While searching for some news articles on VA's I came across a discussion forum regarding the following article. Both are pretty interesting.

The entire article can be read here.

Quote:

BANGALORE, India — When David Hui found himself stranded in the middle of nowhere on a broken-down Amtrak train on the East Coast, he called for help—to his personal assistant in India. Working over the Internet, the assistant figured out where Hui was, based on the last street signs Hui had seen from the train, then tracked down a rental car to come pick him up. In the end, the train started moving again before the car arrived, but Hui, 30, was no less impressed by the effort on his behalf from half a world away. "I've been surprised at how much personal ownership they take to make my tasks a success," said the Cambridge, Mass.-based management consultant, who for the past year and a half has been a client of Get Friday, a Bangalore personal and small-business services outsourcing company. "They go the extra mile for me." In the latest twist on globalization, it is now possible to hire a personal assistant—in India—to take care of just about anything you don't have time to do and that can be accomplished via phone or the Internet. Need your daughter's birthday party organized? A snowplow to clear your driveway? Your résumé and cover letter sent out to potential employers? How about a romantic vegan dinner for two delivered to your home, complete with live music? A personal assistant working from a cubicle in Bangalore or Hyderabad now can arrange all that and a whole lot more, and not just for the long-pampered uber-rich but for a much bigger market: America's exhausted middle class. "Anything that's illegal or in bad taste we will not do. Other than that, bring it on," said T.T. Venkatash, a senior manager for Get Friday. Personal and small-business services are the latest wave of outsourcing to India and one that is rapidly picking up speed, despite concerns about the wisdom of relying so much on overseas service providers. . Today, a handful of Indian start-up companies in the personal and small-business services field are handling $200 million worth of calls for help from overwhelmed firms and harried individuals worldwide, said P. Sunder, chief executive of TTK Services, the parent company of Get Friday. By 2015, industry income should hit $2 billion, predicts Evalueserve, an outsourcing research and consulting company.

__________________
Dawn Riley
A Virtual Assistant in Paradise
Our business is about making yours better

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.

Now we just need an article about how harried middle-class Americans need not look overseas for competent personal assistance...

__________________
Tammi Metzler ~ The Write Associate
Free call: "How to Write Email Subject Lines That Grab Attention!"

Yes, it is a tide that's hard to fight against - particularly when it comes to those clients who are focussed solely on cost (then again, those aren't always the best working relationships to begin with...)

After 'Four Hour Workweek' came out spouting about hiring a VA in India for $4 p/h these 'VA call centers' got a ton of press.

In reference to the discussion you linked to - my own first response to this particular story was 'Why on earth didn't he just ASK someone where they were and dial the 411 - which always pulls up a *local* information operator who could just as easily help get a number for a rental car agency....'

Thanks for sharing Dawn!

__________________

We must not overlook the fact that the rental car arrived too late. The magic of the digital age makes us think such long distance help is amazing, just because it's so long distance. But it's all really useless unless leveraged properly. People and businesses can use virtual assistants for important and necessary tasks, reliably and skillfully delivered. Let the client decide where this service can best be obtained. But helping your client/partner when they're stuck in a train car does not prove mastery of virtual assistant skills.

__________________
Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

My one client who I have had for over 5 yrs is a traveller and I get emails at odd times wanting me to give him numbers of this or to email him directions from here to there. I wonder most times if he is that clueless BUT he is an awesome payer and I am thankful he calls me and not 411 LOL

__________________
Dawn Riley
A Virtual Assistant in Paradise
Our business is about making yours better