Working with a virtual assistant needs a small stack. Use one chat tool, one task board, a shared drive, a password manager, a screen recording tool and a video call tool. Most small businesses already pay for half of these. Give the assistant their own account in each, set permissions to the minimum and write down which tool is used for what.
The tool question tends to go one of two ways. Some owners hand over a single Gmail login and hope for the best. Others buy six new subscriptions and spend a month setting them up. Neither is necessary. A good setup uses what you already have, fills a few gaps and draws clear lines about where things go.
The core stack
Chat
Pick one place for quick questions and daily updates. Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Chat all work. If you already use one with your team, add the assistant there. Create a dedicated channel for their updates so they do not get buried.
What matters most is the rule. Quick questions go in chat. Requests go on the task board. Anything sensitive stays out of chat entirely.
Task board
This is where work lives. Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Monday and Microsoft Planner are popular choices. For one assistant, a simple board with columns for to do, doing, waiting and done is enough.
Every request should be a card with a clear title, a due date and a link to the SOP if one exists. This becomes the record of what was asked and when. Our guide on writing SOPs your assistant will follow explains how to link procedures to tasks.
Shared drive
Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox for files. Create a folder structure for the assistant's work and share only what they need. Avoid sharing your whole drive.
Password manager
This is the tool owners skip most often and regret most. A business password manager such as 1Password, Bitwarden or Dashlane lets you share logins without revealing the password, remove access in one click and see who has what. Our guide to virtual assistant security covers setup in detail.
Screen recording
Loom, Microsoft Clipchamp or the free recorders built into most operating systems. You record a task once and your assistant watches it as often as needed. This tool pays for itself in the first week.
Video calls
Zoom, Google Meet or Teams. Use whatever your business already uses. Cameras on for the weekly call helps a lot with rapport.
Role specific tools
Beyond the core, add tools based on the work.
Admin and executive support
Shared calendar access with delegate permissions, an email client that supports delegation, and a scheduling link tool like Calendly or Microsoft Bookings. Our inbox management guide shows how to set up email delegation without sharing your password.
Finance
Accountant or bookkeeper user roles in QuickBooks Online or Xero, plus a receipt capture tool. Never give an assistant your own banking login. Most banks offer separate users with view only or limited rights.
Sales and marketing
Your CRM with a user seat, a social scheduling tool and your email marketing platform. Each of these supports separate users with roles.
Support
A helpdesk like Zendesk, Help Scout, Freshdesk or Gorgias with an agent seat. Shared inboxes without a helpdesk get messy fast once volume grows.
Setting it up in an afternoon
Here is the order that saves the most back and forth.
- Create a company email address for the assistant
- Use that address to invite them to each tool
- Set roles to the lowest level that lets them do the job
- Add shared logins to the password manager and share only the ones needed
- Create their chat channel and a task board
- Write a one page tools guide listing each tool, what it is for and who to ask about access
That last document is small but valuable. It answers most first week questions before they are asked. It also belongs on your onboarding checklist.
What it costs
Many tools charge per user, so adding an assistant adds seats. For a single assistant, the extra cost is usually modest. Some tools offer free tiers that cover small teams, and several have guest or limited roles that cost less than a full seat.
Do the math before you buy anything new. If your team already pays for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, you likely have chat, video, a drive and a basic task tool included.
Common mistakes
Too many places for requests
If tasks come by email, text, chat and comments, some will be missed. Pick one home for requests.
Shared logins
One account used by several people means you cannot tell who did what or remove one person without changing the password for everyone.
Admin rights by default
It is tempting to make everyone an admin to avoid permission errors. It also means one mistake or one compromised account can cause real damage.
No offboarding plan
Write down which tools the assistant uses. If they ever leave, that list lets you remove access in minutes.
A sample stack for a ten person company
Here is how a typical small service business might set things up for one new full time assistant without buying much new.
The company already pays for Microsoft 365, so the assistant gets a mailbox and a Teams account. A private Teams channel holds their daily updates. Microsoft Planner holds the task board, with one bucket per area of work. OneDrive holds a shared folder called Operations with subfolders for SOPs, templates and reports. The company adds a business password manager plan and creates a vault for the assistant with only the logins they need. Training videos are recorded with the free tools built into Windows and stored in the SOP folder.
The only new costs are a Microsoft 365 seat and a password manager seat. Everything else was already paid for.
A Google Workspace business would mirror this with Gmail, Google Chat, Google Drive and a simple board in a tool like Trello.
Tools to hold off on
Time tracking with screenshots, keystroke loggers and webcam monitoring tend to cause more trouble than they solve. They signal distrust and measure presence rather than results. If you need hours for billing, a plain timer tool is enough.
New all in one platforms that promise to replace everything are also worth caution in the first month. Changing your whole stack at the same moment you add a new person doubles the learning curve for everyone. Settle the assistant in on the tools you have and change later if you still want to.
Keeping the stack lean
Review your tools every six months. Cancel anything nobody opened in the last month. Merge tools that overlap. A lean stack is easier for a new person to learn and cheaper to run.
How we help
When you hire through delegateit, we can recommend a setup based on the role and the tools you already use. An Assistant starts at $1,500 a month full time or $900 part time and a Specialist starts at $2,200. See our pricing page for detail.
Tool questions
Do I need to buy new software to work with a virtual assistant?
Usually not much. Most businesses already have chat, video calls and file storage. A password manager is the most common gap.
Which task management tool is best for one assistant?
Any simple board works. Pick the one your team already uses or the one you find easiest.
Should my assistant use their own computer?
That depends on the arrangement. Ask about the device, keep work in cloud tools with their own accounts and use a password manager for access.
How do I remove access if an assistant leaves?
Keep a list of every tool they use, remove their user from each and change any shared passwords stored in the password manager.