Virtual Assistant Industry Booms Despite AI Competition

Anna Cullen at work. Sam Maguire

The global virtual assistant (VA) industry is set to be worth over $8 billion by 2028, according to Business Research Insights, yet many do not know what the job entails. Alongside this, developments in the field of artificial intelligence threaten to massively change how VAs do their jobs. The Glass Room speaks to two of them about what the future of their jobs might look like.

The work of a virtual assistant varies widely. They can send out emails, build websites, schedule appointments, and manage projects. All of this is achieved without the need to go into an office or be a direct employee of an organization.

Companies like Lindy and Aisera have taken the ideas of remote assistance further by offering Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) that use Artificial Intelligence to lighten their clients’ workloads. The global market size of this industry was valued at $2.48 billion in 2022, and insiders like Grand View Research predict significant growth within the next few years.

Empathy Over AI

Against this backdrop, it seems that virtual assistants could be a dying breed, but research suggests that the sector will continue to grow and Virtual Assistants themselves are optimistic that their work is still necessary amid technological innovations.

“I think that AI can be a very useful tool when it comes to helping you with your social media management or your email marketing, but I wouldn’t be too heavily reliant on it,” says Anna Cullen, who has been working as a virtual assistant for two years with clients from across Europe, the USA and Australia.

“Humans have empathy and common sense. We are able to read situations and see what problems humans have very well,” she explains. “AI kind of goes mainly by rules and regulations so it can’t really think outside the box.”

Danïelle Molenaar is another virtual assistant who has been doing this work since 2010 after quitting her more traditional corporate job. With 14 years on the job, she has seen awareness of VAs rise significantly in the past few years.

She recalls how she once sent out emails to organize a conference call with her clients and received very short and rude responses from one of the participants. “I had to say, ‘You know you’re speaking to a person right?’ He thought I was a robot assistant or something” she jokes.

Person typing. Sam Maguire

An underestimated profession

“What I have noticed is that it’s a job that lots of people want,” she told The Glass Room. “People want to work remotely, it’s like this ‘digital nomad’ idea but what people do forget is that it’s a real job, I get up in the morning, sit down at my computer and I make an 8-hour working day.”

When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, she is embracing it. She has started an online course in AI marketing, seeing how it can help her clients. “Virtual assistants have always used technology in their work, so now we have AI as an additional tool” she explains.

Despite this, she thinks that “even with AI, you need the executive, creative and people skills” to back it up. “At the end of the day it’s very much a people business,” she says. Connecting with clients remotely is “not for all people.” For her at least, it is a passion, “I open my computer and I have the world at my fingertips. It’s amazing.”