River Bookkeeping & Payroll Ltd

Growing Firm Leverages SmartVault to Create Better Client Experience and Work-Life Balance

After spending a significant part of her career working part-time for a large accounting firm and her own business, River Bookkeeping & Payroll, Ltd., Joyce O’Leary wanted something more. She had the desire to work for her own company full-time, creating a flexible, client-focused bookkeeping practice that would allow her to work closely with clients while still being able to spend time with her family.

In 2002, Joyce made the leap to running her own practice full-time, and today, Joyce and her Assistant Bookkeeper, Nicky, use SmartVault to seamlessly serve their clients while still achieving a satisfying work-life balance.

Starting Out Required a Search for the Right Document Management Solution

When Joyce started her bookkeeping firm, she was using the same document management solution as her previous employer. The problem was, it didn’t fit the needs of her fledgling firm because she didn’t need all of the functionality (or the much higher price) given her workflow and client base.

“There were just too many bells and whistles for what we needed. The cost became too great and we quickly realised this wasn’t the best fit for us. We struggled to get out of the contract but when we finally did, we found SmartVault and have been happy ever since,” said Joyce. “It had all the features we were looking for and we knew that the files and sensitive data we needed to collect for our monthly and annual work would be secure in SmartVault.”

A particular benefit that Joyce appreciates is SmartVault’s password-protected folders which allow her to control access to files on an individual client basis, as well as the cloud-based, GDPR-compliant platform which gives her firm and her clients peace of mind when exchanging and accessing information.

“Using an all-in-one solution for online document storage like SmartVault makes it easy to compile documents and control access to them, while still allowing clients to edit them in real-time” remarked Joyce. “It also allows us to track who accessed and made changes to which documents providing us with an invaluable audit trail.”

SmartVault Helped River Bookkeeping Serve Clients Seamlessly During Covid-19

Trying to work during a pandemic was a challenge for many firms, but Joyce and Nicky were able to continue serving clients and enjoying the flexibility of remote working without skipping a beat.  “Since we are no longer having in-person meetings due to the pandemic, our clients transitioned from having us on-site to seeing how easy it is for us to work remotely with them while still providing the personal service our firm is known for”, Joyce shared. “SmartVault makes it easy to do exactly the same work without having to go to a client’s office. We will definitely be continuing this way of working going forward now that all of our clients are comfortable with it.”

When it came time for Joyce to expand her team, the ability to share files and information made it seamless, because Joyce could provide Nicky with the access she required for the clients she was assigned, while also knowing that the data would be organised and managed securely within SmartVault.

Joyce affirms that all of her needs for a document management solution have been exceeded with SmartVault. “It has become an integral part of the success of my business. It’s perfect for sending information over to accountants at year end, especially with files that are too large for email attachments. Another thing is it helps enhance our firm image as our clients access SmartVault through a secure portal which is branded specifically for our firm. I have had good feedback from my clients, it has definitely been worth the money in the last year,” she shared. “Plus, using SmartVault means that I don’t have to be at my clients’ offices and I can access what I need from anywhere. It truly is the ideal way to run a bookkeeping business—and to keep it running no matter what happens.”

Final Words

Making the switch to SmartVault has helped Joyce achieve her goals of growing her firm, serving her clients at a high level, while also being able to enjoy a healthier work-life balance.  “Using SmartVault really creates an efficient workflow,” said Joyce. “I am able to do everything I need to plus I am happier and more productive. I have been able to spend time with my family and we may even add a new dog to our household because I can be there to train and look after it.”