IDrive

This is an online backup tool for your PC data. The key benefit is the ability to restore you data from anywhere. If you are an entrepreneur or a small business whose employees are on the move then this is definitely worth a look. The IDrive basic plan allows only 2 GB of FREE space but this should be enough to back up your important mission critical data. The tool has a number of features that allow you to pick and choose when and what data you want to back up on regular basis. Features include True Archiving/Sync, Continuous Data Protection, Mapped Drive Backup, Versioning, Timeline Restore, and many more. It also offers personal, family, and business plans. The paid plans are reasonably priced.

Disclaimer: Our endorsements are based on our experience in using the above tools. If you decide to use any of the above tools it is your responsibility to review its terms and conditions as Kaya Systems, its management, and affiliates will not be held responsible in any event since we have no control over any of these tools.

Some Powerful Online Tools: Best of all, most are FREE

2010-03-01T18:00:00.001+05:00

Cloud Computing: A Paradigm Shift for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

2010-02-11T11:44:00.001+05:00

Cloud Computing has been generating a lot of buzz lately. The topic has been appearing more and more frequently in technology magazines, blogs, and big technology outfits like IBM, HP, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have all setup offerings to capitalize on the growing acceptance of Cloud based services. The term Cloud Computing does not refer to one particular service; rather it encompasses collection of offerings that provide customers with an option to rent these services as opposed to spending large amount of capital to buy them upfront. While this subscription or rent based model appeals to enterprises of all sizes, it’s the Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) that stand to benefit the most from this paradigm shift. With no startup capital required, the SMEs can quickly ramp up their computing capacity, try out new enterprise applications in areas such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Business Intelligence (BI), or experiment with renting entire software development platforms to build and host their own customized applications.

Flexible Infrastructure

Research shows that enterprises waste a significant percentage of their physical computing capacity. The initial planning often results in procurement of hardware to anticipate the future growth in usage which, more often than not, does not materialize. This disconnect between computing capacity and the actual requirement is not limited to larger organizations. SMEs also face a difficult choice of either procuring expensive dedicated hosting solutions or, if they cannot afford that, resorting to cheaper shared hosting solutions that give them little control of their hosting environment. Moreover, keeping their physical computing setup in sync with their changing business requirements is a constant challenge. In most cases, improving capacity meant moving to a more powerful machine with more memory and that required migrating all the running applications causing headache and downtime. Cloud Infrastructure Services provide an ideal solution where SMEs can sign up with little or no upfront costs and they are billed on how much computing power, memory, and data transfer they have consumed. Amazon Cloud Services (EC2) is an ideal starting point for SMEs looking to explore Cloud Computing. They have wide range of services that cater, or can cater to an entrepreneurial entity to large companies looking for hundreds of virtual servers.

Software as a Service

Cloud Computing encompasses more than just flexible Infrastructure services. The term also includes increasing number of enterprise applications that are hosted on the servers of Cloud Computing providers and then rented out to companies who use them as a service. The data generated by the users of these applications is also stored on the servers of the providers. While some critics question the wisdom of storing important business data on outside servers, the approach does have strong appeal to SMEs who do not have resources, both financial and human, to store data on in-house servers and secure it properly. SalesForce.com has been one of the biggest successes of this model. Their CRM software has tens of thousands of customers who access the service through internet and store their data on its servers. Through its Google Apps for Businesses, Google is targeting companies to host their emails, document creation and editing, and Calendars. Business Intelligence (BI) applications are also making their way to clouds making this important segment accessible to SMEs. It is widely expected that other software vendors, like SAP and Oracle, will come out with offerings that follow the same delivery paradigm and are targeted towards SMEs.

Software Development Platforms in Cloud Environment

Another segment of Cloud Computing provides entire development platforms that companies can rent and then build and deploy their custom applications in the cloud. Increasing number of Cloud Computing companies are providing virtual machine images that have some of the common development platforms installed and ready to use. Examples include LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) web starters, Java, Ruby, and Flex pre-build environments. IBM has also made its flagship WebSphere Application Server, which is popular for building Java enterprise applications and web services, available on the cloud. SMEs which previously could not afford this IBM product can now rent its usage and deploy custom applications that can host mission critical applications.

Cloud Computing offers substantial cost benefits to SMEs in terms of how they maximize return from their IT investment. But like any other business expense, the whole process of adapting to Cloud Computing needs careful planning and execution. SMEs can partner with reliable outsourcing providers who can guide these companies through the whole process of finding reputed Cloud Providers, picking the right subscription plan, and developing, deploying, and maintaining their business applications and infrastructure using these Cloud based services.

