So, you’ve decided on a client portal. You’ve realised that the solution is a great way to provide team members and clients with a central location for sharing secure documents, having conversations and planning tasks and events – and that’s great! But before you jump right in and begin implementing the solution into your company, here are some best practices to think about.

Effective implementation tip 1:

Get branding

To get the most out of your client portal solution, you need to be branding it to match your company’s requirements. Depending on what your solution offers, this can include: setting a colour scheme, adding your logo (for starters, using an online logo maker can help you create one), customising your login page, changing your URL and terminology throughout your solution. By branding your client portal, you’re helping your existing clients to associate your company with your solution, therefore building trust. It can also lead to attracting bigger clients, as your company is able to offer them a more professional environment to work in.

If you want to learn how you can ‘Brand Your Business Like A Pro’, you can download your copy of Clinked’s free e-book. Read about the importance of business branding, how to stand out from your competitors, top tips for successful branding, and more.

Effective implementation tip 2:

Set up a knowledge base

A virtual knowledge base will provide your users with a secure area in which they can easily access in order to find certain information quickly. Meeting notes, frequently asked questions, various rules and procedures; you can choose to store information that users need frequent or instant access to, that can now be easily found by using the search bar.

According to a report by McKinsey & Company, the average interaction worker spends an estimated 28% of the workweek managing e-mail and nearly 20% looking for internal information or tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks. However, a searchable record of knowledge (such as a knowledge base) can reduce the time employees spend searching for company information by as much as 35%. 

Effective implementation tip 3:

Control document permissions

When choosing to implement a client portal, the chances are that the security benefits were an influencing factor. Whether you’re an accountant, architect or lawyer; the guarantee that your data is going to be protected will be important to you. So, by ensuring that you make use of your client portal’s file control capabilities (from file permissions, to file locking and password-protected sharing, you will feel more confident when using your new solution to securely share files with clients and team members.

In fact, controlling your documents from within a client portal solution has many benefits over using the likes of FTP, e-mail and other file-uploading programs such as Dropbox. 

Effective implementation tip 4:

Integrate with external apps

You should be making use of your client portal’s ability to integrate with your external apps. This can save valuable time when you need to instantly transfer contacts across, sync your calendar, and share your files with internal and external clients. For instance, by integrating your solution with your Google Apps account (which includes Google Docs, Google Contacts, Google Calendar and so on), you can access all of your content from within your single client portal solution, without needing to switch between your multiple apps. It’s fast, simple, and efficient.

Effective implementation tip 5:

Make use of the mobile app

Giving your clients and team members the flexibility of accessing documents and conversations from their client portal, via their mobiles, can make it even easier for them to stay connected from anywhere in the world. If a client needs to instantly access a report when out of the office and without a laptop, they can – without any fuss. If your chosen solution offers a mobile app, then you should undoubtedly take advantage of that – even more so if it’s brandable.

In alignment with your client portal’s mobile app, here are a couple of other mobile apps that can help ease your day-to-day business processes. From scheduling social media posts, to on-the-go meetings, this infographic has something for every business.

Your client portal is inevitably going to grow and evolve. With the continual updates being made by the vendor in order to improve the solution, and as you invite new clients and team members; these are some of the key best practises to ensure that you’ll always get the most out of your client portal.

Are you new here? If you’re looking for a client portal to share files and collaborate on projects with your team members and clients, then it’s worth considering Clinked. With Clinked, you can share multiple files, have real-time conversations and more; all from within a secure, branded environment.