The internet and cloud technology have allowed businesses to work with teams that are geographically separate. Virtual Assistants are one of the fields that can and do really take advantage of this. If you’re wondering how a Virtual Assistant uses technology to provide their services, or have concerns about access and security, I’ve listed a few of my favourite programs and services.
My top 12 programs to use when working with a Virtual Assistant are:
Cloud based CRM & Invoicing Services
Using cloud based services for accounting and CRMs allow anyone to add or update information on client interactions, invoicing and account management. I use Zoho CRM and Invoices in my business, but also use/have used Xero, MYOB, Salesforce, Highrise, and Act!. Other popular CRM systems are Capsule, Insightly and SugarCRM. Other Finance programs include: QuickBooks Online, Reckon and SAASU
Dropbox & Google Drive
Both Dropbox and Google Drive allow you to share documents, spreadsheets, graphics and data files. I use both because they each have their benefits and often clients have their own preferences. One huge advantage of both is that they save any revisions made to documents, so if something goes wrong it’s easy to revert to a previous uncorrupted version.
LastPass
LastPass allows you to share access to programs with your Virtual Assistant without giving them access to the actual password. It also allows you have secure passwords for all your services without having to memorise long complicated passwords
Skype, Google Hangouts
Skype and Google Hangouts are both great (and free/cheap) ways to keep in contact and have regular team meetings. They both allow video calls, phone calls and screen sharing. With Google Hangouts on Air you can even record your seminar to be shared on Google+ and on your YouTube channel.
Facebook and Google+
Facebook and Google+ can both be used to communicate directly with clients as well as to share content and be a marketing tool. You can add administrators to allow more than one person to post as your business and you can specify access levels via roles
HootSuite & Buffer
Both HootSuite and Buffer help with scheduling social media posts, they also both allow you to create users with different access types, so you can have someone to help create your social media posts but they won’t go out without your approval.
WordPress
For websites and for blogging. WordPress is simple to use, looks great, and has a huge number of themes, plugins and widgets so it’s easy to get your site to do what you need it to do. Using WordPress you also have the ability to assign roles to users so that you can give the level of access required to perform a specific function without opening up your entire website.
So these are the programs I use most, although often it’s a case of using trial and error to find what works best for each particular clients needs. If you’re at all worried about sharing your information and logins with a third party I strongly recommend looking for programs that allow you to set access limits for users. You can always change the access a user has down the track and it’s far preferable to struggling along on your own when you don’t need to.
