Fact finds and the collection and sharing of highly personal information are par for the course for financial advisors of every kind worldwide. Collecting, collating and sharing information is what keeps the world of financial services turning on its axis.

But before you ask your next client to buzz over their proof of income, bank statements, copies of passports etc by email, consider this - while emails might seem to have a direct route from one computer to another, they actually go through several intermediaries on their way?

The security concerns around email

When you're sending or receiving personal, private or otherwise sensitive information and documents with clients... which is of course an integral part of any financial services professionals role... that information will pass through multiple servers and ISPs with copies stored at each server.

Each of these connections on an emails journey, represents a potential security threat that could have very serious ramifications - see this example of how a couple nearly lost all of their savings to scammers.

When you're dealing with third parties, you can never know for how long each recipient might save the email, and sensitive information within it.

This is of course one of the issues around privacy and data protection that GDPR addresses in seeking to protect individuals.

So, we know that email can't be trusted, but just how does a professional and conscientious mortgage advisor share, store and communicate sensitive personal information with a client?

Well, increasingly, with client portals like Clinked.

Why use a client portal?

Clinked offers 256 bit encryption and 2 factor authentication - that's the level of security your typical bank will use - online security doesn't get any better.

A system with this level of security is safer than the likes of Google Drive or Dropbox, which, while better than the wild west that is unencrypted email, doesn't offer end-to-end encryption.

A client portal on the other hand, provides a resource that is virtually impenetrable for the sharing and storing of documents.

And to further increase the efficiency of the process of managing, auditing, completing and otherwise working with documents, the Clinked client portal supports task management, version control and e-signature functionality - all essential tools for your daily operations.

Of course, when you're using a third party platform to engage with clients, it's preferable to have your brand front and centre. Which is why Clinked provides, as standard, an option to brand the platform as your own - from the URL through to the colour scheme and logo placement... being a white label solution, the Clinked client portal will appear to anyone on the platform, to be 'your' client portal.

Now that we've established that a client portal is the way to go if you'd like to work within the parameters of GDPR and promote data security for the benefit of your clients (and your firms reputation). The benefits of having a secure location for managing documentation are clear and the value of a platform that puts your brand at the front of your offer make for a compelling proposition - but what else is there?

Streamlined processes and greater efficiency

There's a lot more I could write about why adopting a client portal makes very clear business sense - but let's focus on that fact that aside from the benefits highlighted previously, a client portal simply helps streamline your business and provide greater efficiency for clients and internal teams alike.

Imagine a scenario where you don't need to spend time responding to clients about how their applications and the administration of their accounts etc are progressing. Each client will have their own login to the portal so they can check progress themselves - no human interaction at this level is required. It means that your team can get on with running the business, while clients and third parties will have appropriate access (as defined by your admin) to all of the documentation, updates and tasks outstanding.

Book a demo and see for yourself

There's a lot that a platform like Clinked can offer to financial services professionals - we've only skimmed the surface here. If you'd like to explore the ways in which Clinked can help improve your security, boost your efficiency and add more value to your client proposition book a demo at www.clinked.com/demo.