27 Best Executive Assistant Tools to Boost Productivity in 2022
Executive assistants keep a company moving. They help leadership with organization, planning, scheduling, booking, and much more on behalf of the C suite. They do the absolute most around the clock – and even more can get done quickly and efficiently, thanks to executive assistant tools that make the most out of every minute in the workday. If you’re an executive assistant who is looking to save time and get more done, keep reading for our best picks.
What is an executive assistant tool?
An executive assistant tool is any app or software you can use to make your busy day easier to handle. These apps can help you with time tracking, event planning, scheduling, team-wide communication, business travel, and so much more.
When it comes to the best executive assistant tools, speed and ease of use are the name of the game. After all, you might be the biggest jack of all trades on your team – do you really have time to learn complex new tools?
The 27 best executive assistant tools to use
The best tools for executive assistants include, but certainly aren’t limited to list the below.
1. Time Zone Ninja
Time Zone Ninja lets you schedule meetings across time zones with no hassle. When you add everyone’s locations into the app, an ideal meeting time will pop up on your screen. With this tool, you can manage schedules worldwide in just seconds.
2. Google Calendar
Scheduling tools are critical to any executive assistant’s success, and that’s part of why Google Calendar has become all but ubiquitous. It’s a great app for viewing everyone’s appointments, generating event invites with video conferencing links, and dragging and dropping appointments. And it’s an especially great tool for staying on top of your team’s schedule since you can access it directly from Gmail. You can do so entirely for free.
3. Text Blaze
Being an executive assistant can mean sending email after email, which can get tedious. That’s where Text Blaze comes in. You can easily automate, customize, and use Text Blaze’s templates to generate complete emails in just seconds. The app can give you more than 28 hours back per month – and with all the other things on your plate, that’s huge. All that extra time frees you up to be more hands-on with your other tasks.
Start using free Text Blaze email templates today.
4. Slack
What executive assistant can survive without Slack in today’s world? The popular digital workspace platform and its mobile app connect your whole team anytime, anywhere for direct messaging and team-wide updates. You can set up channels for solely your executives, solely your team, or any other group. You can also create topic-based channels, whether “#milestones” for celebrating big achievements or “#random” for just having a little fun. Slack can be equally fun and functional for you, your leadership, and the entire team.
5. Monday
Monday is one of the best project management tools for executive assistants. You can use it to build yourself a task list, assign tasks to other team members, and get everyone’s responsibilities under control. You can also look at who’s doing what – and when – to really keep things moving along. Plus, if your team consistently falls behind, Monday’s tools can clearly demonstrate to the C suite that more help is needed to get through the day’s tasks.
6. Trello
Trello is another highly popular project management app for executive assistants, managers, and everyone in between. With Trello, you can assign and manage tasks through lists, cards, and boards. That means you basically have Gantt charts – a powerful executive assistant tool – at your disposal. Trello also includes additional productivity tools, so you can make the best of your team’s time and guide everyone toward the best possible work.
7. Calendly
Calendly transforms your boss’s available times on their calendar into appointment hours, for which anyone can sign up. It’s a natural buffer between your team and the C-suite. You list the times your boss is available, and anyone who wants a meeting signs up for an open slot. You then inform your bosses that they have a certain number of meetings during their open hours, and everyone gets on the same page. Keep a watchful eye on appointments that your team makes shortly before they start, though – Calendly sometimes doesn’t book those.
8. Boomerang
Boomerang gives you full control over your inbox, whether it’s silent or totally overflowing. Just install Boomerang in Gmail to pause distracting emails as you’re planning out a day-long team-building event or your boss’s business trip overseas. You can also schedule emails in case you have a brilliant idea to send someone, but it comes at a time when they’re not working. Boomerang also includes an AI assistant that enhances your emails (which you can save as templates in Text Blaze once you’ve perfected them).
Start using free Text Blaze email templates today.
