An Extra Pair of Hands Whenever You Need Them

Is there anybody out there who couldn't use an extra pair of hands? Who needs help with getting the bills paid on time? Organising an electrician, plumber, decorator, etc to carry out work at home? Someone to answer the phone? Make your appointments? Type up your reports? Research holiday destinations and organise your travel - both home and abroad? Someone to manage your expenses and file your returns? Someone who can help you write your literature, blogs, flyers, who can help you with mailing campaigns or follow up calls. Sounds good?

Well, a virtual assistant service can place all this help at your fingertips. A perfect solution for anyone with too much to do and not enough time to do it in.

Think of it like hiring a temp from an employment agency - only you'll never have to do that again! A virtual assistant is self employed and bills only for actual hours worked - no paying for coffee breaks, holiday leave, sick leave or employment taxes. Because a virtual assistant works remotely (ie not in your office) the use of web based tools like instant messenger services, email, online calendars, task managers, online filing etc are used to help you work with your assistant. Schedule changes, project reports, customer service alerts can all be performed immediately. A virtual assistant can help bring the impression of size to your company.

Find out more about working within a virtual office.

The Away PA provides an "on demand" secretarial and business support service in conjunction with it's online office "Head Office". To find out more about how you can take advantage of a fully supported office, anywhere, any time, visit the Head Office website or The Away PA Website or email info.headoffice@theawaypa.eu or telephone 08450 527565.

Harness the Power of the Internet to Expand and Improve Your Business

In little more than a generation, the Internet has revolutionised the way that we conduct our lives and do business, and virtual offices and virtual office services have emerged to help us bridge the gap. In recent times this growing
trend has picked up momentum, and we now turn to the web through various modes
of communication to fulfil so many different tasks.

Methods of communication have made great progress and as postal services will testify, e-mail has now become the communications method of choice. Within many businesses, certain employees may be offered the choice to work from their homes. Costly travel and accommodation expenses are being reduced as organisations elect to utilise teleconferencing for necessary salesand client meetings. All these developments suggest the true strengthof the internet and its ability to make us communicate virtually and far more efficiently.

As technology is revolutionising the way we do business, the world of virtual assistant services has emerged to fulfil a clear need. In our evolving global markets, an online office and the services of a virtual assistant can make sense from a number of different perspectives, and we suggest below some reasons why you might consider their selection:

For either a start-up concern or an established business, the cost of expansion can dig a sizeable hole in a company's financial reserves. While it is hard to acquire new businessto begin with, it can be far more difficult trying to set aside

additional resources to bring in another capacity to service newly acquired clients and customers. If you have to deal with the hiring and training of staff, especially if it’s for short-term projects, you are likely
to encounter obstacles. At the least you will experience a ramp up period during which the employee will likely not be up to speed, and you may also run the risk of discovering that the person is truly not up to the job, or simply does not fit in. A virtual assistant can fulfil all your admin requirements instantly and free your resources to work on some other pressing problem.

The harried entrepreneur quickly finds that he or she cannot be amicro-manager and cannot assume responsibility for everything. There is only so much that one can do in a typical day and you may already have experienced that these days can extend to cover all daylight hours and more. Virtual assistant services are ideally placed to free management from non-essential activities. Imagine a scenario where all routine admin tasks are covered by an efficient, readily available and reactive virtual assistant. By focusing on core values, direct customer satisfaction and new business development, the entrepreneur can concentrate on bringing more money to the table.

As expenditure has taken on a whole new meaning during our recent economic difficulties, it makes sense to trim all overhead costs as much as possible. With competition very much in mind, the organisation that is able to reduce overheads while taking advantage of an online office and/or virtual assistant services will be much leaner, fitter and able to trade more efficiently, as we emerge into more profitable times.

The Away PA provides an "on demand" secretarial and business support service in conjunction with it's online office "Head Office". To find out more about how you can take advantage of a fully supported office, anywhere, any time, visit the Head Office website or The Away PA Website or email info.headoffice@theawaypa.eu or telephone 08450 527565.

What is a Virtual Office?

