Case studies / Professional services
Case studyA secure client portal for a professional services firm
An accountancy and advisory firm exchanging sensitive documents by email built a secure client portal, so clients find documents themselves, requests fall and security improves.
Overview
A mid-sized accountancy, tax and advisory firm in Ireland serving owner-managed businesses, family offices and private clients from three offices.
Scale. About 2,500 clients and many engagements running at once, from annual accounts and tax returns to transactions and advisory projects, each producing a steady flow of documents in both directions.
The challenge
Bank statements, payroll reports, tax computations and draft accounts all travelled between the firm and its clients as email attachments. Most of the time this worked. Occasionally a file went to the wrong person, and each time it did the partners were reminded how exposed the firm was.
Exchanging documents by email was risky. Attachments sat in inboxes on both sides indefinitely, passwords for protected files were often sent in the next email and there was no reliable way to withdraw a document sent in error.
It was also slow. Clients asked for copies of documents they had already received, and staff searched their inboxes and the document system to find and resend them. At year end, these requests took a noticeable share of the team's time.
Large files bounced off email size limits, so clients resorted to consumer file-sharing services the firm did not control.
Partners had no clear view of what had been shared with whom. When a client asked whether they had sent a particular document, the answer depended on someone's inbox.
Clients themselves were asking for something better. Several larger clients had already been offered portals by their banks and lawyers and expected the same from their accountants.
The solution
Clients sign in securely with multi-factor authentication. Each user sees only the clients and engagements they are authorised for, so a finance director can see company documents while a family member sees only personal tax files.
The document library organises files by client, engagement and year. Documents the firm shares are published from the document system, and documents clients upload are filed into the right engagement automatically.
Search lets clients find documents by name, type, year or engagement, so a client looking for last year's tax return or the signed accounts can find it in seconds.
Notifications tell clients when a new document is available or a request is waiting, and remind them of outstanding items. Emails contain a link to the portal, never the document itself.
An audit trail records every upload, download and change of access, so the firm can answer questions about what was shared, when and with whom.
Invoices and statements from the billing system appear in the portal alongside engagement documents, and usage is tracked through analytics to show which features clients rely on.
The engagement
- Five months
- Four specialists
- User journey definition with clients and staff, design and build of a secure portal with document library, search, notifications and audit trail, integration with identity, document system, email, billing and analytics, a client pilot and firm-wide rollout.
Integrations
- Identity service
- Document system
- Billing
- Analytics
How we delivered it
- 01
Define user journeys
Four weeks
We defined user journeys for clients and staff, covering how documents are requested, uploaded, reviewed, signed off and found again later, and agreed which documents would be shared through the portal.
- 02
Build the portal
Nine weeks
We built the portal with secure access, a document library organised by client and engagement, search, notifications and an audit trail, and connected it to the firm's identity service and document system.
- 03
Pilot with selected clients
Four weeks
A group of clients of different sizes and levels of confidence used the portal for real work. Their early feedback reshaped the navigation and the wording of notifications.
- 04
Roll out
Four weeks
The portal was rolled out to all clients by service line, with a short guide, a welcome email and support from each client team.
Results
- Clients find documents themselves
- Fewer document requests to client teams
- Sensitive files kept out of email
- Every exchange recorded in an audit trail
Clients find documents themselves. Copies of returns, accounts and letters are always available in the portal, and clients have stopped asking for resends.
Requests to client teams have fallen. Staff spend less time searching inboxes and resending files, which is most noticeable during the busy tax season.
Security has improved. Sensitive documents no longer sit as attachments in inboxes, access is controlled and can be withdrawn and every exchange is recorded.
Early client feedback shaped navigation. Clients in the pilot grouped documents by year and engagement rather than by the firm's internal categories, and the final design followed their logic, which made adoption easier.
Clients now see the firm as easier to work with. Several have commented that the portal matches what they get from their banks and lawyers.
Our pilot clients reorganised the menus for us. They were right, and it is why the rest of our clients took to it.
What made the difference
Early client feedback shaped navigation.