9. Evernote
Evernote is a note-taking app with customizable templates, so you can take meeting minutes, jot down some quick thoughts, and much more. If you need to take notes when your hands aren’t free to type, Evernote’s voice-recording tools have you covered. The app also doubles as a task-assigning tool if you haven’t yet set up a project management tool. And you can always share your notes with any relevant party with just a few clicks.
10. Expensify
Expensify can help you wrangle all the budgets and dollar signs on your plate into one easy interface. Its mobile app lets you snap photos of receipts and upload them as expenses. It also lets you and your team track the miles you drive for reimbursable work travel, since it includes GPS. You can also use Expensify to send out reimbursements just a day after your team files them. The reporting features are especially helpful – there’s no easier way to show your execs how they’re funding the team’s work.
11. QuickBooks
QuickBooks is perhaps the most oft-used business accounting software around. It comes in numerous versions and capacities – the small business tier, for example, tracks your income and expenses, reports your cash flow, and streamlines invoicing. You can also use QuickBooks to offer your clients credit card or bank transfer payment options, track your team’s billable time, and quickly run payroll. Professional bookkeeping support is also available.
12. Motivosity
Motivosity is a great executive assistant tool for implementing and executing an employee recognition program. You can use it to set up employee meetings, send your team surveys, or ask for other kinds of feedback. More importantly, you can use it to give out spot bonuses, rewards, and other employee recognition incentives. It also lets your team members recognize each other’s great work, so in a way, it’s also a team-building tool.
13. Grammarly
You’re probably more than busy enough to miss basic typos and incorrect words in your emails and other writing. Grammarly can fix that for you. It underlines the most common writing mistakes, tells you how to correct them, and makes the switch for you in just one click. You can also set Grammarly to over two dozen languages or different versions of one language – British, Canadian, and American English are all available. Your emails to international clients will sound just like home.
14. Todoist
Start using free Text Blaze email templates today.
The task management app Todoist automatically bumps your most important tasks to the top of your list. That means you can more easily juggle all the tasks on your plate, get the most critical tasks out of the way now, and handle the smaller ones later.
You can also use Todoist to view your whole team’s productivity levels, which makes it great for your task management and time management strategies. Use it right, and over a few months, you’ll see your team’s time spent per task dip, all while the quality remains top-notch.
15. Zoom
Zoom is the gold standard for accessibility—connecting huge remote teams for video or audio conferences. You can transform your Zoom space into a live chat or webinar, or you can share your screen if you’re presenting something. Zoom also makes it easy for you to mute and unmute people, record all your meetings, and set up breakout rooms. It’s a simple, widely understood tool for virtually assisting your team.
16. Otter.ai
If you record your Zoom meetings to look back on later, Otter.ai can save you invaluable time. Instead of transcribing the meeting to write all your notes, you can have Otter.ai do that for you in minutes. It lets you easily search through its transcriptions and share your notes. Not only that, but it automatically identifies the people speaking and puts their names on what they’ve said.
17. Hubstaff
Hubstaff uses GPS to track employee location and time, so you can easily provide answers about project status and other occurrences when asked. You can use Hubstaff to track computer use and automate employee payments. If your team is often on the go or in the field, some Hubstaff plans include mobile GPS tracking and fleet tracking. These plans also let you track your team across an unlimited number of job sites.
18. Clockify
If part of your executive assistant work involves tracking time for remote employees, then Clockify is a great tool for you. This tool works via desktop, mobile, or web browser and enables your team to track the time spent on each task or project.
You can also use Clockify to run your paid time off program and track employee breaks and days off. Everything you and your team track is available in a user-friendly dashboard that takes your executive assistant game to the next level.
19. Quip
Though Quip might be best known as a word processing tool for sales teams, it’s also a powerful executive assistant tool. You can use it to collaborate on written work with your executives and team members on any device. Its offline editing tools are easier to use and access than Google Docs’ notoriously finicky offline suite. It also has another edge on Docs: edit histories that look like social media news feeds for easier review. For basic written tasks, Quip can help you get your whole team over the finish line.
