A transition into a remote workforce was mandatory in a lot of places during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this only made numerous industries realize just how big of a potential this business model actually is. Even without the pandemic, the remote employees require less space, don’t need commute compensation, and have more flexible work schedules.
Other than this, remote work is mostly cloud-based, which makes it quite sustainable. In a scenario where we’re facing everything from fossil fuel shortage to an actualpaper shortage, this kind of business world revolution might end up being a massive game-changer.
Still, these changes aren’t affecting everyone equally. Here are the top five industries that benefit the most by using virtual employees.
1. Marketing
John Wannamaker once said that while half the money he invested in marketing is wasted, he can never know which half. This is one of the main problems with traditional marketing, but it no longer holds true. In digital marketing, you know exactly where your audience is coming from, and even why they chose you over your competitors.
Now, digital marketing tools are all cloud-based which is why there’s no objective reason why a marketing team should be situated on-site. Sure, a lot of businesses still have on-site marketing teams, but more and more enterprises choose for 100% remote team each day. The effectiveness of these remote teams depends more on the digital arsenal available to the team, as well as the talent within the enterprise than anything else.
Moreover, in digital marketing, there’s a huge demand for a temporary workforce. You can hire content writers, copywriters, designers, etc., to participate in a massive project. This allows you to adjust your workforce to your current workload. Such a method is scalable, and it promises cost-effectiveness in the long run. As of today, virtual employees are not just a trend in digital marketing. They’re the backbone of the industry.
2. Accounting and Finances
The majority of accounts are linked and easy to track digitally, which means that you no longer have to submit the receipts to your accountant in person. Moreover, there are so many budgeting apps that you can use to take photos of receipts, while your digital and card payments can be monitored in real-time.
Modern accounting platforms are mostly cloud-based, which means that collaboration on a massive scale is possible. This, on its own, also ensures a much higher level of scalability. One of the reasons why this is so relevant for digital employees is that technology is there to support, not replace accountants. Sure, it’s easier for people to do their own accounting, but the majority of people will still stick to hiring professionals.
With finances, in general, it’s much easier to keep track of market fluctuation in real-time. The stock market provides instant feedback, and with so many digital tools, apps, and platforms, everything moves far more quickly. While stop orders are more sophisticated than ever before, all of this still requires human oversight and confirmation.
3. Real Estate and Property Management
Real estate requires a lot of administrative work, which is why more and more real estate experts are hiring virtual assistants. Creating and managing property listings, managing websites, managing the calendar, all sorts of data entry, and more are just some examples of work that virtual employees can do in the real estate industry.
According to experts behind a virtual property management company, this field is also seeing huge growth. You need to understand that the three pillars of virtual property management are:
- Scheduling
- Marketing
- Maintenance
All three of these aspects can be vastly improved via digital means. A skilled property management virtual assistant can keep track of your schedule, maintain your website, keep track of the maintenance checklist and even do some outreach with various professionals. They can get in touch with the local landscaping company, contact your local emergency electrician, etc.
Property management software and overall automation also make a world of difference in this field. This is why hiring someone with skill and experience in this field may make a world of difference. Automating maintenance requests will save a lot of time, which will elevate the overall value of the property and tenant satisfaction by a significant margin.
4. Education
Education has greatly migrated into the digital environment, and it did so in many different forms. First of all, you have the concept of microlearning. When they need to learn a simple skill (how to tie a tie), people are more likely to watch a YouTube video than they are to enroll in an actual course. Still, online courses are more popular than ever, which is why virtual tutors are in higher demand than ever before.
In the field of education, it all comes down to the competence of tutors and the quality of learning materials (seeing as how personal aptitude and motivation of students are a standalone issue). This is why the ability to hire professors from all over the globe means that digital educational institutions have a superb talent pool. Therefore, students have a chance to get the optimal education at the moment.
As we’ve already mentioned, there are many different industries that are going more digital by the hour, and organizations and both corporate training and onboarding are easier in a digital environment. If you’re running a remote team, remote education is really the only way to facilitate their professional growth. Overall, there are so many things you can do in order to boost your presence.
5. IT
The IT industry spearheads innovation when it comes to remote work and hiring virtual employees. In fact, even before the pandemic, there’s been a massive surge in the number of remote employees in the IT industry. The main reason behind this is the competitiveness in the field, which means that hiring remote employees dramatically expands your talent pool.
Second, the IT industry was the first to embrace concepts like remote access software, collaboration tools, cloud-based platforms, etc. This means that the progression into a partially-remote industry was only natural, and once the pandemic started, a huge part of the industry was already in the digital environment. Keep in mind that a remote workforce costs less (by default), which proved to be a massive boost to the industry’s sustainability in a difficult economic environment.
The key issue of the IT industry is the shortage of skilled labor, seeing as how the training and experience-gaining is a slow process, while the industry expands at an alarming rate. Moreover, the wages in this field are astronomical, and by hiring from a country with a much lower purchasing power parity, you have a chance to achieve higher competitiveness at a lower cost.
In Conclusion
The thing you need to keep in mind is that this is not some sort of projection or forecast – these industries already heavily rely on virtual employees. This model is simple, sustainable, cost-effective, and reliable, which is everything you need in a modern business world. The progress in these five industries happens to be the most rapid because of the growing demand and a facilitated modernization of different work-related processes. The benefits are great, which ensures that this trend of hiring virtual employees will continue its growth.