Cloud Computing: A Paradigm Shift for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

2010-02-11T11:43:00.002+05:00

2010-02-11T11:40:00.001+05:00

Cloud Computing: A Paradigm Shift for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

http://ping.fm/DQoPD

2010-02-11T11:33:00.001+05:00

Cloud Computing: A Paradigm Shift for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Posted by: R. Bokhari | Posted at: February 9th, 2010 | Posted in Technology Outsourcing

Cloud Computing has been generating a lot of buzz lately. The topic has been appearing more and more frequently in technology magazines, blogs, and big technology outfits like IBM, HP, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have all setup offerings to capitalize on the growing acceptance of Cloud based services. The term Cloud Computing does not refer to one particular service; rather it encompasses collection of offerings that provide customers with an option to rent these services as opposed to spending large amount of capital to buy them upfront. While this subscription or rent based model appeals to enterprises of all sizes, it’s the Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) that stand to benefit the most from this paradigm shift. With no startup capital required, the SMEs can quickly ramp up their computing capacity, try out new enterprise applications in areas such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Business Intelligence (BI), or experiment with renting entire software development platforms to build and host their own customized applications.

Flexible Infrastructure

Research shows that enterprises waste a significant percentage of their physical computing capacity. The initial planning often results in procurement of hardware to anticipate the future growth in usage which, more often than not, does not materialize. This disconnect between computing capacity and the actual requirement is not limited to larger organizations. SMEs also face a difficult choice of either procuring expensive dedicated hosting solutions or, if they cannot afford that, resorting to cheaper shared hosting solutions that give them little control of their hosting environment. Moreover, keeping their physical computing setup in sync with their changing business requirements is a constant challenge. In most cases, improving capacity meant moving to a more powerful machine with more memory and that required migrating all the running applications causing headache and downtime. Cloud Infrastructure Services provide an ideal solution where SMEs can sign up with little or no upfront costs and they are billed on how much computing power, memory, and data transfer they have consumed. Amazon Cloud Services (EC2) is an ideal starting point for SMEs looking to explore Cloud Computing. They have wide range of services that cater, or can cater to an entrepreneurial entity to large companies looking for hundreds of virtual servers.

Software as a Service

Cloud Computing encompasses more than just flexible Infrastructure services. The term also includes increasing number of enterprise applications that are hosted on the servers of Cloud Computing providers and then rented out to companies who use them as a service. The data generated by the users of these applications is also stored on the servers of the providers. While some critics question the wisdom of storing important business data on outside servers, the approach does have strong appeal to SMEs who do not have resources, both financial and human, to store data on in-house servers and secure it properly. SalesForce.com has been one of the biggest successes of this model. Their CRM software has tens of thousands of customers who access the service through internet and store their data on its servers. Through its Google Apps for Businesses, Google is targeting companies to host their emails, document creation and editing, and Calendars. Business Intelligence (BI) applications are also making their way to clouds making this important segment accessible to SMEs. It is widely expected that other software vendors, like SAP and Oracle, will come out with offerings that follow the same delivery paradigm and are targeted towards SMEs.

Software Development Platforms in Cloud Environment

Another segment of Cloud Computing provides entire development platforms that companies can rent and then build and deploy their custom applications in the cloud. Increasing number of Cloud Computing companies are providing virtual machine images that have some of the common development platforms installed and ready to use. Examples include LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) web starters, Java, Ruby, and Flex pre-build environments. IBM has also made its flagship WebSphere Application Server, which is popular for building Java enterprise applications and web services, available on the cloud. SMEs which previously could not afford this IBM product can now rent its usage and deploy custom applications that can host mission critical applications.

Cloud Computing offers substantial cost benefits to SMEs in terms of how they maximize return from their IT investment. But like any other business expense, the whole process of adapting to Cloud Computing needs careful planning and execution. SMEs can partner with reliable outsourcing providers who can guide these companies through the whole process of finding reputed Cloud Providers, picking the right subscription plan, and developing, deploying, and maintaining their business applications and infrastructure using these Cloud based services.

Some Powerful Online Tools: Best of all, most are FREE

2010-02-08T18:37:00.001+05:00

Posted by: R. Bokhari | Posted at: January 25th, 2010 | Posted in Technology Outsourcing

Now that we are past 2010 New Year celebrations and are approaching end of January, it is time to take a pause and ask an important question: am I using all the FREE tools to my advantage? If the answer is no, or maybe, then read on. In this short blog, we discuss some of the simple, yet powerful tools, that when used properly can give you a competitive edge. Let’s start with a few that have proven their worth.

LiveZilla Live Chat Support

If you are running an online business and do not have live chat support then you are losing an important channel to connect to potential customer and, thus, are losing sales. LiveZilla live chat support tool offers great value – its FREE! It is a solid tool with good number of options and, best of all, it’s an open source application that can be easily customized and branded to fit your requirements. Research consistently shows that if the visitor has a question when visiting your website then he or she is likely to ask it to your chat support – assuming of course that it is available. Bottom line, chat support increases your probability of generating sales. Some technical expertise is required to install and configure the tool but its well worth the effort.

