Online collaboration software seems to be catching on amongst the virtual assistants I know, but especially those who have multiple projects on the go or work in a multi-VA/multi-contractor environment. Yet, despite the productivity benefits of using programs like Central Desktop or ClientSpot, a lot of VAs are saying it remains a challenge to get their clients on board.
I understand all to well. It’s hard enough to remember to log in to the software I use for my own company let alone doing so as a client. I have one fab VA who works for me and uses Basecamp religiously. Yet I still can’t seem to stop myself from sending quickie emails when I need something on the fly. Then again, maybe we’re expecting too much from these programs. I mean, who over the age of 25 doesn’t live and breathe email?
Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate why we need or think we need to use online collaboration software in the first place. Then we can make a more informed decision as to whether it’s worth both the expense and the effort to create long term buy in. To do this, we must look at both sides of the equation: VA and Client.
From the virtual assistant’s perspective:
- Potentially how many hours a month of admin time will I save? Does this justify the monthly or yearly expense incurred?
- How much work will it be to get everyone on my team using the software consistently? Is it worth the effort?
- Do I want this to be an internal collaboration tool, much like a company intranet, or do I want to use the software as a way to more effectively engage my clients? Or both?
- Do my clients even care if we have these kinds of tools? Does it impress them or make them view me/my company as less freelance and more entrepreneur?
- Does the software offer functionality such as milestone tracking or contact management that could replace my existing tools offline?
- If the system goes offline for a period of time will business continuity be impacted?
And from the client’s perspective:
- Am I paying competitive rates despite the software’s cost of use?
- If I’m paying a premium for my virtual assistant services, what are the value adds? Increased productivity? More effective communication? Peace of mind? Faster data retrieval?
- What are the potential drawbacks of adjusting to “working in the cloud?”
- Can you make a convincing case for me to change from email thinking to “log in” thinking (i.e. working in the cloud versus working in the hard drive)?
- What if I just don’t want to work collaboratively online, period? What’s your policy on this? For example, can you work internally on my project in the cloud but work with me via email and phone?
These are just some of the questions swimming in my head of late as I try to make my own collaborative processes more efficient. Right now, I am using Backpackit as a company intranet, no clients allowed. And for the moment, it is working, though not as well I hope it will function for my team in the future. I’m tempted to bring my clients onside, but then I have to think about the whole privacy and “play nice while the client is watching” thing. When I was using Basecamp I found this a bit onerous. Not because we’re a bunch of potty mouthed VAs and consultants, but because having to constantly remember who is privy to the conversation thread and who is cumbersome and even squelches free thinking at times.
Therein lies the rub. As a client, do you want to be part of a collaborative environment all or most of the time? Not always having say as to who is privy to the conversation thread you’ve just been pulled into? Do you feel more or less in control when a discussion is primarily taking place via email? Or do you find a VA who uses online collaboration software to actually be more professional, more organized, more on top of things?
Not only do we want to hear what other VAs have to say about the pros and cons of using online collaboration software, but what do you the client think of this trend? Do you want to see more of it? And if so, to what extent do you want to be involved?
These are excellent questions!
I’ve been struggling with this dilemma myself as I find most clients don’t really want to use basecamp but most will use it and like it when the benefits are explained.
One thing I’ve started testing is using a Ticket system. At the moment it is me or my project manager assigning tickets to four categories in a system with a VA assigned to each category. This is much more restricting than an online collaboration system and the thing I like is the ability to ‘close’ the ticket which Basecamp doesn’t offer and tends to get messy.
I would also LOVE to hear clients opinions on how they feel about these systems and what they think would work best. Looking forward to hearing what others say on this topic.
Angela
I feel that using project collaboration software has highly increased the efficiency and organization of my business. I use http://www.smartsheet.com/virtual-assistant/ and find it does separate correspondence between myself, my VAs and clients while at the same time connects us in an appropriate ways through file transfers, instant messages, correspondence, etc. It has taken me awhile to get into this new habit of going here daily but find it is now intuitively a part of my daily business activities. It keeps all my notes on a project all in one place whereas before I’d be spending hours just looking for the correspondence in email or on my hard drive someplace.
Project collaboration software is a big change in the way we keep communication open and organize our day in business. Change is always hard in the beginning but I feel in this case, online businesses should give it a shot and try it out 😉
Great article! A good online contact management or CRM system is critical for virtual workers.
You can also try Manymoon, it’s free:
http://www.manymoon.com
With Manymoon you can:
* Managed private and shared To Do Lists and Projects.
* Works with clients, co-workers and partners…anyone with an email address!
* Upload documents and add them to tasks and projects.
* Integrate with Google Docs and Google Calendar.
* Twitter-like feature to let people know what you are working on.
* Automatically convert emails into tasks.
Using project management tools for collaboration has helped me a lot. I use http://www.deskaway.com for collaborating. Earlier it was very difficult for me to work from home because of excessive email clutters in my inbox & miscommunication. Since we started using DeskAway it has saved a lot of email work & paper work as my boss assign tasks and shares the documents & files online. Work has become more simplified & easier.
I would say that this kind of change in technology have made a great impact on our lives.
I’ve been using http://www.onstageportal.com with my clients and I would say that it’s been pretty successful. The trick the is clearly explain what the tool does and how it will be used. Also, I like this particular tool because clients can post messages just by sending an email. That really makes adoption of these services easier. I know there are a couple of tools that can do this.
Try Sosius.com, we’ve been using it for more than 2yrs now after we switched from Sharepoint.
This is food for thought, for sure. I have used collaborative software with one VA team that I am a part of (Backpackit), and it did not work the way the company owner expected so after all the setup she cancelled it. We continue to use Highrise for client details, but no other collaborative software.
I don’t think I have the need at this time to use software for my own business, but if I were to go with something I know I would try ClientSpot, as has been highly recommended by many of my colleagues at VAnetworking.
I agree with Tawnya that project collaboration will be huge in the VA business – especially with niche specialties (some people employ more than one VA). Great topic!
I wrote a blog post about your post on Virtually @ Eight Twenty-Two with some of my questions and take on the use of these services. I appreciate the discussions that virtual assistants can participate in at VAnetworking.com about online collaboration and the review or introduction of services are they are developed.
Great article in regards to online collaboration software. One may even deploy on premise RHUB online collaboration appliances in order to conduct webinars, web conferences, online meetings, online conferences etc.