Updated on 26 October 2026
What exactly is a client portal
An online space where your client finds everything that concerns them: their exchanges with you, their documents, their open requests, their deadlines. The idea isn't new, it comes from customer service in large companies, and it has trickled down to accounting firms and SMEs because phone calls and lost attachments cost both sides dearly.
What separates a good portal from a bad one comes down to one thing: what it asks of the client. A portal that assumes they will remember a password, remember to log in and learn a new vocabulary sits empty after three months, and the team goes back to email. A useful portal lets the client carry on doing what they have always done.
So ours opens two doors onto the same place. The client logs into their area if they want to, or they simply reply to an email, and their message arrives attached to their file. Both routes lead to the same thread, the one your team sees.
One file, one thread, the whole history
Each client has their own file, with their contacts, their documents, their meetings and the full conversation. Whatever the client writes arrives attached to the right file, whether it comes through their client area or by email.
Each file has its own dedicated email address, shown on its page: it's the reply address for everything sent to that client, and a message received at that address is attached to the file, attachments included. A short reference in the subject line does the same job. An address the file doesn't know is ignored and logged: nobody invites themselves into a client file.
Internal notes stay internal
An internal note is not the same thing as an on-screen message, and it is never passed on to the client. The filter is applied on the server side, not in the display: it is not a matter of discipline, it is a matter of how the thing is built.
An open request stays visible, a handled request gets closed
When a client writes, the file moves to request to handle, with the waiting time shown. If the message contains an urgency signal, a formal notice or an audit, it jumps to the top with its reason. Requests and files live on the same screen: the request queue on one side, the list of files on the other, those with an open request first, with the number of messages waiting and since when.
A request is only closed by an explicit action: ticking that this reply handles the request, or marking it as handled when everything was sorted out over the phone. Replying is not enough, because "I'm on it" is not a resolution. The client is told the request is closed and can reopen it simply by replying.
A suggested reply, never sent on its own
As soon as a client message comes in, the assistant drafts a suggested reply from the client file summary, past exchanges and the knowledge base. It waits in the text box, with the points to check flagged.
You send it with one click, or you edit it, or you ignore it. Nothing goes out without a human. The file summary itself regenerates when you open the file, if messages have come in since last time.
The client area
A contact invited from their file enters a simplified area: their next meetings with you, the news you've earmarked for clients, their latest exchanges, document upload, and, depending on your line of work, their deadlines. They also choose there whether to talk through this area or by email only.
Their assistant only talks about their file. It answers when it can; otherwise it rephrases the request and offers to pass it on to you, and the click drops it into the thread with the original text. When an authorised person on your team has certified an answer, it can be served on its own, signed as automatic.
Who sees what
A client file is visible to its leads and to management. The portfolio is built when your clients are imported, lead column included, then corrected by hand as needed. A file with no exchange for twelve months archives itself, and the first message wakes it up.
Giving all your clients access, in one move
The client file directory shows where each one stands: portal active, invitation pending, contact with no account. One button invites everyone at once, another opens access for a single file. An address that is already active is never re-invited, and a client whose portal your original software refused stays aside until you invite them yourself.
The same address can cover several client files: the director who has three companies with you sees all three files with a single login.
What it isn't
This is not a document management system and it does not replace your archiving. We add the context: a document cited in a thread can point back to the original that lives on your side. Your vault stays your vault.