Google Analytics

The saying goes something like this – “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” For an online business, the ability to gather and analyze relevant sales and marketing data, is a must. Google Analytics enables you to understand website traffic sources, keywords used, and a whole range of data about your website visitors. The tool is FREE and provides intermediate level analytical information that can enable you to fine tune your marketing efforts. The cost to you is only few hours of setup time.

Skype

Skype is probably one of the best voice calling tool available in the online market place. Skype-to-Skype calls are FREE and now include video calls as well. With a large user following, this tool offers a great way for businesses and individuals to connect with each other and to potential customers. Skype also advertises reasonably priced plans which allow the users to place calls to land lines and offers other great features such as voice mails, ability to send SMS messages, and Call Forwarding. Skype is also available on popular Smart phones which is very useful for cost conscious businesses and users.

Twiddla

There are quite a few popular desktop sharing and meeting tools such as WebEx.com, GoToMeeting.com, and LogMeIn.com to name a few. Another interesting tool that is very useful for one time use or single session is Twiddla. Say you are working with a vendor to update your website and you quickly need to point out a required change. Simply go to Twiddla, generate a meeting session (with one click), and pull up your website. Send the meeting link to the other party and now both parties can mark up the site together. Once the meeting is done you can save the edited file. This tool is very useful for one-off online meetings. And best of all, its FREE.

Google Docs

This is another powerful and FREE tool available from Google. Lets say you do not have Microsoft Word installed on your PC. You receive a Word document from a potential client and need to edit it and send it back. You can go to Google Docs, upload the document, make the edits, save it as a Word document, and send it back to your client. This is very useful for SMEs who do not want to install Microsoft Office, for cost or other reasons, on some or all of their PCs. Google Docs does lot more than just editing of common document formats. Other benefits include ease of sharing and collaboration. For example, you can setup a spreadsheet and other individuals, who are authorized, can update that on a daily or weekly basis. The document can be saved in Excel, OpenOffice, or PDF format. All you need to access and start using Google Docs is a Gmail account.

Stixy Bulletin Board

This is a web-based bulletin board that can be shared with friends, family, and colleagues. On this board you can put widgets; a widget could be a note, task, appointment, photo, to-do item, or a document. There are no rules on how you can arrange your bulletin board. Its completely up to you. We found the tool interesting to use. However, this is a not a formal project management tool but a casual sharing platform. So far Stixyboards are FREE or at least we couldn’t find any pricing structure given.

Gliffy Diagram Creator

Gliffy is an online diagram creating software tool. You can draw up professional quality flow charts, diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings, and more. Moreover, you can collaborate and share diagrams with your team. The tool has a good size object library that should fulfill most, if not all, of your requirements. The basic version of the plan is FREE with certain limitations, but if creating diagrams is important to you then a single seat license for $5/month might be worth the cost.

IDrive

This is an online backup tool for your PC data. The key benefit is the ability to restore you data from anywhere. If you are an entrepreneur or a small business whose employees are on the move then this is definitely worth a look. The IDrive basic plan allows only 2 GB of FREE space but this should be enough to back up your important mission critical data. The tool has a number of features that allow you to pick and choose when and what data you want to back up on regular basis. Features include True Archiving/Sync, Continuous Data Protection, Mapped Drive Backup, Versioning, Timeline Restore, and many more. It also offers personal, family, and business plans. The paid plans are reasonably priced.

Disclaimer: Our endorsements are based on our experience in using the above tools. If you decide to use any of the above tools it is your responsibility to review its terms and conditions as Kaya Systems, its management, and affiliates will not be held responsible in any event since we have no control over any of these tools.

2010-02-05T15:26:00.001+05:00

Some Powerful Online Tools: Best of all, most are FREE:

Now that we are past 2010 New Year celebrations and are approaching end of January, it is time to take a pause and ask an important question: am I using all the FREE tools to my advantage? If the answer is no, or maybe, then read on. In this short blog, we discuss some of the simple, yet powerful tools, that when used properly can give you a competitive edge. Let’s start with a few that have proven their worth.

LiveZilla Live Chat Support

If you are running an online business and do not have live chat support then you are losing an important channel to connect to potential customer and, thus, are losing sales. LiveZilla live chat support tool offers great value – its FREE! It is a solid tool with good number of options and, best of all, it’s an open source application that can be easily customized and branded to fit your requirements. Research consistently shows that if the visitor has a question when visiting your website then he or she is likely to ask it to your chat support – assuming of course that it is available. Bottom line, chat support increases your probability of generating sales. Some technical expertise is required to install and configure the tool but its well worth the effort.

