The New Tools of The Trade

Some elements of day-to-day business life are dull, others are under siege from human error. Here are the ways you can be more productive, less prone to mistakes and keep that in-tray under control.

Meetings: Forget emailing back and forth, trying to pin down a time and location for that crucial facetime. The newest PA on the block is AI – ‘Amy Ingram’ is one version of this – all you have to do is cc her in to an email with the person you want to have your meeting with and ‘she’ will liaise on your behalf — before you know it, a meeting invite will ping in to your inbox. Try it at X.ai or Mimetic.ai – both have a ‘name’ and email address to give that personal, dare we say, human touch.

To-do lists: Arranging your must-dos, should-dos and might-dos is a job in itself. Add a whole team’s worth of those and managing the flow of a project has nightmare written all over it. AI apps help individuals and teams organise their work to bring clarity to mind and action. With tasks, projects, conversations and dashboards, Asana enables teams to move work around. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details. Wunderlist is a simple to-do list and task manager app that helps you get stuff done. No excuses now…..

Travel: Lola is a new kind of travel company that provides an on-demand, personal travel service through a smartphone app. The Lola app instantly connects people to a team of travel consultants who find hotels, research business requirements, book flights and anything else their customers need. So if you want to fly in to NYC, find a hotel (Do you prefer a city view? No problem), arrange a couple of meetings nearby, find a place to eat with your vegan client, and leave early via Dublin, that’s not a problem.

Collaboration: As companies grow and more people get on board, organising everyone can become a project in itself. AI collaboration apps are making a huge impact in this area. Basecamp is a unique collection of tools and methods for working together, all baked into a single organised product. No more email, far fewer meetings, and a much better handle on things. Slack brings all your communication together in one place. It’s real-time messaging, archiving and search for modern teams. Yammer enables connections to people and information (files, photos, videos) from across an organisation, making it easier to move your work forward.

Virtual Reality
For times when a personal touch is indispensable and a human face and voice can’t be replaced…

A Flexible PA Solution: Designated PA offers flexibility for those not ready to take the big step of employing someone permanently, whilst still providing a personal service and maintaining high standards. There is a dedicated Designated PA for Clubhouse members to use. Please ask for further details at the Front Desk.

Proffesional Call Handling: Moneypenny provide a telephone answering service and outsourced switchboard which will impress your clients and staff. We can vouch for their professional and reliable approach as this is a service widely used by our members. For preferential member rates, email meet@theclubhouselondon.com.

This article was originally featured in The Informer. To read the full magazine, please click here.