Tech & Security FAQs

All of our VAs have access to typical office software, such as Microsoft Office, as standard.

Most clients prefer to give their VA an email account with their company (e.g. sally@yourcompany.com) – so if your business uses Office 365 or something else entirely, just add them to your team and they are good to go.

However, each VA also has a Virtalent email account and secure file storage, which allows you to work together collaboratively. We also all use Slack to communicate internally, so they can happily join your own Slack workspace.

Beyond that, if you would like us to match you with a VA with knowledge of other software, please just let us know. From Xero to WordPress – we have it covered.

TECH AT VIRTALENT >

We’re proud to have our very own Task Portal at Virtalent. Each time your VA works on your account, they’ll log in to the Task Portal and click “start” to begin a timer. They then hit “stop” when they’ve finished and the time logged is debited from your current allowance.

You can log into the portal at any point to view detailed timesheets, logged in real time, for any tasks we’ve been working on for you. It’s 100% transparent.

The portal also allows you to see what time you have left to use, download your invoices and manage your billing preferences.

But don’t panic, unlike some of our software-heavy competitors, we don’t make you log into our portal to delegate tasks to your VA. Leave the record-keeping to us!

Need to give your accountant access? That’s covered too – add other users at no extra cost.

TECH AT VIRTALENT >

You bet! In fact, most clients prefer their Virtalent VA works in this way. Though all of our team have an account with Virtalent, they may look like a more integral part of your team if their email address looks more like yours.

Working in the same cloud as you also makes delegating your inbox or calendar much easier.

Simply add them to your Office 365 or G Suite dashboard and away they go!

We recommend you use software such as Passpack (free), 1Password or Lastpass to share sensitive or confidential information with your VA. These companies have invested millions of dollars in ensuring their software is 100% secure and encrypted.

You retain complete control over access to those details. You can revoke access at any time and can update a password without needing to tell your VA.

Your Client Success Manager will be able to advise you on how to set this up.

Given the nature of our business and the clients we support, confidentiality is paramount to Virtalent. From law firms to IP consultants – it is intrinsic to our work.

On a practical level, our legally binding contract with you contains a number of strict confidentiality clauses that we agree to adhere to.

We also hold both a contract with our VAs which mirrors these aspects of confidentiality, but also a separate Data Processing Agreement.

The Virtalent DPA contains further confidentiality clauses and also clearly establishes our VAs as “Data Processors” and Virtalent as the “Data Controller”. In practice, this means that any data or information to which you give us access, which is used or processed by any member of the Virtalent team, is legally safeguarded at all times and the support we provide your business (and your end customer base) is 100% GDPR compliant at all times.

All legal agreements at Virtalent have been written by a highly specialist law firm in this area – given the complex nature of our business model it is a matter we have gone to great lengths to ensure we have addressed extensively.

For complete peace of mind, Virtalent also hold comprehensive Professional Indemnity cover which covers all clients from the very minute they create an account.

Still have questions? Book a consultation with a senior member of the Virtalent team.

SECURITY & CONFIDENTIALITY AT VIRTALENT >

Given the nature of our work, we take data security very seriously and are 100% GDPR compliant across all of our processes and policies.

We are also registered with the ICO and far exceed all industry best practices.

We maintain a strict Confidentiality Agreement with you as part of our terms. Our VAs also sign a second separate Data Processing Agreement which ensures their work is 100% GDPR compliant (see above).

On a practical level, all VAs use a Virtalent email address which provides them with access to secure cloud storage in our portal and an inbox for their work at Virtalent (protected by 2 factor authentication).

You can specify that your Virtual Assistant uses your own separate cloud accounts if you prefer. Many clients prefer to create a G Suite or Office 365 account for their Virtual Assistant (VA@yourcompany.com), for example. This way, you can retain complete control over your files and even revoke access entirely, should you want to.

Data security is a complex topic. We have a number of other strict measures in place, so please contact us for more information if this is important to you.

SECURITY & CONFIDENTIALITY AT VIRTALENT >

The terms you agree to when creating an account with Virtalent contain strict confidentiality clauses to protect your interests. We also mirror these clauses in the contract and separate Data Processing Agreement we hold with each VA. Please see more details in the questions above.

The measures we put in place as a matter of course, mean an NDA would be an unnecessary and redundant step for the vast majority of our clients.

If you would still prefer us to sign an NDA, just let your Client Success Manager know as soon as you have created your account – before you begin to delegate any work to your VA – so we can discuss this with you.

SECURITY & CONFIDENTIALITY AT VIRTALENT >