Google Analytics

The saying goes something like this – “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” For an online business, the ability to gather and analyze relevant sales and marketing data, is a must. Google Analytics enables you to understand website traffic sources, keywords used, and a whole range of data about your website visitors. The tool is FREE and provides intermediate level analytical information that can enable you to fine tune your marketing efforts. The cost to you is only few hours of setup time.

Skype

Skype is probably one of the best voice calling tool available in the online market place. Skype-to-Skype calls are FREE and now include video calls as well. With a large user following, this tool offers a great way for businesses and individuals to connect with each other and to potential customers. Skype also advertises reasonably priced plans which allow the users to place calls to land lines and offers other great features such as voice mails, ability to send SMS messages, and Call Forwarding. Skype is also available on popular Smart phones which is very useful for cost conscious businesses and users.

Twiddla

There are quite a few popular desktop sharing and meeting tools such as WebEx.com, GoToMeeting.com, and LogMeIn.com to name a few. Another interesting tool that is very useful for one time use or single session is Twiddla. Say you are working with a vendor to update your website and you quickly need to point out a required change. Simply go to Twiddla, generate a meeting session (with one click), and pull up your website. Send the meeting link to the other party and now both parties can mark up the site together. Once the meeting is done you can save the edited file. This tool is very useful for one-off online meetings. And best of all, its FREE.

Google Docs

This is another powerful and FREE tool available from Google. Lets say you do not have Microsoft Word installed on your PC. You receive a Word document from a potential client and need to edit it and send it back. You can go to Google Docs, upload the document, make the edits, save it as a Word document, and send it back to your client. This is very useful for SMEs who do not want to install Microsoft Office, for cost or other reasons, on some or all of their PCs. Google Docs does lot more than just editing of common document formats. Other benefits include ease of sharing and collaboration. For example, you can setup a spreadsheet and other individuals, who are authorized, can update that on a daily or weekly basis. The document can be saved in Excel, OpenOffice, or PDF format. All you need to access and start using Google Docs is a Gmail account.

Stixy Bulletin Board

This is a web-based bulletin board that can be shared with friends, family, and colleagues. On this board you can put widgets; a widget could be a note, task, appointment, photo, to-do item, or a document. There are no rules on how you can arrange your bulletin board. Its completely up to you. We found the tool interesting to use. However, this is a not a formal project management tool but a casual sharing platform. So far Stixyboards are FREE or at least we couldn’t find any pricing structure given.

Gliffy Diagram Creator

Gliffy is an online diagram creating software tool. You can draw up professional quality flow charts, diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings, and more. Moreover, you can collaborate and share diagrams with your team. The tool has a good size object library that should fulfill most, if not all, of your requirements. The basic version of the plan is FREE with certain limitations, but if creating diagrams is important to you then a single seat license for $5/month might be worth the cost.

IDrive

This is an online backup tool for your PC data. The key benefit is the ability to restore you data from anywhere. If you are an entrepreneur or a small business whose employees are on the move then this is definitely worth a look. The IDrive basic plan allows only 2 GB of FREE space but this should be enough to back up your important mission critical data. The tool has a number of features that allow you to pick and choose when and what data you want to back up on regular basis. Features include True Archiving/Sync, Continuous Data Protection, Mapped Drive Backup, Versioning, Timeline Restore, and many more. It also offers personal, family, and business plans. The paid plans are reasonably priced.

Disclaimer: Our endorsements are based on our experience in using the above tools. If you decide to use any of the above tools it is your responsibility to review its terms and conditions as Kaya Systems, its management, and affiliates will not be held responsible in any event since we have no control over any of these tools.

2010-01-27T15:54:00.001+05:00

Some Powerful Online tools: http://ping.fm/2WVP0

2010-01-26T16:16:00.001+05:00

Hello Everyone!

Selecting a back office service provider - Things to consider

2009-05-28T18:35:00.002+06:00

Over the last few years, outsourcing of products & services has gained traction with Small & Medium Size Enterprises. As connectivity improved and bandwidth costs came down, outsourcing to low cost regions fast became a norm as apposed to an exception. These days SMEs are using back-end support in wide range of services from simple tasks such as data entry to writing complex business development plans to designing and developing advanced software systems. SMEs are reaping benefits in productivity gains, shorter turnaround times, and lower cost structures and are able to focus more on core business issues. Nonetheless, the task of finding the right provider that understands your business, communicates well, and most importantly responds promptly when things go wrong, is still daunting. Here are a few steps that can help you find the right provider.

Right Size Provider
If you represent a Small-to-Medium Enterprise (SME) then subscribing to a large back office service provider many not be a wise choice. While size has its benefits, a large provider will be more focused on big clients and if you only require one full-time associate, you will not be on his A or even B list. Mid size service providers are able to provide better value, service & flexibility.

