A dedicated virtual assistant is one of the most resourceful ways in which entrepreneurs can grow their staff without having to compromise the essential idea of the growth of their business.
However, if not handled efficiently, hiring virtual assistant services can become especially tiring, exhausting more time and resources than money’s worth. It won’t make much sense if you spend your time collaborating with your virtual assistant rather than spending time on the tasks itself.
The only way these professionals can juggle their workload of dealing with emails, handing the financial aspect of the company, facing IT issues and so on, is by outsourcing works to remote workers who work virtually.
Despite the distance and the fact that the team is spread out across continents, every member is integral to the success of the project. Thus, it is of prime importance to hire a virtual assistant in order to reduce the strain of work.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant
Before you hire a personal assistant, it is important to be clear with what job you will be requiring help with. This is one of the first steps of hiring virtual assistants. First, you will need to begin by pinpointing what tasks you seem to be spending way too much time on. It can be anything— from communications to marketing, or even public relations.
Nowadays, any role you can look to fill out can be outsourced. What we mean by saying this is that whatever job opening you may seem to have has a candidate looking to fill it. All you have to do is be upfront during the interview process so that they know what is headed for them.
Additionally, it is integral to pay attention to the fact that you are in search of an assistant who can undertake a role in itself, and at the same time, fulfill tasks at hand. This ‘cyber secretary’ need not demand a hefty salary or bonuses, accommodation or incentives.
To hire a personal assistant, a virtual assistant is critical to improving your business strategy, even if it means taking a step back to guide the process. If you find yourself keen on appointing a virtual assistant and using software or programs that would enable easier communication and coordination, but don’t know where to begin. This article is for you; it lays down the five basic must-haves in order to help you with task automation.
And with the sudden boom of start-ups and small businesses in India in the past few years, the need to hire a virtual assistant has gained utmost importance in business. Listed below are the 5 best power tools to aid you in hiring a virtual assistant India:
The 5 Power Tools Are As Follows:
Hubstaff
Hubstaff is a simple project management tool that enables you to store all files, tasks, discussions and due dates along with the appropriate project. It’s so easy to use and get familiarized with that this comes out as one of the most-used software virtual assistants begin using with their clients as well.
It helps you keep a close eye on your staff, monitoring their and productivity levels through their mouse and keyboard activity. This is a simple way to keep track of your virtual assistants, through URL monitoring and application use.
The employees get timesheets, which makes it easier for you to pay them according to their contributions and payments can be carried out through the software itself. Hubstaff makes it easy to see who is working on what through a simple dashboard which provides the manager with an overview.
The main benefits of using Hubstaff are its ease of integration and its super easy interface which leads it to be one of the best virtual assistant services. The desktop app once downloaded, takes up little to no space and works seamlessly in the background.
Dropbox
This is not a new name when it comes to the reality of virtual assistants. Dropbox is one of the most popular and efficient software available online, especially when you have to not just manage and hire virtual assistant India, but also all over the world. This is free service, with continuous improvements so that users can get seamless and extensive use of its features.
All you have to do is add a file to your Dropbox and you can proceed to share it with your virtual assistants. You can also create a shared Dropbox folder which only your assistants have access to. It’s as simple as it gets. In fact, if you have all your documents synchronized, you could share it at any time.
One of the best and most helpful features of Dropbox is the fact that it doubles up as a great backup system, should you require one. It encourages you, the manager, to upload, store and manage all your files on one server. This not only enables the efficient organization but also secures the files online, available to you at the click of a button.
GroupMe
A very important factor to keep in mind is that virtual assistants are not robots. That being said, they do need to feel like their work is appreciated and they receive the validation they deserve for their hard work. For this, communication is key and GroupMe makes that possible.
You hire a personal assistant and you are impressed by the work they do. More effectual than just promoting them through the dashboard, you could try contacting them. GroupMe is a great web-based application and app that allows you to do so. It makes talking amongst yourselves and talking in a group very efficient. Your remote assistant would not even need to download it.
This software makes communicating in larger groups very simple as opposed to the cumbersome method of having to communicate via text messages. Additionally, it also allows you to conduct teleseminars and live events, which makes it unique to any other communication tool out there.
LastPass
This is another valuable tool which enables you to do a very important task securely. LastPass allows you to share your passwords and passkeys when you hire a personal assistant and need them to utilize your login credentials without the fear of them misusing it.
This password management program allows you to do so in two days. You can either give them a password as it is, which enables them to see it and use it. Conversely, you can share the password with them. This will permit them to use the login credentials without being able to see what it actually is.
LastPass is quite beneficial if you need to hide IDs which may affect your finances, and will give you the security you may need to do so seamlessly. However, the security of this program isn’t as efficient for it may be able to mask the password from the average, unethical virtual assistant, but to a dedicated programmer- not so much.
Buffer
Buffer is a program that can be immensely beneficial in today’s day and age with the boom of social media marketing. In recent times, the importance of social media in running a business has gained prominence immensely. However, rather than having multiple social media accounts and several people to manage said accounts, why not use a platform that integrates the lot of them, making your life simpler?
Buffer is time-saving software which allows your social media marketers to work more efficiently so that they can be more productive. The most important feature is that it allows the creation and scheduling of posts across all accounts. Buffer will then publish them according to a posting schedule across all your social media accounts.
Thus, rather than focusing on the arduous task of creation, time can be streamlined towards building a presence instead, by engaging and influencing. The app, as well are the software has extensions, enabling it to work in the background. This ensures a seamless functioning, encouraging productivity.
In this way, you may not even require to hire a virtual assistant, seeing that this will be one less task to be handled.
Conclusion
With virtual assistant services on the rise, there are newer, updated software and programs coming to the forefront. These five programs are an indication of this influence— they all touch upon a particular aspect to help in managing virtual assistants in order to successfully build and organize your business or start-up. They will not only help you create a platform to manage your virtual assistant but also all your employees.
It will also ensure better usage of your time, which is directly proportional to a better work ethic and in turn, influences the future of your organization. And, alas, with the future comes newer applications but for now, these apps constitute the cream of the crop and will surely stand the test of time in the near future.