A virtual office network is an office environment that is accessed by way of the web at any time and from any place. A virtual office network provider utilises the power of the internet and technical expertise to offer the user a simulated work environment where the user can access facilities similar to that provided by a more expensive exchange server, such as intranet, company email, shared calendars, shared files and work processes by way of a PC or laptop/netbook and web connection.

So, for example, an employee or work colleague could be out of the office due to business, or may even work from home, but yet is still be able to communicate or transfer data to colleagues and others at the workplace within the office environment. This makes a virtual office an effective tool to add value to your business and make it more systematic and effective.

What makes the virtual office so attractive is that all this is achievable with minimum to zero investment in infrastructure, with the service provider managing the design and development of the virtual office network and taking care of the maintenance and support.

The Benefits of Virtual Office

• The client does not have to bother with costly and time consuming upgrades since the client hires the virtual office service from the provider and the maintenance of which is the responsibility of the service provider.

• The flexibility that a virtual office network provides is unparalleled, as employees only need a laptop/netbook and network connectivity to get in touch with the main office. This functionality is important for mobile businesses and where business activity is conducted from various locations or from home.

• Often security is seen as a constraint in the domain of virtual office networks as corporate data is confidential. However with development in technologies, service providers today utilise highly sophisticated tools, password login systems and authentication management which makes the system more secure than accessing it from your workplace.

• The package that a virtual office network provider can offer includes the deployment, along with support for planning, designing and maintenance. Subscription is on a "pay as you go" basis in the form of a monthly fee.

To find out more about the virtual office service provided by The Away PA, visit: Head Office.

The Away PA provides an "on demand" secretarial and business support service in conjunction with it's online office "Head Office". To find out more about how you can take advantage of a fully supported office, anywhere, any time, visit the Head Office website or The Away PA Website or email info.headoffice@theawaypa.eu or telephone 08450 527565.

Remote Working with a Virtual Desktop

Many people don’t know about a rather new technology called "Virtual Desktops" which gives SMEs access to enterprise class technology, allowing staff to work from anywhere, as if they were in the office.

How do Virtual Desktops work?

With the traditional model you have a PC on your desk and all of your programs and data are stored in this PC – you could call this a physical desktop. With a Virtual Desktop programs and data are stored centrally and you access this “Virtual” desktop remotely using the internet with a connection device such as a laptop, another PC or a mobile device.

It doesn't matter where you are, if you can access the internet you can access your hosted desktop – and work.

How much does this level of IT cost?

Actually, virtual desktops can save your business costs. Plus it is a per user, per month package. With this type of outsourcing your company can scale easily, and only pay for what you need.

What are you waiting for?

Virtual Desktops are cheaper, more reliable and more secure and, you can use the same desktop in the office, at home, in a hotel or on holiday. Contact Head Office to find out more!

Author: The Away PA

The Away PA provides an "on demand" secretarial and business support service in conjunction with it's online office "Head Office". To find out more about how you can take advantage of a fully supported office, anywhere, any time, visit the Head Office website or The Away PA Website or email info.headoffice@theawaypa.eu
or telephone 08450 527565.

Why it's important to take advantage of a Virtual Office when you're a small business

If you find you spend significant time on administration and fielding basic enquiries that add relatively low value to your business, you may find these can easily be outsourced, allowing you to spend more time on developing and implementing sales strategies. It has been my experience that one person start-ups get lost in the administration and there is no-one to drive sales*. This is where a virtual office can be useful.

What you can do is consider the cost and compare to the extra sales you could generate if some of your time was freed up.

You are absolutely right to be considering the option of a virtual office rather than committing to an expensive lease and hiring a full-time resource. Failing to maintain enough flexibility in your cost base during the early stages of your business is a common fatal error. This may prove more expensive in the short-term, but will provide you with valuable flexibility to scale up as your business grows.

The last point to consider is your credibility. In the early days you do need to work on credibility. The appearance of being large, stable dependable is important. An office and help is part of this. I on the whole would probably lean towards a virtual office so you can be free to pursue growth opportunities.

Extract taken from an article written by Brad Rosser who is a serial entrepreneur and former right-hand man of Richard Branson

*Head Office provides an easy to use, powerful CRM database which can manage and track your sales effort. For more information email: info.headoffice@theawaypa.eu or telephone 08450 527565