20. Call Please
With Call Please, you can put together a call log so you can better organize all your team’s communications. Just log into your Call Please portal for an extensive database comprising your call history, recorded messages, and all your contacts’ information. You can easily search this database, label certain calls, assign phone-related tasks, and set callback reminders. After a day full of calls, just a few clicks is all it takes to get everything sorted and where you need it to be.
21. ezcater
The next time you’re planning a big event for the team, the executive assistant tool ezcater can make your life easier. It’s a searchable database of catering companies and restaurants throughout the U.S. so that you can find the right cuisine, price point, and amount of food for any meeting. You can also use ezcater to order specific meals or boxed lunches, so all can participate in line with their dietary restrictions. This option is especially great for virtual lunch meetings since you can use ezcater to send meals to everyone participating from home.
Start using free Text Blaze email templates today.
22. Dropbox
For all your file sharing and storage needs, Dropbox is a great option. It’s basically Google Drive , but with easier sharing functions and more reliable file syncing. That means you can keep your executives and your team members in the loop with the latest versions of important files. You can also limit access to certain files to solely executives with advanced privacy and privilege settings. With Dropbox, you connect leadership with other departments throughout the company and award each person the precise permissions they need.
23. eFileCabinet
Lots of file storage and sharing tools lack an essential executive assistant feature: electronic signatures. With eFileCabinet, you get this feature alongside highly secure, flexible file management services. This executive assistant tool’s automation features further improve your file organization since they minimize data entry errors during uploads. You can program extra workflows to set your filing procedures to work exactly how you please. eFileCabinet is also as user-friendly on mobile as on desktop, so you can handle time-sensitive tasks on the go.
24. Mailbook
Even people who always strive for inbox-zero might struggle to organize their email contacts. If that sounds like you, then you might find Mailbook super helpful. You can use Mailbook to send your contacts secure links they can then fill out to send you their contact info. If you already have this info, you can manually add it yourself instead.
Importantly, Mailbook stores both email and shipping addresses. The latter should come in handy when it’s holiday time, and you need to ship out all those branded gifts on your company's behalf. Mailbook also makes printing mailer labels super easy.
25. Ship.com
If you couple Mailbook with Ship.com, then sending holiday gifts on behalf of the C-suite can truly be a cakewalk. You can print mailing labels in just a few clicks and schedule pick up right from your office. That means no more bringing unwieldy bags of packaged goodies to the post office.
Ship.com also tracks your packages, provides real-time updates, and notifies relevant third parties when your items land. And if you know other folks who use Ship.com, you can send them postal mail if you have just their Ship.com info. You don’t need to ask for their actual mailing address, and that saves you another email.
26. American Express Global Business Travel
American Express is more than a household-name credit card company. It also offers great business travel tools – namely, its American Express Global Business Travel executive assistant suite. You can use AmEx’s technology to manage corporate travel expenses for your executives and lean on its team to help plan great events. The AmEx business travel tool also comes with global business consulting services that can help you perfect your corporate travel policies.
27. Visme
Any time you need to make a presentation on behalf of your boss, Visme can be your go-to helper. This user-friendly executive assistant tool helps you build visually appealing reports, presentations, and infographics from hundreds of ready-to-go templates. You can quickly add GIFs, videos, charts, and your company logo to the presentations and reports. Then, once you’re finished, sharing and publishing the final product should be a total breeze.
With great assistance comes great responsibility
Being an executive assistant can feel like having a world of responsibility on your shoulders. With the right executive assistant tools, that burden can begin to feel significantly less heavy. Text Blaze is a great example: customizable snippets and templates, and dynamic commands can save you more than three business days of work per month. It’s the easiest way to free up your time, so you’re ready for whatever big task comes your way next.
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