Real Help From a Virtual Secretary

These days, who doesn't need a secretary? As business becomes more and more complex, more and more of us wish that we had someone to help us manage our information-glutted work lives. For most of us, that's just a wish. But a service called uReach.com (www.ureach.com) provides what may be the next best thing to an actual human assistant. Think of it as a virtual secretary.

UReach is a unified messaging system that gives you access to every email, voice, or fax message that people send you -- even if those messages come to you via different accounts. As a uReach member, you get an email address and a toll-free phone number, and you can use either tool to retrieve all of your messages at once. Other features include call and email forwarding and an appointment-reminder service.

For a uReach package that includes all of those services, you'll have to pay: Fees range from $2.99 to $6.99 per month. But there's also a free, Web-only package that includes an email account, an address book, a calendar, and more. This version of uReach won't answer your phone calls--but hey, a half-time secretary is better than none.

Cleo Burtley (c-burtley@northwestern.edu) is a former Fast Company intern.