BookkeepingDirect.com

BookkeepingDirect.com goes fully virtual with SmartVault’s cloud-based document management system

The Challenge

Gabrielle Fontaine, a professional bookkeeper and owner of bookkeepingdirect.com, had been dreaming about working virtually for almost 30 years. In the early 90s, she spent her days working onsite with clients. As technologies advanced, she transitioned to working from home, but she still had to pick up source documents from clients or have them mailed to her home office.

While this was a step toward “virtual” service, she was still dependent on paper and that came with issues. She explained: “There would be times when clients needed certain source documents back. I had to return docs by hand or mail them. That was time consuming and costly.”

After taking a much-needed break to do some volunteer work, Fontaine launched her business Bookkeepingdirect.com. This time, she was determined that this new venture will be a completely virtual one and that she must find the right technologies to transform her vision into reality.

The Solution

Fontaine’s journey to going full virtual started with QuickBooks® at the center of her technology infrastructure. But when she discovered SmartVault’s cloud document management and secure client file sharing portal at a conference, she remembered, “It was at that moment that I realized I could actually operate entirely online and finally go paperless. SmartVault solved my difficulties of sharing paperwork with clients. The integration with QuickBooks was an added plus.”

The user-friendly application interface helped her hit the ground running with it quickly. Even better, it was intuitive to her clients too and made easy work out of uploading source documents. Fontaine recalled, “I don’t think I’ve ever had to provide any training. It’s so easy to use that clients just figure it out on their own.”

In addition to the tangible features that allowed Fontaine to finally live the “fully virtual” dream, she loved the fact that SmartVault boosted her professional image with her clients. With a bank-level security encryption method and a branded client portal featuring her company logo, she is able to deliver the level of service on par with large enterprises with only a fraction of the cost.

“I genuinely mean it when I say that SmartVault is the industry standard. There is no other product like it…no other product that gives you so much bang for your buck.”

The Result

With Quickbooks and SmartVault as the core of her tech stack, Fontaine now operates a paperless, fully virtual business all in the cloud. In fact, without pause she stated, “SmartVault is as important to my workflow as QuickBooks Online…I can’t imagine having an efficient and profitable bookkeeping practice without it!”