Whether you’re a business owner or an individual who wants to outsource some of your administrative tasks, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Fortunately, there are plenty of service providers out there that can help you find virtual assistants with the right skills for your needs.
Think of the most essential tasks you need to be done and see if you have the capacity to do them — those tasks you can’t (or won’t) do by yourself or by your in-house team are the ones perfect for outsourcing. Outsourcing is the process of delegating tasks or projects to a third party.
But what exactly is a virtual assistant? A virtual assistant or VA can be anyone who provides services remotely through technology, such as email and phone calls. They won’t be working at the same workplace where you are and may be based anywhere in the world. Typically, you’ll only be paying for their services, unlike if you hire employees to work at your company.
You can also find some VAs through a staffing agency or a business process outsourcing company. Depending on the service provider’s offerings and setup, the VAs hired through them may work from their respective offices or may also work remotely, like the independent contractor VA. Hence, the beauty of hiring a VA is that you’re not limited by the constraints of an in-office work setup: you can hire someone or a virtual team to work for you from wherever.
Now that we’ve got the basics of the process covered, let us help you put together a virtual assistant task list with our recommendations.
Key Insights:
- Virtual assistants (VAs) help you offload routine tasks so you can focus on high-value work.
- VAs can handle everything from social media to bookkeeping, giving you the flexibility to scale without adding headcount (especially helpful during hiring freezes).
- Working with a trusted partner like Connext ensures data security, compliance, and reliability, critical for healthcare, tech, and financial services companies.
- While cost savings matter, the real value of outsourcing is efficiency, flexibility, and freeing up valuable time for you and your core team.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is a powerful tool that can help promote your business to potential customers. You can be successful at it with the right tools, strategies, and a capable manager to handle all of it. That task can be outsourced to a virtual assistant who will manage all your social media accounts and schedule posts on:
- X (formerly known as Twitter)
- Pinterest (or any other platform you use)
You can start by having the VA create marketing materials such as captions and graphics for your social media account(s), which they would then schedule on the platforms using a tool like Hootsuite. Depending on your page’s purpose, your VA may also be expected to post breaking news or trending topics if it’s relevant to your brand.
Once the page starts gaining followers, they may also be expected to do some community engagement activities by replying to customer inquiries and comments. Likewise, social media management also requires a lot of strategy work, which requires studying the page’s best times and posts to check which type of content performs well or not. For this reason, it’s best to look for a virtual assistant with experience in digital marketing. In particular, those who are skilled in content creation tasks such as copywriting and graphic design would do well in this role, or at least someone who knows their way around Canva.
Bookkeeping and Accounting
An essential part of running a business is ensuring your finances are healthy and you’re not missing out on anything — payments, earnings, bills, and all that. Reconciling financial transactions and balancing your books are important tasks that can be outsourced to a trusted VA.
Virtual assistants with accounting expertise will oversee your financial records and focus on bookkeeping tasks to avoid discrepancies. They will also ensure you’re in compliance with your tax responsibilities and earning what you’re owed.
Partnering with a reliable BPO company that provides accounting services can help you rest easy knowing your finances and cash flows are being taken care of.
Back-Office/Clerical Tasks
Many companies turn to outsourcing to virtual assistants for back-office support. This is especially the best option for businesses that are just starting out and may lack the personnel to handle such types of activities.
While crucial and part of an office’s day-to-day business operations, back-office tasks can easily be time-consuming, but are nevertheless easy to outsource if you decide to do so.
Here are some examples of back-office processes that you can add to your virtual assistant task list:
1. Safekeeping of Digital Files
Organizing your digital files is an important part of managing your business. If you’re like most people, though, you don’t have the time or patience to do it yourself.
Luckily for us all, there are many VAs who specialize in organizing and cleaning up digital documents. They can help you stay on top of things by setting up a system for filing digital documents that works best for you. Additionally, they can perform the following tasks to ensure your files are up-to-date and easily accessible when needed:
- Finding old files that are no longer needed and deleting them from your computer permanently, so they don’t take up space anymore
- Backing up files to a cloud storage platform, such as Google Drive
- Organizing important files into folders where they’ll be easy to find later
- Scanning and making copies of important documents such as contracts, receipts, etc.
2. Schedule Management
Once your business takes off, you may find yourself going to meetings and conferences near and far. To keep up with your commitments, it’s important to have a system in place to ensure you don’t miss out on anything.
A VA who specializes in schedule management can help keep things in order and prevent you from missing out on your appointments. They could also send out or decline invites on your behalf, freeing you to focus on the core aspects of your business or profession.