Background
Thoroughly checking a provider’s background, management profile, and customer testimonials are all part of due diligence process. Time spent doing research upfront is time well spent.

Start Small
Run a pilot program with your selected provider before any long-term commitment is made. And while different situations may demand different durations, we strongly recommend that the pilot should be at least two months in duration. The goal is to test the provider on:

Overall task(s) quality (consistency, timely delivery etc…)
Response time in case of emergency
Quality of communication especially under stress
How disagreements are handled
Documentation/data provided in support of completed work

"Remote Local Office"
Consider your service provider as an extension of your company. Consider them "Your Remote local Office". Think of the whole process as training a new employee into a new job. Make sure that your remotely located employees have some understanding of the company's culture and its expectations and know the right people to contact if there is a need. Be open to new ideas that they may bring. Most likely, they have done similar consulting work with other companies and thus can bring fresh ideas and perspectives. Successfully integrating these remotely located employees into your company will pay long term dividends and help you focus more on growing your business.

How VA Providers can help SMEs in Speeding up Technology Adoption

2009-04-23T05:28:00.005+06:00

By Razi Bokhari

The world of Virtual Assistance has evolved from providing basic administrative and clerical support to handling increasingly complex tasks for clients. Today's virtual assistants are increasingly becoming a gateway and a liaison between the client and the other specialized resources within their company. One area where this model can really gain traction is in addressing the growing technology pains for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

An SME can have myriad of technology needs, which are sometimes as diverse as for a large corporation, though obviously smaller in scale. These requirements can be generally divided into two categories. Firstly there are "must-have" needs such as email and desktop support. The second category includes applications in areas such as CRM or BPM (Business Process Management), which help make these companies more productive, more informed, and more responsive to the changing world. It’s this second category where SMEs have generally lagged the larger corporations in adoption for obvious reasons. The SMEs do not have the scale to invest in human resources, software, and consulting cost to implement these solutions. A lot of times SMEs are busy just trying to manage their must-have technology needs that they don't get time to seriously think more about incorporating technology solutions to streamline their businesses.

However, during last few years, the environment has become increasingly favorable for SMEs to start looking into incorporating more technology into their daily business tasks. Firstly there is the rise and acceptance of open-source technologies as a viable alternative to more expensive commercial software from companies like Oracle and SAP. LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) based technology stack provide robust frameworks on which we can build applications. Also available are open-source customizable applications that target certain verticals such as Joomla for Content Management or SugerCRM for Customer Relationship Management. The result is that the product development life cycles have been reduced drastically thus enabling fairly rapid development and deployment at a much lower cost.

Secondly the evolution of VA companies have provided these SMEs with one-stop shop where they can ask providers to look into operations, spot potential areas which can be automated, suggest particular existing or new applications that can fit the bill, and then make development resources available to develop and maintain those applications. Today's crop of VA companies has amassed a strong knowledge base working with SMEs which they can leverage. Plus they can rely on in-house research teams to supplement their knowledge base when working with a particular company. Quite simply, this range of services is not available through specialized offshore development houses or dedicated technology consulting companies.

Combine the low cost of open-source or subscription based software with the flexibility of reasonably priced VA rate plans and you create a very attractive model for SMEs to speed up technology adoption and gain competitive edge - at a time when they need it the most.

Virtual Collaboration to keep your Back-Office running

2009-04-13T23:49:00.004+05:00

The age of virtual reality has arrived! We have seen a gradual but steady development in human psyche as well as technological advancements that have led humans to push the envelope in terms of how we use virtual systems. Take for example the online gaming industry -- you have millions if not tens of millions of people connected in a virtual gaming arena. The experience is life like, yet safe in your living room. You can not only beat your opponent from Germany; 6 time zones away; you can even talk to him on the game system.

With economic pressures looming large these days, businesses have stretched their office boundaries to virtually include the entire globe. One such phenomenon is the Virtual Office Services. These companies have been operating as small niche players, typically a single working mom would be the owner of such company. The services offered were faxing, calendaring and sending emails etc. But with the advent of secure Internet communications, seamless availability of office and productivity tools (that you use every day), these companies now offer large scale services that not only relieve your staff, it dramatically improves the way you are used to doing business. Offshore companies have tens or hundreds of educated staff members offering a wide range of service portfolios.

All of the above hinges on how effective the 'Virtual Collaboration' is between you and your virtual service company. The mainstay is the initial dialog; simply put -- how well can you define your needs and requirements! These companies are nimble and flexible in turning around with a viable solution at very affordable prices. Virtually anything that can either be digitized and processed on a computer is something that you can offload to a Virtual Assistant or a Virtual Back Office Consultant.

Try to push the envelope today and enjoy the benefits of cost savings while staying focused on your core business!

