subject: Technologies Used In Virtual Personal Assistance [print this page] Both of you will be able to decide the most convenient form of communication method listed below.
Instant Messengers
I can definitely give you a long list of instant messengers that you can possibly use, and all of them are just as efficient when it comes to virtual personal assistance. In all honesty, you don't need something fancy, though you may like to keep your messengers updated, so you can take advantage of more advanced features. Some popular instant messengers include Yahoo! Messenger, Gtalk, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and AIM. Installation doesn't take a lot of time, so within minutes, you can already start talking to your virtual personal assistant. Whenever you need to reach out to them, all you have to do is to "pop" them a message, and then it will be instantly sent to their desktop. Of course, you can always make use of the Buzz feature in calling up their attention. This is because sometimes, they can get so busy that they couldn't catch on to your very urgent message.
VoIP
This stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. This revolutionary communication mechanism allows you to talk to your virtual personal assistant through the Internet. It's basically like calling someone long distance through the phone. However, the rates are incredibly lower than the standard calling rates of mobile and even landline phones. A good example of a VoIP is Skype, which can also function as an instant messenger. All you need to do is pay for credits, and you're already good to go.
Audio conferencing.
A more recent, and effective, method of communication is audio conferencing. This is ideal if you need to include your virtual personal assistant in your scheduled company meetings, just to also give him/her an idea of the current status of the business and how he/she can help with the aid of his/her expertise. Audio conferencing is a setup wherein two or more people can be connected through the Internet or phone. The only difference it has with web conferencing is that you don't have to see each other face to face.
According to Barbara J. Streibel, author of The Manager's Guide to Effective Meetings, the main advantages of audio conferencing is; First, it allows you to save money and time. Second, it's very easy to set-up and introduce to individuals who are not really comfortable working with new technology.
There are already several online web conferencing solutions that will allow you to save conversations and later convert them to media files, such as mp3 files or CDs. This way, you can always have time to review the discussion whenever necessary.
Web conferencing.
This, by far, is the most technological of all modes of communication. There are different ways on how you are going to interpret the term, but for the sake of discussion, we are going to limit this with video conferencing.
With video conferencing, you can connect two or more people who are located in different places. It makes use of other communication tools such as audio, video, and data.
Online Project Management
I use Smartsheet to track clients projects and communicate with my team, it helps me not only manage a team of virtual assistants, but communicate with clients and show the progress to different tasks they request news on. It facilitates online collaboration, work management and crowdsourcing.
I know other people who like Basecamp including a friend of mine who is a medical doctor, he simply can't do without it.
If you don't have the budget you can try Google docs, which is a similar tool, completely free!
