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‘In Business Dailies’ Most Views Last 30 Days Here are the stories with the most views over the past 30 days (prior to press time) that were features in our In Business Dailies. The In Business Dailies hit email inboxes twice each weekday — at 9:30 a.m. and updated at 4:30 p.m. Sign up today at www.inbusinessphx.com/dailies-signup Economy & Trends | Cover Story | July 2022
Are You Game? How Gaming and Sporting Events Are a ‘Big Win’ for Our Economy by RaeAnne Marsh Gaming and sports have gone together for a long time; the new trend in sportsbooks brings it out of oddsmakers’ back rooms and into prominent display.
Virtual Assistants Are Changing the Remote Worker Landscape As more companies move away from physical workplaces to embrace hybrid to fully remote structures, the demand for virtual assistance is increasingly on the rise. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2025, 50% of knowledge workers will be employing virtual assistants on a daily basis. Virtual assistants are independent contractors who offer a vast number of services to businesses remotely. Because they come with different skills and specializations, they are a particularly flexible solution for businesses that need help with a specific function or department or need someone to handle multiple responsibilities at once. Proving to be an efficient, adaptable and cost-effective benefit, virtual assistants can aid businesses across various industries — including healthcare, finance and communications — in achieving their goals. One of the primary benefits of virtual assistants is they are available to address tedious, repetitive tasks such as bookkeeping, appointment scheduling, monitoring email correspondence, social media management and recruiting, freeing up time to focus on more high-value tasks. By making more time available, virtual assistants allow organizations to focus their energy and make strides on critical projects. There is also the benefit of increased efficiency in work production due to a limited amount of distractions and the ability
to schedule work time when it is best for the assistant. Introducing a virtual assistant to the business to handle data entry, schedule management and take care of accounting also frees up attention for more collaboration and creative pursuits. With a virtual assistant available, businesses work to create space for employees to thrive by ensuring they don’t take on too much responsibility but, instead, are able to focus fully on the specifics of their role. Virtual assistants can also widely reduce employer costs, saving businesses 50 to 70 percent on average. Because virtual assistants are independent contractors, businesses have the opportunity to hire for long-term service or project-related tasks, giving them flexible options that can decrease staffing costs. The pandemic has shown that it is possible to maintain, and even accelerate, success by working virtually. Virtual assistants provide a cost-effective and efficient solution to managing the digital workplace and can provide flexibility and targeted expertise to help businesses adapt to and succeed in a remote work style. —Randall Averitte, president and CEO of Scottsdale-based Remote Raven (hireremoteraven.com), an affordable and flexible staffing company that connects business owners with highly qualified remote workers to quickly fill positions
“With nearly $2.8 billion wagered, the positive economic boosts from regulated sports wagering have been vast and should only trend upward as the market matures,” says Christopher Boan, analyst with BetArizona. “Sports wagering has contributed than $8 million to state coffers, bolstering the economic impacts of COVID-19.” Leadership & Management | Roundtable | July 2022
Brainstorming – Is Online or InPerson More Creative? by Susan Robertson The short answer? BOTH. Or NEITHER. It’s solely dependent on how the meeting is structured and managed. Commercial Real Estate & Development | Guest Columnists | July 2022
The Future of Work: Dynamic Environments by Rory Carder
As we think about the future of work, we know we’re not going back to the old ways of doing things. We have an opportunity to explore new possibilities, bringing the best of how we worked during the pandemic to work better post-pandemic. We can imagine a new workplace ecosystem that puts the focus on what’s best for individuals and teams based on how they do their best work. Leadership & Management | Feature | July 2022
Succession Planning: Preparing for the Expected or Unexpected by Jeff Friesen With an aging population of baby boomers in ownership roles, succession planning has become an ongoing priority. Although some of the activities were paused due to uncertainties related to the pandemic, the ideas have been brought back to the table with interest rates remaining relatively low and liquidity relatively available to deploy.
In order to see where employers are struggling the most in hiring, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on the rate of job openings for both the latest month and the last 12 months. At No. 43 on WalletHub’s 2022’s States Where Employers Are Struggling the Most in Hiring, Arizona comes out in the top 10 of states struggling the least. wallethub.com/edu/states-employers-hiring/101730
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