My 4-Hour Work Week Experiment: A Critique Of "The 4-Hour Workweek"

2009-03-25T22:11:00.014+05:00

We are thankful to Andrew Brown of Small Business Guru who wrote the article, "My 4-Hour Work Week Experiment", wherein he has described his experiment for "The 4-Hour Workweek" lifestyle. The article has helped Kaya Systems in positioning the company as one of the better providers of virtual assistance and back office support services. In his words: "Long & short, I’d say Kaya’s success stems from the high level of involvement by their principals. They offer a great service at a great price. They take the time to understand the expectations for each task before assigning them to some random associate."

Andrew Brown and Small Business Guru provide Coaching, Inspiration and Practical Advice for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs. Below, we are republishing this article for our blog readers.

My 4-Hour Work Week Experiment
By: Andrew Brown

In a recent article, I touched on Timothy Ferriss’ book The 4 Hour Work Week. While I can’t say I agreed with the practicality of all of his suggestions, I did find some of his ideas very interesting and figured I’d try some on for size. Namely, I wanted to find my very own Virtual Assistant.

Just what is a Virtual Assistant? Well, in simplest terms, they’re like a secretary – providing administrative / clerical support to a busy executive. They can do whatever any assistant can do as long as they don’t have to be physically present. So while you couldn’t have them pick up your dry cleaning, they’d be more than happy to research an upcoming presentation for you.

The Search Begins
Ferriss’ book mentions a couple resources - Brickwork, Your Man In India (YIIM), & Elance to name a few. I chose a shot gun approach and made inquiries with all three. Evidently, I was not the first person follow in Mr. Ferriss’ footsteps. My initial requests for information from both Brickwork and YMII were met with requests for me to ‘please be patient due to a recent upsurge of customer inquiries.’

Elance was a different story altogether. I posted a job request and within a few hours started receiving bids on my project request.

I have to admit that I initially was biased towards Brickwork and YMII because both promised highly educated professionals in myriad areas of expertise. They also offered 800#s, 24 x 7 service, and skilled project management capabilities to source my tasks to a resource best suited for my needs.

I was drooling at the thought of being able to jot an email request at 9pm at night and then having a full report waiting for me in my inbox the next morning.

My expectation was that anyone I found on Elance would be hard pressed to match the infrastructure of one of the more established services.

But would that be the reality of the situation? Would the experiment be a success?

First Contact
After about a week, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Satwik Joglekar of Brickwork. We had a 20 minute interview where he assessed my needs to ensure we had a good fit. I really liked Dr. Joglekar but my only concern was the difficulty we had communicating with each other. His accent was very thick and I had to keep asking him to repeat himself. This made me feel horrible.

Here’s this guy. He’s extremely well educated. He speaks multiple languages. I’m confident his IQ was 10X that of mine — I know, I know that’s probably not saying a lot. But the whole time I’m having to ask him to repeat himself because I just couldn’t make out what he was trying to say. Yeah, I guess that makes me the Ugly American expecting the world to meet my needs and communicate with me on my terms — but it is what it is and IT was painful.

That same week I was sent a description of services & contract agreement from YMII. My initial contact, Pushpa, said if I was agreeable to the terms I could sign document and I’d be assigned a VA (Virtual Assistant) within 3 weeks. That’s right — 3 weeks. I read the agreement and it was fairly benign and offered a trial period which would easily let me out of my commitment if I wasn’t happy. The documentation they provided was well thought out and I was anxious to get started, so I signed.

Elance. As I mentioned I received multiple bids within hours of me putting up my original post. Many, many were boiler plate responses but a number of them responded with intelligent & well thought out proposals. All in all, there were 14 bids which I was able to narrow down to 4-5.

So ummm what’s this going to cost?
Brickwork - assuming most of our communications would be written, I was very impressed with Brickwork. I really felt they could handle anything I could throw at them. They too had a bit of a lead time before they could assign someone to me. But I got the sense whoever it was would know their stuff. But it was going to cost me. Minimum to get started I had to be willing to pay $600 a month for 30 hours of work. Yikes. That was not the $4/hr. mentioned in Mr. Ferriss’ book.

YMII had a more reasonable entry fee. Prices started at $15 per hour but went down to $7 if I were willing to commit to 160 hours per month. I settled in on their $120 per month plan @ $12/hr.

Elance varied between $4 - $40 per hour. I had offers from US & Canadian firms which were on the high end but I did get the feeling communication skills would be worth it. In the end I settled on Kaya Systems @ $6.5/hr. I settled on them not because they were the lowest bidder, because they weren’t. I just felt they had put the most time & thought in responding to my request. They said what they were good at, what they weren’t suitable for, and they provided intelligent responses to any questions I asked.

