Virtual assistant services Columbus, in local hours
AssistBPO's virtual assistant services Columbus insurance agencies, e-commerce brands, university-adjacent businesses, carriers and practices use to keep phones and admin covered on Eastern Time. AssistBPO provides dedicated, employed assistants with a backup and a team lead, working remotely for businesses across Franklin and Delaware counties, with no local office and no freelancers.
What do Columbus businesses use a virtual assistant for?
Columbus has quietly become one of the fastest-growing metros in the Midwest, and its business mix shows it: insurance and financial services headquarters and the agencies around them, retail and fashion brand head offices with big e-commerce operations, the university and the hospital systems that come with it, a logistics hub at Rickenbacker and along I-70, and a wave of new semiconductor and data center construction in the northern suburbs. Hours are Eastern Time and the day starts early for carriers and contractors, while agencies and practices run 8am to 6pm. Columbus buyers ask for insurance policy servicing help, customer support agents who can work a Shopify or Zendesk queue for a growing brand, medical schedulers for practices in Dublin and Westerville, logistics assistants for check calls, and receptionists for the law and accounting firms downtown and in the Arena District. We provide that from remote desks working Columbus hours, with Ohio's telephone solicitation rules built into every outbound campaign.
Which hours does a virtual assistant in Columbus cover?
AssistBPO staffs Columbus hours from the group's offices. There is no local office here.
right now in Columbus
Eastern Time
- Eastern Time (Columbus)
Columbus desks run 7am to 7pm Eastern, covering a Rickenbacker carrier's early check calls and an insurance agency's end-of-day renewal follow-ups.
- After-hours and weekends
From 7pm Eastern the after-hours desk carries e-commerce support queues, emergency service lines and weekend property inquiries until the day desk returns at 7am.
- Second office in Pakistan
Our second office in Pakistan works its day during the Columbus night; it also runs the Australian Eastern shift for e-commerce brands that sell into that market, available on request.
Coverage
Staffed now, in Columbus time
Shifts run from the group's two offices. Pick your zone to see each shift in your local time and what is staffed right now.
- US Eastern shiftChecking
- US Pacific shiftChecking
- UK shiftChecking
- Australian Eastern shiftChecking
- After-hours deskChecking
Bilingual and extended AEST coverage are available on request and confirmed in your staffing plan.
What rules apply to outbound calls and data in Columbus?
AssistBPO makes outbound calls, texts and emails in Columbus only with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. The 3 rules below are the ones that decide what that means locally.
Ohio Telephone Solicitation Sales Act
Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4719 requires non-exempt telephone solicitors to register with the Ohio Attorney General, and the Consumer Sales Practices Act treats calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry as unfair practices. Columbus follow-up from our desks runs with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing against the federal registry, between 8am and 9pm.
TCPA and CAN-SPAM for brands
Marketing texts and autodialed calls to cell phones need prior express written consent under the federal TCPA, and email campaigns must carry identification, a physical address and a working unsubscribe under CAN-SPAM. Our e-commerce and sales assistants work from your consent records in Klaviyo or HubSpot and never add numbers by hand.
GLBA and HIPAA
Assistants supporting insurance and financial services clients work under your Gramm-Leach-Bliley safeguards with least-privilege access to customer financial data. Medical schedulers are HIPAA-trained staff working under a BAA.
Not legal advice; see the compliance page.
Which industries do we serve in Columbus?
AssistBPO staffs desks across 6 sectors of the Columbus economy, and each one asks a desk to do something different.
Insurance agencies
Policy servicing, certificates and renewals for the independent agencies and captive offices that grew up around the Columbus carriers.
E-commerce and retail brands
Shopify and Zendesk support, order issues and returns for the fashion, beauty and home brands headquartered in the metro.
Universities and schools
Admissions, enrollment follow-up and parent communication for the region's colleges, private schools and tutoring centers.
Freight and logistics
Check calls and document chasing for carriers and brokers working Rickenbacker and the I-70 and I-71 corridors.
Medical and dental practices
Scheduling, recalls and eligibility for practices in Dublin, Westerville, Grove City and the city itself.
Real estate
Lead follow-up and transaction coordination for teams selling in the fast-growing northern and eastern suburbs.
Tools Columbus businesses ask us to work in
Services for Columbus
- Dedicated virtual assistant services for the work that eats your day
- A receptionist who knows your business, not a call queue
- Every call answered by a person who knows your name
- Bookings, reminders and reschedules, handled
- Tickets resolved by agents who learn your product
- Inbox to zero, every day
- Meetings booked on your calendar, compliantly
- Accurate data, on time, every day
- Evenings, weekends and holidays covered
Frequently asked questions
Do you have an office in Columbus?
No. AssistBPO has no office in Columbus. Assistants are employees of SS Support Network LLC, registered in Vancouver, Washington, with a second office in Pakistan, and they work Eastern Time remotely from those offices on managed devices with MFA. They answer your 614 number and work inside your agency, store or practice systems. We do not use a Columbus address and we do not put staff in your office.
How much does a Columbus virtual assistant cost?
Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day. Monthly hours, the desk (insurance servicing, e-commerce support, scheduling, front desk, logistics) and after-hours coverage shape the plan. For context, PayScale's average for a US virtual assistant is $19.45 an hour and a loaded in-house executive assistant runs $4,700 to $9,100 a month (via Wishup, 2026).
Can you run customer support for a Columbus e-commerce brand?
Yes. E-commerce assistants work your Zendesk, Gorgias or Help Scout queue, handle order edits, returns and exchanges in Shopify, answer social DMs in the brand voice and flag fraud holds and chargebacks. Coverage runs Eastern hours with the after-hours desk for evenings, and peak-season pods scale up for the holidays. Macros and tone guides come from you; the team lead scores tickets monthly against them.
Can an assistant service policies for our Columbus insurance agency?
Yes. Insurance assistants process endorsements, issue certificates, chase renewal documents, update your agency management system and follow up with carriers during agency hours. They work under your GLBA safeguards and do not give coverage advice or bind policies; that stays with licensed producers. Turnaround times and open items are reviewed with your team lead in a 20-minute weekly call, and daily in the end-of-day report.
How is quality checked on a Columbus engagement?
Every assistant has a team lead who scores a monthly sample of calls and tickets on a QA scorecard you approved, and you get a weekly 20-minute review of KPIs and next week's priorities. Daily, you receive a start-of-day check-in and an end-of-day report with timestamps. A backup assistant shadows the account from week one, so if the primary is out or the fit is wrong, coverage continues while we rematch.
Nearby and wider
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Next step
Your desk, staffed. Wherever you are.
Tell us what is overloaded. A named person replies within 1 business day with a staffing plan, and we propose your assistant within 72 hours.
Or call +1-657-777-0006 during US, UK or Australian business hours, or hear our demo receptionist.
- A named assistant proposed within 72 hours
- Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers
- Your hours, your tools, your data