William Schmarzo and Hitachi Vantara, two experts from KDNuggets recently talked about the role of big data in the corporate world. They mentioned that companies often face a dilemma between choosing to use big data to save money versus making money. The reality is that both are essential at the same time. Virtual assistants are becoming increasingly reliant on big data to demonstrate that analytics can be key to cost reduction.
Virtual Assistants Rely on Big Data Analytics to Bolster Customer ROI
Four years ago, Quantumrun wrote a detailed article on the rise of big data among virtual assistants. The authors mentioned that their reliance on new technology is one of the factors that differentiates them form other types of personal assistants. They are using big data to bolster their intrinsic value to customers. “These VAs function similarly to the personal assistants the rich and powerful employ today to help run their busy lives, but with the rise of big data and machine intelligence, the benefits personal assistants offer celebrities will soon be enjoyed by the masses, largely for free,” Quantumrun writes.
What Are the Selling Points of V.A.s with a Background in Big Data?
In most major American companies operating today, the hot button topic is “shareholder value.” Whether you agree with it or not (and there’s plenty to debate), the reality is that it’s become the guiding philosophy behind how businesses conduct themselves. In particular, shareholder value seems to translate to reducing costs while increasing profits. The practice of outsourcing has grown immensely as more companies adopt shareholder value as their guiding mantra. From that perspective, it makes sense. Outsourcing can save companies a lot of money, and even help struggling companies recover. More than anything, outsourcing has the potential to improve a company’s efficiency, which will, in turn, lead to even higher profits. Big data is making the process much easier. Companies can use big data to collect virtual scorecards of various virtual assistants. This helps match them with experts with the right background. In the following, we’ll discuss how outsourcing some of your business functions to virtual assistants can help save you serious money, improve your business’ operations, and appease the almighty shareholders you may answer to.
Big Data and V.A.s Help Companies Reduce Infrastructural and Commuting Costs
Big data is creating a more decentralized workforce, as more companies rely on the gig economy. V.A.s are right in the middle of the excitement. When it comes to maintaining a physical location, there are two main enemies you deal with – building costs and scheduling. Both of these aspects can take a lot of time and money, and if not balanced well, can reduce your company’s profitability.
Building Costs
As you know, building costs relate to more than just rent. They also include insurance, modernization, and maintenance. All of these combined can quickly drain your coffers. The Square Foot reported that companies based in New York average $14,800 per employee, per year, to rent office space. Big data helps companies connect with virtual assistants all over the world. This reduces the need to create a large building to host their internal staff.
Commutes
When it comes to morale, nothing will kill an employee’s enthusiasm like dealing with a long commute. That alone can lead to a loss of productivity. Couple that with the potential of running late and missing work, and you have a recipe for working hours that don’t yield anything useful. Virtual Assistants address both problems at once. Since your workforce is reduced, you don’t have to pay for as much office space. Since workers are often remote, they don’t deal with long commutes, leaving them happier and more productive. How is this possible? Because they use big data to operate VOIP tools, which are the most cost-effective for communication.
Eliminates the Need to Train New Employees
One of the biggest costs that your company endures is in hiring new employees. While this applies to monetary costs to a certain extent, other areas of profit are hit harder. For example, new employees cost you in:
- Lowered production due to unfamiliarity with your practices
- Production lost from assigning a trainer
- Time lost from correcting rookie mistakes
- Having to deduct more from the payroll.
Most of all, new employees represent a risk that may or may not pan out. If it does, you have the potential to increase your returns. If they don’t, it’s a sunk investment. Finding the right virtual assistants service will help you reduce these losses. You’ll be getting professional, qualified assistants who will reduce your costs in the long run.
Improve Customer Satisfaction
One of the main factors that will ensure you retain your customers is how satisfied they are with your customer support services. If they feel catered too, they’ll continue to use your services even if they cost more. If they feel neglected, they’ll be much more likely to abandon you. Make no mistake – customer satisfaction is your #1 concern for growing your business. A tiny misstep in this department can get even a top-level exec fired. Just ask former Amazon VP Bill Price, after founder Jeff Bezos called his bluff on customer service wait times being less than a minute. Price ended up resigning within the year. Virtual Assistants offer a cost-effective way to improve your customer satisfaction ratings. These hard-working professionals know their contract, and livelihood, are on the line. They’ll do everything they can to ensure your customers have an amazing experience with your company. Big data is helping here as well. Companies can use big data to monitor customer behavior and satisfaction. Their V.A.s have a number of analytics tools at their fingertips to make sure every customer walks away happy.
VAs Use Big Data to Bolster their Value to Customers
Companies all over the world are highly dependent on virtual assistants. These V.A.s are making themselves even more irreplaceable by using newer and more effective forms of data analytics to increase customer value in the 21st Century. They realize that big data is changing the nature of the workplace and are using it to gain an edge in the gig economy.