10 Steps to a Digital Practice in the Cloud, 2nd Edition

9

Client Portals—Gateway to the Future

Figure 9-1: The Client Portal as Gateway

The topic of portals can be as broad in scope as talking about information technology or the Internet. Let’s begin with a baseline definition of a client portal, which is a secure link on your website to personalized information and applications. In a broader sense, think of your client portal as the gateway between the world of cloud-based information and applications that your clients use to manage their business and personal financial affairs and the various devices that they use to access that information: desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. When you approach your client portal strategy from this perspective, you soon realize the depth of potential to serve your clients better and strengthen their relationship with your firm.

Your client portal should ultimately touch every aspect of your client services, as shown in figure 9-1. It can evolve to serve as a gateway for your clients to all the financial information and applications they need to run their business and personal affairs. In this chapter, we will define the value proposition of the client portal (see figure 9-2) and then provide a process for developing your portal strategy.

Figure 9-2: The Client Portal Value Proposition ...