For many years, Charles was Product Manager for ‘Singleview’ – the Document Management system marketed by Solution 6/MYOB. He also spent several years on the other side of the fence – as part of the IT team in a UK Top 20 Accountancy Practice.
Requirements evaluation and product selection advice
Charles has worked with hundreds of practices of all sizes from sole traders to national firms, and across the UK and Ireland. He has presented at many seminars and conferences, including for MRI Group, JHI International, Mercia, UK200, and an AccountingWeb breakfast seminar on ‘Paperless Office’. Charles was on the judging panel for the Paperless Office category of the 2010 Software Satisfaction Awards.
A portal is a secure web-site that is used to accept, store, and publish documents to authorised users. The practice and all clients have access to the web-site through a username and a password. The practice can see ALL documents for all clients. The clients can see only those documents meant for them. You may already have used a system like this if you opt to receive paperless bills from your phone provider, utility company or insurer.
Many years ago, a colleague of mine told me of a secure client portal that he had been involved with in Australia. The product worked well, and was well received by accountancy practices who could see the product as a way of making themselves stand out from their competitors. It sold very well….in the first year. Soon practices found that clients liked the
1. Don’t do it yourself – use a portal that is hosted by a professional hosting company. You don’t need the hassle of managing a web-server and the associated infrastructure. This also helps to maintain a very clear ‘firewall’ between your own files and the documents that are published to clients.
2. Pick the RIGHT host – If your portal is hosted on servers that are outside the EU, then the data is NOT protected by EU data protection legislation (‘Safe harbour’ agreements are OK as far as they go, but I’d still feel happier when my data stays inside the EU). At the very least, you should confirm with your PII provider that they are happy with your choice and make sure your clients are aware that you will be storing their data on external systems.