My First Assignment
So after eliminating Brickwork just for budgetary concerns. I found myself with two VAs: Ashwin as assigned by YMII and Hassan of Kaya Systems.

I still had to wait a few weeks to get going with YMII so Hassan (Kaya Systems) & I got a head start on things.

Hassan Bokhari is actually based in Athens, Georgia. He founded the company with his brother Razi after getting his MBA in Finance & General Management at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kaya has a two step process. First, all tasks are managed by Hassan or Razi. They feel as Americans they’ll be able to quickly understand what the requirements are and set performance parameters for regular processes. The second step involves transferring the work to their colleagues in South Asia. This approach makes sense as they’re essentially acting as the communications bridge between their clients and their team.

Hassan & I were both on the same page. Delegation of tasks to a VA is an iterative process. My first goal was to get regular maintenance of the Small Business Guru Web site and email newsletter into someone else’s hands. This was a series of repeatable steps that if offloaded, would free up my time to focus more on what I do best — which is NOT managing a Web site.

We started off slow. The weekly management of the Web site and newsletter generally took me about 5-6 hours per week. I was able to divide the project into chunks of work that I could transfer to Hassan. I knew I wouldn’t be able to teach the whole process to him in one week and still get the newsletter out in time. So we broke it up in chunks and over a 3 week period we eventually got it to the point where Hassan was handling the whole thing from start to finish.

At first, the back and forth of this process doubled the lead times for stuff that I’d normally just pound out myself. But once Kaya ‘got it’ — it was AWESOME. Not only did I gain the 5-6 hours a week, I just don’t have to do something that I hated doing. I can relax and know they have it covered.

YMII’s Turn
By the time YMII was ready to take me on as a client, I was already sold on this whole Virtual Assistant idea. I was excited to try YMII because I figured with their infrastructure they’d be able to really take me to the next level. Unfortunately, that changed within the first week’s worth of assignments.

Based on what I read in their literature, I was expecting YMII to bring some bench depth with respect to research and analysis. The idea was forming in my mind that I could use Kaya for data entry type tasks and YMII for research and analysis.

I started by assigning a research project. I tried to set expectations for questions I wanted answered, how long the project should take, and what resources they might want to check out. Two days later I received a very thin report that apparently took 3 hours to put together. It failed to answer my questions and was little more than a one page document with a couple links to some Web sites.

By contrast, I tried assigning the same exact project to Kaya. What a difference.

Hassan first sent me an email with some questions he had on the task. He wanted to make very sure he understood my objectives before just jumping right in and eating up a bunch of hours. Then when he did deliver the report, it was a thing of beauty. It was packed with RELEVANT information. It answered all my questions. It had summaries of the pros & cons of each option presented. It was more than I hoped for and it only cost me $18.

Conclusion
For me, Kaya Systems ended up being the clear winner.

Perhaps if I had invested more time in coaching YMII, we could have eventually established a good working relationship. I still think YMII is probably an excellent company. If anything, I’m guessing they’re probably just a victim of their own success. I just got the impression they were struggling to keep up with an onslaught of new clients and thus were not able to provide the level of service they would have liked to.

Long & short, I’d say Kaya’s success stems from the high level of involvement by their principals. They offer a great service at a great price. They take the time to understand the expectations for each task before assigning them to some random associate.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelly Andrew Brown and Small Business Guru provide Coaching, Inspiration and Practical Advice for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs. Subscribe to the free, weekly newsletter at www.small-business-guru.com

Working With VAs: Making Virtual Assistant Relationship Work

2009-03-25T00:07:00.004+05:00

Large corporations, as early as late 80s, had started setting up offices or partnered up with local back office service providers in South and Far East Asia to take advantage of cheaper talent pool. These companies had the financial muscle to open offices, train employees, and adapt management techniques to fit the local environment. This option was not viable for Small-to-Mid size Enterprises (SMEs) for financial and economy of scale reasons. All this has changed with evolution in Virtual Assistant (VA) concept and the advancement in broadband internet access and remote connectivity tools. Virtual Assistant (VA) Companies now not only provide basic services but also web/desktop application development, business analysis, online marketing, and bookkeeping support to new a few.

So how do we differentiate this new crop of VA Companies from standard outsourcing firms? In my view, today’s successful VA Companies operate in a make-to-order environment with flexibility to accommodate the needs of a SME. Their flexibility and lower cost structure actually makes them attractive to any size business. The question then becomes how do you find a quality provider and how should you engage the provider in a mutually beneficial relationship. While there is no silver bullet, the following seven points will improve your probability of finding and sustaining a good match.

