The tool stack for a remote assistant

Tools by the job they do

• Email and calendar: Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, with delegated access to your mailbox and calendar.
• Chat: Slack or Microsoft Teams, with one channel for daily work.
• Tasks: one tracker, such as Asana, Trello, ClickUp, Notion or Todoist.
• Passwords: a business password manager such as 1Password or Bitwarden.
• Documents and files: Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox with shared folders, and Notion or Google Docs for processes.
• Scheduling: a booking link such as Calendly, or the one built into your calendar, for external meetings.
• Signatures: DocuSign, Dropbox Sign or a similar tool for contracts and forms.
• Expenses and receipts: the receipt capture in your accounting software, or a separate expense app.
• Recording: Loom, or the recording in your video call tool, for explaining processes.

Most small teams already have half of these. The assistant should learn your tools rather than bring their own.

A starter stack for week one

If you are starting from very little, this covers most of a first assistant's work:

1. Your email and calendar, with delegation.
2. A password manager with one shared vault.
3. One task tracker with the columns New, This week, Waiting and Done.
4. A shared folder with a “Start here” document: who is who, how you like things done, links to everything.
5. A chat channel for quick questions.

Add the rest when a task needs it, not in advance. Our onboarding checklist covers the order in which to give access in the first days.

Set the right level of access

• Email: delegation lets the assistant read, draft and send without your password. Decide whether they write as you or on your behalf.
• Calendar: edit rights on yours, and permission to see other people's free and busy times.
• Tracker and docs: member access; admin stays with you.
• Money: a virtual card with a limit for bookings; no access to your main banking login.
• CRM or help desk: a user role that fits the work, not admin.

Keep a list of every access you give, so that offboarding takes minutes. Our security and access guide has an access register you can copy.

AI tools: useful, with rules

Many assistants now use AI tools for drafts, summaries and research. That can save real time, as long as you agree the rules:

• Which tools are allowed, and on which account: a company account where you control the data settings, not a personal one.
• What never goes into them: passwords, payment details, confidential contracts, personal data you have no right to share.
• That the assistant checks every result before it is sent or used, and owns it.
• That anything sent in your name sounds like you, not like a template.

EU companies should check AI tools against their data protection rules like any other service; see GDPR and remote staff access.

What to skip

• Screen and keystroke monitoring: it measures activity, not results, and tells a good assistant you do not trust them.
• Two tools for the same job: tasks kept in both Trello and Notion end up in neither.
• Tools nobody owns: every tool needs someone who keeps it tidy, and that can be the assistant.
• Paid plans for features you do not use: review subscriptions once a quarter; your assistant can do it.

Let the assistant own the stack

After the first months, a good assistant can look after the tools themselves: keeping the tracker clean, archiving old files, reviewing subscriptions and documenting how things work. Make it part of the role, and ask once a quarter what they would change. Our guide to managing a remote assistant shows how the tracker fits into the weekly rhythm.