‘Twas the night before Christmas & all round the house, Nothing was stirring, not even a mouse…..’
“Where has that list gone again now!? Why can’t I see my flight path? Where has Melanie Copeland’s new Alice in Wonderland trilogy disappeared to?”
The booming voice belonged to a white haired, bushy beard gentleman in a distinctive red suit. He was sat glaring at a laptop, scratching his head. All around him, chaos ensued. Elves ran hither & thither carrying piles of beautifully wrapped gifts. Stockings were being stuffed in their hundreds of thousands & although there was festive music playing softly in the background; mayhem was abound! Even the site of a gentile & smiling lady, also decked in red & white trimmed attire, carrying a glass of warm milk & some cookies, could do nothing to quell the mood.
The office of one Santa Claus had seen some changes in recent years. Everything had become digital. Gone were the days of the naughty list writing itself in the magical book Santa kept on his old oak lectern. Gone were the days of quaint letters in envelopes dropping effortlessly through his door in the lead up the Christmas, with the wishes of a millions’ of children carefully written upon them & gone were the days of a doll for her & a Fireman for him.
Santa Claus now had to contend with a database linked to Earth, updating him into a Dropbox file every moment another ‘naughty list’ candidate surfaced. Emails & texts replaced the physical letters & gifts now all came with a screen of some description & battery capacities in a plethora of formats.
The expectations of Christmas had changed, but Santa, still being a traditionalist & a very hard-working man, hadn’t quite got to grips with all of the new technology.
So, there he sat, scratching his head, pouring over a spreadsheet & a ‘naughty list’ database, when all of a sudden:
‘Santa, Oh Mr Claus, errrm! We have a bit of a snag! Your sleigh, well, its on the fritz & well, to cut a long & mechanical story short, no matter how much Christmas Spirit you & the Reindeer have, it isn’t going anywhere”
This was the point that Santa pulled his big white trimmed hat over his eyes & slumped his head on to his keyboard.
All of a sudden, he felt a tap at his elbow & through bleary eyes he looked out from under his considerable hat & there stood a young female Elf.
“Begging your pardon Mr Claus, but I couldn’t help noticing that you seemed to be a little fraught & a bit overwhelmed this Christmas. My name is Helena & I’m a VA (Virtual Assistant) & I specialise in business streamlining & executive support & I think I could help you get back on track, get Christmas back under control & get all of your presents delivered on time. “
Santa Claus looked at Helena the VA Elf with expectant & perplexed eyes & said “Do you really think you could? It’s Christmas Eve & I don’t even have a sleigh, let alone a clue where my naughty & nice list is!”
“Leave it to Me said Helena the VA Elf” as she rolled up her sleeves, put her two fingers in her mouth & let out an almighty whistle! Every single Elf stopped instantly, frozen to the spot they stood in. Mrs Claus let out a little Yelp! & Santa Claus blinked behind his half moon glasses “Well I never!”
Helena the VA Elf looked around Christmas Headquarters at the vast piles of paperwork dotted everywhere. When she checked Santa Claus email inbox there were millions of unread emails. His calendar was like looking at spaghetti junction & when she looked at his flight path for the impending nights deliveries; it was like a dot-to-dot had been completed by a hundred tap dancing spiders!
Helena the VA Elf drew in a deep breath & exhaled slowly. She then set about organising.
Helena the VA Elf first set the Santa’s Workshop Elves’ to task. Each one was allocated a palm pad & a Slack account. They were then all given an instant messenger address, so they could all communicate effectively. Then Helena the VA Elf showed them how they could create a database in Slack to ensure that each gift was allocated to the correct country & region & that they could all cross reference their entries on the channels Helena the VA Elf had created for them.
Next Helena the VA Elf set to task with Santa Claus email inbox. She deftly created a series of separate folders to identify emails by country of origin in the first instance, filtered out all of the spam & ensured that the really important information, was suitably filed for ease of access.
“Have you got your policies up to date Santa? For example your GDPR policy?”
Santa Claus looked blankly at Helena the VA Elf, to which end she took that as a No!
Therefore, Helena the VA Elf accessed her Koffeklatch business pack which contained her GDPR & Privacy Policy kit. With lightning speed, Helena the VA Elf, updated each document to reflect the needs of Santa Claus Enterprises, updated his GDPR policies & ensured that the Santa Claus website had an up to date privacy policy in place.
Helena the VA Elf then tackled the employment records. Elves’ are an interesting species as they live for hundreds & hundreds of years, meaning that staff turn over is very slow. However, it was noted that none of the current three hundred thousand working Elves had up to date GDPR documents in place, nor were there work & pensions files relevant. Helena the VA Elf quickly updated all of the Elves’ files to reflect the latest legislation, ensuring their peace of mind going forward.
Helena the VA Elf then set about showing Santa & Mrs Claus the versatility of Trello. By setting up different boards in Trello, they could both have access & both see what each other was working on, what was in progress & when actions were completed.
Helena the VA Elf then scanned her eyes over the Santa Claus Social Media channels, if you could call them channels! Helena the VA Elf contacted her VA Elf associate, Katy-Jane Elf & asked her to bring the social media channels back to life. A short while later Santa Claus LinkedIn profile was updated with his last hundred years-worth of experience. Facebook, Twitter & Instagram were vibrant & populated with insights & tweets about Santa Claus Enterprises latest exploits & the website once again sang the praise of the generous bearded Santa Claus & all of his Elves’.
Now, you may be wondering how Helena the VA Elf was able to undertake all of these tasks in one evening. Well, you have to remember, that wherever there are Elves’, there is also plenty of magic! Therefore, Helena the VA Elf was able to work at super-fast speeds, to help Santa Claus get his office & his business back under control.
“I cannot thank you enough Helena the VA Elf” said Santa Claus “But, I still don’t have a sleigh & therefore no way of getting the Christmas presents delivered”
Helena the VA Elf looked at Santa Claus with a glint in her eye, flexed her fingers & with lightning speed across the keyboards & screens of five laptops & palm pads, she set about booking the most complicated set of flight plans which had ever been attempted, using a combination of Expedia. Clarity, FCM & booking.com
In addition, Helena also booked a fleet of Taxi’s to meet Santa & his Elf helpers at every airport, ready to deliver the millions of gifts across the globe.
Just as Helena the Elf had finished the last booking, an almighty bell started to chime.
“Santa! Santa! “said a small Elf named Dave “It’s time!”
Every single Elf in the Santa Claus workshop smiled a glorious smile. This infectious good feeling resonated across the vast room to Santa & Mrs Claus. “It’s time!” Mrs Claus said, adjusting Santa Claus white trimmed red hat & spectacles.
“You did it” said Mrs Claus
“No” said Santa Claus, “Helena the VA Elf did it, without her expertise, cool & calm manner & efficient office rescue, we wouldn’t be ready to go & we wouldn’t have Christmas. Helena the VA Elf has saved Christmas!”
A huge cheer & a resonating “For she’s a jolly good fellow” echoed around the vast workshop.
“Thank you Helena the VA Elf” said Santa Claus as he shook Helena the VA Elf by the hand.
“Errrm, don’t you think you had better go Santa?” said Helena the VA Elf. “Your first flight is in thirty-five minutes”
With a twinkle in his eye & thousands of Elf helpers, each carrying a sack laden with Christmas gifts, Santa got in to the multi-person Taxi Helena the VA Elf had booked him & with his helpers, they drove off into the crystal snow of the North Pole, to complete the magical Christmas festivities by delivering millions of gifts across the globe.
Merry Christmas Everyone.
Written by Katy-Jane on behalf of Virtually Smart Ltd
