The technology you need to know

We can all appreciate the extent to which technology dictates our working lives. However for PAs, in particular, it’s increasingly significant to be in-the-know with the emerging technologies available. It can seriously impact the productivity of both you and those you support, after all.

As business leaders move towards a culture of embracing digital innovation and agility, it’s becoming increasingly important to see those qualities reflected in their Personal Assistants. We’re receiving more recruitment briefs from clients requiring ‘tech-savvy’ PAs now than ever before. It’s our most successful PA candidates who possess the technical skills beyond those of traditional MS Office and good typing speed.

We spoke to two Senior PA candidates, Amber and Kyle, about the essential apps and technologies they use to manage their busy roles and hectic schedules.

1. Concur

“I swear by Concur as an effective way to manage expenses,” Amber explains. My role requires me to be on the move quite a bit so this plays a huge role in minimising my admin. The concur app lets me take pictures of receipts, automatically create expense claims and calculate mileage, all without a spreadsheet! It’s a massive time-saver.”

2. Bookatable

Amber prefers Bookatable over its competitors: “The Bookatable app is one of the easiest apps to use for making quick and easy dinner reservations – often last minute. I can check availability in real time, tag my favourite restaurants, use the ‘restaurants near me’ finder and check reviews to help me work out which are the most suitable venues.”

3. Dropbox

Both Amber and Kyle are fans of Dropbox. “Dropbox is incredibly important for my team who are in multiple countries and need to have access across multiple devices,” Kyle explains. “Each person needs access to certain information depending on their level in the organisation so you can control the access they have to specific files and folders.” Amber adds, “Dropbox frees my phone storage while still ensuring documents and photos are easily accessible on-the-go. The app also has a visually appealing interface which makes it intuitive to use.”

4. Asana

Kyle prefers Asana when he has more complex projects to manage. “Asana is a fantastic on-the-go project management tool. Where I’ve managed yacht refits or home renovations, it’s really helped me keep track of the different stages of the project and know where everything is at.”

5. Genius Scan

“Genius Scan is like a scanner in my pocket, and means I can make good quality digital copies without needing to be in the office,” Amber says. “This is especially useful if I’m working with someone who likes to markup documents by hand!”

6. Docusign

“Docusign plays an incredibly important role at an executive level where signatures are still very often required,” Kyle describes.

7. App in the air

Kyle works with App in the Air when making complex travel bookings. “There are many travel apps but my favourite is App in the air. I just enter a flight number and the whole trip is sorted from start to finish including check-in times, boarding times, take off and landing times, delays, gate numbers etc. If I’m organising airport pick-ups I can search quite easily for the real-time flight statuses too. Notifications keep me updated of any changes to the flight.”

8. Siren Solarin smartphones

“Blackberries are a thing of the past”, asserts Kyle. “My boss prefers Siren Solarin phones and the reassurance they bring with regards to data security. They operate on an android system but are unhackable.”

If you’d like to upskill, consider training or completing an online course. Get in touch to find out more.

Author David Morel Tiger Recruitment Team