Characteristics of Good Provider
First define what your needs are. Take some time to make a list of tasks using 80/20 rule; 20% of the tasks that take 80% of your time. How many of those tasks are repeatable; for example, regular content updating on your website or ad postings on a daily or weekly basis is a repeatable task. Once you have your list, then search online for providers that provide those services. Pick three to five providers that have a solid website with testimonials section and provide a range of services. Google these providers to find out what good/bad information you can find. Read their testimonials, ask for references preferably from one of the clients in the testimonial list, and ask for work samples. As a general rule, you can expect responsive service if your requirement are at least 20hrs/week.

Expect Learning Curve
A common mistake made is not accounting for learning curve. No matter how experienced a provider is and how much a client has utilized a Virtual Assistant in the past, it always takes some time to understand requirements and implement solutions. Clients that factor in the learning curve have the highest success rate. If you are going to test a VA Company’s productivity against a specific benchmark then you must help the provider to perform at it best. In few extreme cases we came across, the client’s focus was on proving that VA arrangements do not create value and as a result the relationship was more adversarial to begin with than a potential partnership. While virtual assistance many not work in all situations, the value they create is well documented and beyond doubt. If you’ve your doubts about productivity, discuss those with your provider so an accurate assessment can be made.

Initial Settling Period
Once you have selected your Virtual Assistant Company, the focus must be on building a process that suits your requirements and creates value. You must understand the variables involved. The most common variables are:

1. Time Zone Difference
By understanding the time zone difference, you can actually make it work to your advantage. If your provider is located in South Asia and you are located on the American East Coast then most likely your provider is 10 to 11 hours ahead of you. If you are located in Sydney, Australia then you are most likely 4 to 5 hours ahead of your South Asian provider. The main idea is that you find out what working hours overlap so you can communicate with your VA and clarify any issues.

2. Language and Cultural Difference
Your assigned Virtual Assistant most likely speaks and writes English well but the differences between South Asian English and wherever you are located do exist. Add cultural difference to that and it becomes all the more important that you clearly state the task/project, explain any underlying assumptions, and leave some time margin for your VA to ask questions.

Task/Project Management and Reporting
When you assign a task/project make sure you articulate the problem statement clearly. If there are any underlying assumptions make your assistant aware of those. The effort (hours) allowed for the task/project and the project delivery due date must be clearly communicated. Most Virtual Assistant Companies should have a basic project management tool that could be accessed via their website. It should, at the very least, convey the status of your task/project (%age complete) and authorized vs. consumed hours. Some providers will include other information as well, such as your plan related information, and payment status to name a few.

Bottom line, you must provide complete task/project information and your provider should have a mechanism to update you on the status without you having to ask for it.

Organizational Issues
Any outsourcing of tasks/projects will be met with resistance unless those affected are involved and not threatened by it. Organizational dynamics must be carefully considered before any VA relationships are considered. There are numerous cases where the company management was excited about the possibilities but the employees were not on board, and as a result the collaborative benefits were not fully realized. VAs when employed to facilitate growth by increasing capacity, improving capability, and enhancing collaboration result in successful relationships; as opposed to, when seen as an exercise in work force reduction.

When employees understand and believe that resources freed up by VA collaboration can be redeployed for revenue generation activities hence improving the health of the company, the arrangement becomes a win-win situation.

Avoid Hasty Conclusions
If your Virtual Assistant misinterpreted the task and went in the wrong direction, that doesn’t mean that you have conclusive evidence that this type of relationship doesn’t work. This is actually part of learning for both you and the associate. Make sure you find out what caused the confusion and what needs to be done by you and the associate to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. If your VA continuously underperforms, then talk to your provider and most likely they will assign you another associate. Understand the difference between a good provider and the underperforming associate. Good provider is what you should be interested in. VAs will come and go.

While we all would love our assistant to hit the ground running, the reality is all relationships take time to develop and VA is no different.

Sustaining and Growing the Relationship
This is as important as finding a good Virtual Assistant Company. Open communication in a closed feedback loop will ensure consistent performance. Mistakes will happen and lessons must be learned. However, the key is how your provider reacts to rectify the situation. Openly communicate your concerns and suggest ways to help the situation. This will signal to your provider that you are a partner and you want to help in straightening things out.

The term virtual in “Virtual Assistant” is somewhat misleading; these are real people working in a real office with all the issues of any business. Sometimes clients expect the assistant to be available at the drop of a hat and that is not a realistic expectation. If you have subscribed to a 10hr/week plan then taper your expectations accordingly. Part-time support means your assigned Virtual Assistant is supporting multiple clients, if you need dedicate support then subscribing to a full-time plan is required.

Conclusion
Utilizing Virtual Assistants is a great way for SMEs to improve capacity and capability, and reduce cost at the same time. All supporting activities of your business are candidates for back office processing. By tapping into a VA relationship clients also get access to a number of other skills. You may be able to get bookkeeping support, website maintenance/development, invoicing, research etc. all through your assigned VA. And this is what makes a “Virtual Assistant” extremely valuable.