How do you feel about the prospect of firing clients? For many firm owners the process can be intimidating. It can also be difficult to determine whether you should fire a client or try to salvage the relationship with some frank discussion about what needs to change if you are going to continue to work […]
Resource Category: Blogs & Articles
Using the Right Tech to Build a Better Bookkeeping Business
By Gabrielle Fontaine In our last post, I discussed the fact that one of the keys to having a successful bookkeeping business is to be able to get the information you need from your clients in a timely way. Depending on clients for this is one of the biggest challenges many of us face—so how […]
How to Stop Clients from Killing Your Bookkeeping Business
There’s a reason why most of us professional bookkeepers love what we do—it’s because we have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of our clients. In the ideal client relationship, we can alleviate significant stress and free their time so they can focus on building their business or doing other things […]
Six Online Security Tips for Virtual Bookkeepers
Are you a virtual bookkeeper, or are you thinking of taking your traditional bookkeeping practice to the cloud? Then there’s something you need to pay attention to so you don’t put yourself at risk. It’s online security — secure handling of sensitive electronic information. What do I mean? Well if you’re working with your clients’ […]
How I Use SmartVault to Save Time and Protect Client Data
SmartVault is THE most important app (besides QuickBooks) for over 7 years now in my freelance virtual bookkeeping practice. Why? Because it both saves me time by helping me streamline my bookkeeping workflow, as well as giving me top-notch protection for my clients. Since I also teach other freelance bookkeepers how to work virtually, I’m […]
How to Help Clients Clear the Four Key Hurdles of Technology Adoption
Client portals, cloud-based document management and collaborative workflow solutions are important tools that increase your firm’s efficiency—but what if your clients are reticent to use them? It’s likely that both your firm’s productivity and the quality of your overall client experience will suffer. Tax season can be a painful reminder of this, especially if your […]
Protect Your Data: Learn to Spot a Phishing Scam
Phishing (pronounced “fishing”), is a form of social engineering that happens online. It’s the practice hackers employ to trick you into giving out your credentials, credit cards or other sensitive information. Especially when handling sensitive data such as client tax documents, you need to be extra diligent about protecting yourself (and your clients) from scammers. […]
Building the Ideal Tech Stack for Better Bookkeeping Workflow
In our last blog post “Whose Tail is Wagging Your Dog? Five Strategies You Can Adopt Now to Make Your Business More Efficient,” we talked about five key strategies that your firm can implement to create the efficient workflow necessary for scalability and growth. In this post, we’re going to drill down on the “super […]
Whose Tail is Wagging Your Dog? Five Strategies You Can Adopt Now to Make Your Business More Efficient.
Def. tail wagging the dog: a situation where a small part is controlling the whole of something. Recently, experts from GrowthForce, a provider of cloud-based bookkeeping, management accounting and controller services and SmartVault, an online document management and client portal platform designed for accounting professionals, teamed up to discuss tips for speeding up and simplifying […]
5 Tips for Choosing a CRM
Most small business owners would agree that their customer and vendor relationships are vital to their success. Higher client expectations and economic demands are causing firms of all sizes to reevaluate these relationships and determine how technology can help them strengthen and grow their businesses. A well-chosen Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is the key […]
Enhance Your Workflow with Client Portals
Intuit® recently made the decision to sunset its current DMS offering, in favor of partnering with SmartVault and offering a connected service that extends the capabilities of the Lacerte® and ProSeries® desktop to deliver more robust document management capabilities, as well as a fully integrated, secure client portal to share files with clients. Known as […]
The Power of Integrated CRM
While every company has different needs, an integrated CRM solution is the answer for most organizations that are looking for a convenient way to centralize operations across an organization. Integrated CRM goes beyond simple contact management and becomes a central information hub that saves time and money, increases cash flow and improves business relationships. Today’s […]
Think Before You Sync
Syncing files from a local computer or device to the cloud is a common business practice in today’s mobile-driven world—as common as the Internet, specialty coffee, the App Store, and all the other day-to-day “Can’t-Live-Withouts.” In fact, it is probably the best example of the consumerization of IT for the small business owner. Apps like […]
The Insecurities of Email… and the Rise of Client Portals
Why Secure File Sharing is Critical to Maintaining the Privacy and Security of Your Clients’ Data Email has been around a long time and has evolved into a mission-critical resource to deliver documents and communicate with clients. It’s the default for most businesses—convenient, easy, and mature—and has all but replaced time-consuming faxing and manual delivery […]
SmartVault Announces Integration with QuickBooks Online
New integration tags SmartVault as the first to market with integrated document management capabilities for QuickBooks Online users ANAHEIM, CA – October 22, 2012 – SmartVault, a leading provider of online document storage solutions, announced today an integration with QuickBooks Online. SmartVault’s patented Toolbar technology for QuickBooks has now been extended to support QuickBooks Online, […]
The Impact of Mobile on Security: Keeping Client Data Safe in an Increasingly Mobile World
Mobile has become a way of life, and with the proliferation of advanced devices, it’s easier than ever to work on the go. SaaS-based applications in combination with mobile technologies enable you to deliver client documents while sitting at the airport, process a client’s payroll from home, and fulfill requests for sensitive data in real-time, […]
Top 10 Ways You Can ‘Epic Fail’ in the Cloud: What NOT to Do if You Want to Protect Your Data
When working in the cloud, follow a few simple rules to avoid epic failure. When it comes to working in the cloud, epic failure is easily preventable, as long as you follow a few simple rules. This guide on what not to do is brought to you by a couple of guys who spent the […]
A Beginner’s Guide to Document Management Systems for Small Businesses
You may have heard the term “document management system” (DMS) mentioned about by business gurus and wondered if it’s a good idea for your business, but you aren’t sure how it would help—or maybe you just know that your business documents are spiraling out of control and you can’t find what you need when you […]
SmartVault Expands Service with Branded Portal Capabilities
Powerful new features and an updated user interface to the SmartVault Document Portal enable accounting professionals and businesses to easily and securely exchange files LAS VEGAS, NV – November 8, 2010 – At the Sleeter Group’s 2010 Accounting Solutions Conference, SmartVault, a leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) document storage and sharing solutions, […]