With a few notable exceptions (such as student-oriented Precious Time), concierge services and personal assistants are a luxury that tends to be beyond the reach of all but the most well-heeled members of society. Not so with Sunday, a request-based service that offers 24/7 personal assistance by internet or phone.
New York-based Sunday lets busy people in the US, Canada and the UK delegate chores as they arise, with monthly fees starting at just USD 29 and no cost to join. The site's agents are available 24/7 by email or phone, ready to make outbound calls, arrange travel plans, set dinner reservations, enable remote access to numerous websites and take action in emergency situations—virtually anything that can be handled remotely. The proprietary Sunday Portal facilitates interactions between members and agents by saving member information such as contacts and encrypted login details to leading websites such as Yahoo, Google, Seamlessweb, Zipcar and Fandango, to name just a few. Messenger and errand services are also available in New York City.
Sunday's Silver membership plan, priced at USD 29 monthly, includes 30 requests per month, with a charge of USD 2 for each request beyond that. The Gold plan is USD 49 for 50 requests per month, and USD 1.50 for each thereafter; it also gives members the ability to have Sunday make international calls on their behalf. It should come as no surprise that Sunday’s low prices are made possible by outsourcing most of the work to agents in India.
Sunday was founded in 2006, and plans to expand to other major cities around the world. In this time-starved era, it's hard to imagine a place where the concept wouldn't succeed, especially with lifestyle gurus like Tim Ferriss promoting personal outsourcing. Next challenge, or rather, opportunity: bringing similar services to non-English speaking countries. (Related: Bidding system for domestic outsourcing.)
Website: www.asksunday.com
Contact: partner@asksunday.com
Spotted by: Susanna Haynie
Hey there. I was talking about this a bit over at madewithcomputers and discovered a few more relevant ideas.
Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/283ahy
Crowd sourcing and using manpower is making a massive change in how we use technology. From concierge services to the "curation" model at new producst like Mahalo - people power is inching increasingly into the engine compartment that once was just occupied by programs. Amazing stuff and we'll see a lot more.
What's even more interesting to me is how we can use this people power to drive consumer friendly brand experiences for clients. It might be cool if you could buy an opportunity to communicate with your target through Sunday from inside the actual customer experience.
Think of it as “real” or “personal” media. The more interactive you are with your customer the better chance you have for building loyalty - this could turn that knob to 11.
See also, yourmanininda.com and getfriday.com
Eileen is a Dutch based version of this, but meant for on the road. http://www.eileen.nl/
In Spain there is www.notime.es, Personal Assistants with a very reasonable price.
In Spain there is www.notime.es, Personal Assistants with a very reasonable price.