Friday, June 3, 2016

Going Paperless


A New Era in Technology, but Is Moving to Paperless a Good Thing?



We have moved to a world that has almost to some degree gone paperless!  If you look at Virtual assistants such Google, Siri, and Cortana. People have made these a part of their everyday lives such as using voice to text, voice to search google, getting directions to a specific location, asking your virtual assistant such as Siri to give you a phone number or what you were suppose to get at the store after work. Everyday we are use Virtual assistance more and more.  People are learning new ways to use these Virtual Assistant tools at work as well. As the American working class, we can all agree that we can NEVER finish the work that is supposed to be done in a day.

When we leave the office at the end of the day, we hope that we do not have leftover emails to respond to, but what if you had someone to do it for you, like a virtual assistant? Many businesses have moved into hiring one person for example "only responding to emails".  Again this cuts overhead cost!  Looking back at all the paper we have wasted over the years and coming this far with technology so we do not have to use as much paper is astonishing!

We have established that technology is taking off vigorously, but is this a good thing? Yes we may say it is for most things such working, our businesses purposes but what about our younger generations, or even the fact that "2 Billion Jobs to disappear by 2030" Says Futurists Thomas Frey, Author of "Communicating with the Future".  His article is very interesting  2 Billion Jobs To Disappear by 2030

Lets take a look at this YouTube video of the 1 year old child.  She is give a tablet and immediately discovers how to use it and that all she has to do is move her finger across the screen to open up a new page or link.  She is then given a REAL paper magazine.  Watch watch what happens.


The child thinks either her finger is broke or the magazine is broke?  What are your thoughts on this? A one year thinking that she can push the page and it work just like a tablet?  Should their be an age limit at which children should not be allowed to use technology devices as such?  Do you think this interferes with their learning ability and motor skills?  Everyone has a different opinion and I would love to hear them!

When looking at Pros and Cons of going paperless.  The younger generations now have more of a willingness to read and interact on a computer screen rather then on paper.  They are also less resistant to be glued to a computer screen when reading and writing documents. I believe this could be a positive outlook on our younger generations and the fact that they are willing to learn more with the help of technology. Money and space saving as well. There is no need to buy an abundance of paper, storage compartments, toners, cartridges.  We can store everything n a hard drive! Some Cons of course the sender and receiver would more then likely need to have access to the same software. Confidentiality is a big one, worries of others being able to see information by hacking. Expenses that we would incur of course for updates, anti-viruses and more.

In the end we see the environmental friendly aspects of going paperless, but the sticky part is balancing the pros and cons which still concerns many individuals. 

Friday, May 27, 2016

Making Sense Of Virtual Assistants


So what exactly is a Virtual Assistant?

virtual assistant (typically abbreviated to VA, also called a virtual office assistant) is generally self-employed and provides professional administrative, technical, or creative (social) assistance to clients remotely from a home office.

OK, So we have this part established but why would anyone want a virtual assistant versus a regular in office assistant?  Well, many reason come to mind.


It makes business sense to keep overhead costs down, and one of the biggest benefits of hiring a VA is cost savings as they are are paid only for the hours they work. Many outsource the tasks that they don't have the skills for and don't have the time to learn.

With the number of Virtual Assistants growing now days, it makes it easier for business's and organizations to find a specific one to meet their needs!  Business's can use a VA for everything from bookkeeping, making customer service calls, data entry, online research, web design, blogging, receiving and sending feedback emails, and even just sending thank you cards to prospective employers.  Virtual assistants are just like any of your other employees, they just happen to work remotely.  It is important that we establish great relationships with these VA's because they work just as hard as a regular in house employee, sometimes if not harder!

Follow ups on Clients and even potential clients are a big deal to any business owner or organization.  Just this simple task a VA can do for a lower price then hiring an individual to sit an office on the clock every day 40 hours a week with nothing else that needs to be done.  A VA can so this from home contacting and receiving messages, and entering anything new into a data system that needs to be entered.  Transporting paper information to a computer based program, keeping up with new, fast, and efficient ways of doing things to help the company grow.

Presentations are another big Virtual Assistant job. They could be working on anywhere from researching topics, statistical data, and transforming this into a power point or transferring notes to a word Document to help a business get ready for a big presentation. This could be a huge time saver to a company.

When it comes to sending thank you notes and holiday thank you cards, this can become very overwhelming and time consuming for someone that does not have the time.  These types of social task can be done at home through a VA!

                             THIS MAY BE YOU OR MAYBE YOU KNOW SOMEONE?



Sometimes booking airfares, scheduling hotel stays, scheduling appointments, keeping up with events on a calendar can just be to much. All of these tasks have tools available online! So why not let a virtual assistant take it over! Our social media pages, and keeping up with them , adding new information as needed, answering peoples questions or concerns about new products on the horizon. Can we say WOW I get overwhelmed writing about all of this! Little do we know there is someone that can take it over for you ONLINE!


So when we talk Virtual Assistant lets think about what they can bring to the table. How would it help our business save money, cut over head costs, and gaining more in profit? This could help a lot of businesses save on actually having an office, hey who would not want to work from home, or the beach, or even sitting outside on the patio in the fresh air working? This makes you think doesn't it? YES! That is what I wanted!!!

Hi, My name is Heather Gantt I am a new Virtual Assistant and blogger, look out for more blogs and visit my business page"Virtually Yours" if you are looking for a VA for information on what I can provide to your company!

 http://VirtuallyYoursVA.yolasite.com
Heather Gantt
heather.helms@ymail.com