Bolder Digital virtual assistants expand for Australian SMB operations

Bolder Digital is expanding its pool of trained virtual assistants for Australian small and medium businesses, adding capacity across bookkeeping support, social media management, CRM administration and other operational work. The Tasmania-based automation agency did not disclose the size of the expanded assistant pool, revenue from the service or pricing, but the move points to rising demand for human-in-the-loop automation among SMBs trying to scale without taking on full-time headcount.

The offering sits beside Bolder Digital’s existing automation work for lead capture, follow-up, appointment booking and reputation management. That combination matters because many small businesses have already automated parts of sales and customer handling, while still losing time to inbox work, data entry, CRM cleanup and judgment-based admin that does not fit a rules-based workflow.

What does Bolder Digital's virtual assistant service do?

Bolder Digital matches businesses with vetted virtual assistants trained on the client’s own tools, systems and processes before work starts. The model is structured as a managed service rather than a one-time placement, with scoping, matching, training and ongoing oversight included in the engagement.

Founder Jarryd Holmes said customers are asking for help with “admin, inboxes, follow ups, data entry” and other recurring work that consumes time without directly growing the business. He said the service is intended to remove that work from owners rather than “hand them a name and a login.”

The company is positioning virtual assistant services for Australian businesses as an operational layer around its automation systems. Automation is used for repeatable tasks such as follow-up sequences and booking reminders, while assistants handle work requiring tone, judgment or escalation. For operators, that is the practical distinction: software can route and remind, but a trained person still handles exceptions, messy context and customer-specific decisions.

Why SMBs are looking at managed assistants

Cost pressure is a central part of the pitch. Bolder Digital says a full-time administrative hire in Australia can cost between A$75,000 and A$110,000 a year once superannuation, leave entitlements, workers compensation and recruitment costs are included. The company offers both Australian-based and offshore assistants, including assistants in the Philippines, where the time difference is typically two to three hours behind Australian Eastern Standard Time.

The Philippines is already a major business process outsourcing market, employing close to two million workers, and Australia is among the large markets for Philippine outsourcing services. Bolder Digital argues that time-zone overlap and English-language capability make the model more workable for Australian SMBs than offshore support in locations with less overlap during business hours.

Holmes said the “maths” now works for Australian businesses, but framed the agency’s role as quality control rather than cost arbitrage. “Our job as a virtual assistant agency is making sure the person on the other end of that arrangement is actually good, properly trained, and someone the business can rely on every week, not just cheap,” he said.

The company’s planned expansion covers specialisations including bookkeeping support, social media management and CRM administration. It also plans to publish guidance for business owners on task delegation, assessing virtual assistant agencies and combining automation with human support. No timeline, hiring target or geographic split for the expanded assistant pool was disclosed.

Bolder Digital was founded by Holmes and describes its operating framework around attracting, nurturing, converting, automating and scaling. It serves clients in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and Holmes was named a finalist in the 2025 Australian AI Awards for his use of AI in business.