Find the best Indian VA: Top services to outsource

One of the great things about today’s tech-driven world is that everyone has the liberty to perform their daily jobs digitally anywhere. And this is all thanks to the wonders of the internet.

It has also been easier for businesses to hire professional talents, like virtual assistants, from across the globe through outsourcing.

Notably, two of the top business process outsourcing destinations as of today are India and the Philippines.

While hiring through an outsourcing company is a good choice, another excellent staffing option would be individual contractors like virtual assistants. To be specific, hiring an Indian VA offers a lot of favorable perks to all types of organizations.

For foreign companies looking for a reliable virtual assistant, it is always a viable solution to hire from developing countries. These are not just because of the people’s skills and talents but also due to their cost-effectiveness.

India is one country known to have skilled virtual assistants who have in-depth knowledge of various online services.

What does a virtual assistant do?

A virtual assistant or VA is someone who performs remote administrative tasks given by clients. Virtual assistants are considered individual contractors that usually operate in a home office location.

A VA can work for one specific client or different clients at the same time while in the comforts of their house.

Virtual assistant tasks

Virtual assistant services can range from simple data entry and contact center tasks to ones that require specialized skills and experience. As they become more in demand today, the scope of web services widens.

Examples of virtual assistant services include:

• Writing blog posts
• Graphic design
• Data entry
• Bookkeeping
• Social media management
• Customer services

VAs also perform personal tasks related to social media management, content writing, graphic design, bookkeeping, appointment scheduling, and more. Basically, a VA’s tasks for each client will depend on the company’s needs, including the terms indicated in their contract.

Clients such as startups as well as small business owners are the ones that can get the most out of virtual assistants. VAs are very helpful for these types of companies as they are able to save massive costs.

These expenses can then be allocated to more important aspects of their growing business.

Additionally, hiring an extended workforce allows them to save more time focusing on their business core.

Virtual assistant qualifications 

Anyone can become a virtual assistant, whether they’re a professional or an undergraduate. This type of job has no specific educational requirements.

More so, there isn’t a specified age bracket for VAs. They can be fresh graduates without experience or retirees with wide industry experience.

They can also be employees with full-time jobs who are looking to do a couple more hours of work for extra income.

A good work ethic, technological resources, web skills, and a reliable internet connection are what makes a virtual assistant. A good virtual assistant should be tech-savvy, excellent in communication, and well-organized.

Outsourcing Indian virtual assistants

India often comes to mind in terms of IT outsourcing services or foreign companies that are simply looking to offshore.

These days, it has also been on top of the list of go-to countries for hiring virtual assistants. This is mainly because English is widely spoken in the country.

Further, India also has a good number of outsourcing companies that are providing clients with virtual assistant services.

Indians are known to be hard-working, polite, well-educated, and very popular in terms of technical skills. India is one of the largest offshoring destinations for IT companies worldwide. The IT-BPM sector contributed around 7.5% to the country’s GDP for the fiscal year 2023.

Aside from professional skills, what draws foreign companies to hire an India VA is that they are able to pay lower costs. Paying for a virtual assistant in the country is way cheaper compared to hiring a virtual assistant located in the US and Europe.

Because of the time-zone differences, Indian VAs are able to offer their services around the clock or at least for extended periods.

This is a good advantage for foreign clients as they are able to extend their operations, even up to twenty-four hours. At the same time, they are able to add more staff and scale to a large team cost-effectively without sacrificing the quality of work.

Top Indian VA services

Companies of all sizes and different types of industries can outsource almost anything to virtual assistants. Virtual assistant tasks in this day and age are very diverse.

We’ve outlined the top Indian virtual assistant services that foreign companies commonly avail of in India:

Administrative virtual assistant

This role is perfect for startups or small businesses with a growing customer base. A skilled Indian virtual assistant can help business owners run their daily operations smoothly by handling repetitive daily tasks.

Some of their responsibilities include setting appointments, calendar management, and scheduling meetings.

Virtual personal assistant

A virtual personal assistant commonly works for business executives or busy people who do not have enough time for their personal lives. Indian virtual personal assistants handle clients’ travel bookings, holiday plans, restaurant reservations, and spa appointments.

In some cases, virtual assistants also perform personal tasks such as buying specific gifts for their client’s loved ones.

Social media personal assistant

Virtual assistants can manage specific parts of their client’s social media marketing, including customer support.

Social media personal assistants are usually in charge of keeping all their clients’ social media accounts engaging and relevant to the public eye. Their tasks involve scheduling posts, advertisements, analytics, and writing business blogs for their clients.

Social media is also the preferred method for customers to reach out to brands. It’s part of the virtual assistant’s role to respond to these inquiries at all times.

Virtual marketing assistant

A virtual marketing assistant has a wider scope of responsibilities than a social media personal assistant. This type of Indian VA requires domain knowledge about the client’s business.

Part of a virtual marketing assistant’s tasks can include performing market research, keyword research, and SEO optimization.

E-commerce virtual assistant

Entrepreneurs who run an e-commerce store on Amazon or Shopify are the usual clients that acquire an e-commerce virtual assistant. E-commerce Indian VAs are often in charge of listing their clients’ products on different online platforms.

They also handle writing product descriptions, data entry tasks, customer management, and inventory management services.

Where to find an Indian VA

There are plenty of freelance online platforms that companies can look through to find the right Indian VA. Depending on your arrangement with your chosen Indian VA, you can pay them hourly, monthly, or by the project.

Upwork has always been one of the top freelance platforms of choice. There are thousands of available virtual assistants, each with their own set of specialized skills.

As mentioned earlier, Indian virtual assistants are typically employed in business process outsourcing companies in the country. This contrasts with other popular outsourcing destinations like the Philippines, where virtual assistants are individual contractors who work from home.

If your company opts to outsource to the right Indian VA, you can start by browsing through India’s leading outsourcing companies.

You may visit this guide where we’ve outlined the top 30 BPO companies in India.