The demand for virtual assistants has increased over the years as businesses strive to meet the industry’s demands while maintaining high-quality standards. Hiring a virtual assistant helps you save and make money, make you more productive, and prevents micromanagement. 

But since virtual assistants work remotely, you need to know which tools to require them to use. Sure, virtual assistants are skilled and experienced in their respective fields, but working with one without the necessary tools will make it challenging for them to produce results and for you to track their progress.

Why Do You Need Tools to Manage Virtual Assistants?

Thanks to the advent of technology, there are now tools capable of completing a wide variety of tasks — from setting up virtual meetings and recording the number of hours worked to sharing documents online and managing social media profiles. 

And while some of these tools have a steep learning curve, familiarizing yourself with how they work is essential when hiring a virtual assistant because of the following reasons:

Saves You Time and Mental Space

Spending too much time coordinating and giving instructions to a virtual assistant defeats the purpose of hiring one. You’ve probably decided to invest in one to save time. 

The right tool enables you to quickly and efficiently manage your virtual assistant. As a result, you can focus on tasks that require your immediate action, while your virtual assistant can focus on completing the tasks you’ve given to them.

Ensures Easier Communication and Tracking

Using the right tools makes communication a breeze. This is highly beneficial in cases when you need to give input or require updates from your virtual assistant. It also helps you oversee their progress and keep track of their activities during their working hours.

Helps Virtual Assistants Work Faster and Produce Better Results

Certain tools help virtual assistants work more efficiently. Since you will delegate administrative tasks and non-core activities to them, the right tools will help speed up the process, so they can work on more tasks every day without compromising the quality of their output.

Essential Tools for Managing Virtual Assistants in 2023

It’s crucial to let your virtual assistant use the right tools to get the most out of your investment. But since there are plenty of tools available today, do you know which ones to use?

This section recommends virtual assistant tools based on different categories to help maximize your partnership. These tools guarantee to improve your own and your virtual assistant’s workloads.

Time Tracking

If you pay your virtual assistant by the hour, a time-tracking tool is a must to calculate their hours. This helps you determine how their time was used and protect you from time theft.

Hubstaff

Hubstaff tracks productivity and time and generates reports to see your virtual assistant’s activity levels. You can also use it to automate your virtual assistant’s timesheet, saving your in-house employees time and effort from manually computing their pay.

Time Doctor

Aside from recording work hours, Time Doctor also generates project-specific reports to see the number of hours your virtual assistant worked on a specific project. This tool also works on Android devices, so you can monitor your virtual assistant’s activities while you’re on the go.

Clockify

Looking for a free time tracking tool? Try Clockify. This tool allows you to add unlimited users and monitor their work hours across different projects. It offers various time-tracking options and has a user-friendly interface.

Video Conferencing

Face-to-face meetings are important but not possible when you have a virtual assistant. Thankfully, there are now tools made for this purpose.

Google Meet

Google Meet is a 100% secure and free video conferencing tool where you and your virtual assistant can set up instant meetings or schedule them for later. It also lets you send a Google invite to all participants and share the meeting’s agenda with them in advance. 

Zoom

Video conferences are always easy when you do with Zoon. This cloud-based video conferencing platform allows you to arrange video calls and share screens with your virtual assistant. It has a free and paid version, so you can test it first before committing to using it long-term. 

Skype for Business

Skype for Business is designed for high-quality online meetings and allows you to add at least 250 users per meeting. Through this tool, you can start video calls, conduct polls, bring in PowerPoint presentations, use a whiteboard, and even record the conference.

Scheduling

There are now online appointment schedulers that make it easier for you to attend and schedule meetings. These tools are essential, especially if you have more than one virtual assistant.

Calendly

Calendly is one of the most popular scheduling tools used by virtual assistants across different industries. With this tool, you can plan meetings, let your virtual assistant book discovery calls, and more. It’s easy to set up, so no need to worry if you’re not tech-savvy. 

Google Calendar

Google Calendar is automatically integrated from a Gmail address and is perfect for syncing your personal and work calendars. Give your virtual assistant access to your Google Calendar and let them plot your appointments to make your days more convenient. 

HubSpot Meetings

To avoid sending emails back and forth to schedule meetings, let your virtual assistant use HubSpot Meetings. This tool incorporates HubSpot CRM, Google Calendar, and Office 365 Calendar.

File Sharing

Regardless of the number of tasks you’re going to offload to your virtual assistant, expect that you’ll share countless files with them. Make the process easier by using any of the tools below.

Google Drive

Part of Google’s G-Suite platform, Google Drive is considered the most convenient way of collaborating with virtual assistants. Through this tool, you can share and edit different types of files with your virtual assistant, like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Dropbox

Dropbox is one of the pioneers in file sharing and storage and has been used by many virtual assistants for years. This tool has an easy-to-use interface and easy collaboration features. You can integrate this tool with third-party apps like Zoom, Trello, Asana, and many more. 

Huddle

Huddle is becoming a favorite among entrepreneurs and virtual assistants due to its clean interface. It makes communicating easier, as well as uploading and downloading files. Huddle offers a free trial, so you can determine if it’s the best choice for you.

Social Media Management

Planning to let your virtual assistant manage your business’s social media presence? The tools listed below will help them save time and effort and become more productive.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite helps your virtual assistant automatically schedule social media posts to ensure traction from your target audience. By using this tool, your virtual assistant can assess how your content performs and gain insights into why it’s not producing your expected results. 

Buffer

Buffer is an intuitive platform that allows your virtual assistant to deal with different social media platforms in one location. It also enables your virtual assistant to share content across different platforms and measure your social media presence. 

Tailwind

If you want to focus most of your social media efforts on Pinterest and Instagram, introduce Tailwind to your virtual assistant. One of its best features is automatically designing images as if a graphic designer created them, perfect for creating those last-minute posts on social media!

Project Management

With the number of tasks you’ll give to your virtual assistant, it’s important that they have access to the best project management tools. These tools will help your virtual assistant to stay organized and manage several projects efficiently.

Basecamp

Basecamp is designed to help remote teams work more effectively. Here, you can arrange all the projects you’ll give to your virtual assistant in one place, so there’s no need to go back and forth looking for instructions or important files. 

Asana

Asana allows you and your virtual assistant to collaborate, share ideas, and get work done fast. It’s based on drag-and-drop technology to ensure ease of use. It also has a secret project feature where you can share information with selected users. 

ClickUp

ClickUp has different planning, tracking, and project management features. With ClickUp, you can create tasks, set goals, and import data. Its Docs feature makes the tool stand out because it allows you or your virtual assistant to create guides, wikis, and other documentation.

The Right Tools Matter

It’s 2023, and virtual assistants are playing more prominent roles in businesses. These days, there’s also an abundance of tools available for virtual assistants to make them more efficient at work. 

Ensure that your virtual assistant uses at least one tool from all of the categories mentioned above. This way, your virtual assistant stays ahead of the game, and you get to enjoy a productive partnership with them!