3. Research Work
Whether you’re preparing a presentation, writing a blog post, or are interested in tapping into a new market, all these can only be achieved if you perform research. You can get the latest and most accurate information by researching and doing investigative work. Afterwards, you can use the facts you’ve gathered to help your business grow.
It’s a time-consuming but ultimately rewarding exercise, so it’s important to take the right steps when conducting a research project. Make sure you don’t miss out on anything by getting help from a virtual assistant researcher.
The process may comprise of interviews, surveys, and observational work, among others, very similar to what you’ve previously done in school. A good VA can help you sort through the data and customer feedback and put it together in a way that makes sense and is helpful for your business.
4. Sending Correspondence/E-mail Management
An overflowing inbox can be tiresome to go through, as it could take up much of your workday. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to help you deal with them so you could focus on the more important aspects of your job? Why not add “sending correspondence” and “e-mail management” to the things you outsource to a virtual assistant?
Stay on top of your communications with the help of a VA who will monitor your inbox and respond to queries and invitations sent to your inbox. They could also help you steer clear of junk mail and sort your email list into categories.
You don’t have to limit your assistant to helping you out with your virtual mail. Do you need to send a thank-you card or birthday greeting to an associate or client? It’s one of those tasks that falls by the wayside because it can easily slip your mind to buy a card or stamps. A virtual assistant will gladly help out with these things.
Website Creation and Maintenance
If you’re a business owner, the last thing you want to do is spend hours on your website. It’s hard enough trying to keep up with everything else in the day-to-day operations of your business, but when it comes down to things like building and maintaining a website, the process can be exhausting. And if you don’t have the time or knowledge required for this task, then hiring someone else may be the best option for getting things done quickly.
Trust a virtual assistant with IT and website management expertise to do the task for you. Let them work on your vision for your website and build your presence on the internet. When the site is already up and running, the same VA(s) can be tasked with monitoring their performance and resolving technical issues right away.
How to Choose the Right Virtual Assistant
Finding the right VA is key to successful outsourcing. Here’s how to make the right choice:
✅ Identify your needs
Start with a clear list of tasks you want to delegate. Look for VAs with skills that match your industry — whether that’s healthcare compliance, fintech bookkeeping, building a marketing plan, or SaaS support.
✅ Check for experience and references
Ask about their experience in similar roles. Review case studies, client feedback, or certifications.
✅ Consider data security and compliance
Especially for industries like healthcare and financial services, ensure the VA (or their BPO provider) has robust data protection measures in place.
✅ Test for communication and fit
Communication is everything in a remote work relationship. Conduct a short trial project with common tasks assigned to VAs and see how they collaborate and how responsive they are.
✅ Leverage trusted BPO partners
Partnering with a BPO like Connext offers added peace of mind:
- Independent contractor agreements for flexibility.
- Compliance with US and global regulations.
- Secure IT infrastructure and 24/7 support.
- Biometric security and paperless office environments.
Conclusion
Outsourcing to a virtual assistant lets you focus on the bigger picture — whether you’re in healthcare, tech, or financial services. VAs help you scale without the overhead of full-time hires. They’re a smart way to build resilience and flexibility into your business, especially when hiring freezes or rapid growth require creative solutions.
Looking to build a virtual assistant team? Connext Global Solutions can help you find, train, and manage top-tier virtual assistants and offshore teams, securely and seamlessly. Contact us and learn more about our offshore services.
FAQs: What to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant
Communication, time management, and technical know-how. For specialized tasks, look for proven expertise (e.g., bookkeeping, digital marketing).
Yes, especially if you work with a trusted BPO partner like Connext. They use virtual desktops and secure IT systems to protect data.
Many VAs are flexible and can adapt to your working hours. Tools like Slack, Asana, or Trello keep everyone on the same page.
Rates vary depending on skill level and region. Working with a BPO can help you find a balance between cost and quality.
A VA provides extra support without adding to your official headcount, making it easier to scale despite internal hiring limitations.
Cost savings are important, but the real value is in flexibility, scalability, and freeing up your core team to focus on growth.
Absolutely. VAs can be integrated into dedicated offshore teams managed by partners like Connext, ensuring seamless collaboration.
Sensitive leadership decisions and strategic planning should stay in-house. But anything repetitive, admin-heavy, or process-based can be outsourced.
Create standard operating procedures (SOPs) and provide clear instructions. Connext helps clients build custom training programs for offshore teams.
Talk to an outsourcing expert! Connext can help assess your needs and build a solution tailored to your business.
