SmartVault vs. Sharefile vs. DropBox vs. everything else

Water Cooler
#1

I posted this question in a similar forum for Texas CPA’s. Thought I’d ask it here, too.

I’m looking for some type of “online” storage, where clients have access to their own portal, and where I have access to all my documents online. The two that get the most attention are ShareFile and SmartVault. However, I’m open to suggestions.

A little about me: I’m a solo practicioner. No employees (and never plan on having any), but I do make extensive use of subcontractors. I use Thomson Reuters for all my tax software (Ultratax, FileCabinet CS, etc.). I currently office with another CPA firm and I can use their server at no charge, but I’m looking for another solution.

I have tried to use EFileCabinet (or Rubex, or whatever it’s called these days), with very poor results. I also had bad luck with Onvio (Thomson Reuter’s portal/DMS thing). Maybe it’s just operator error.

The ideal software would sync up to our server’s folders, so I can access it using Windows instead of another software. But when I’m out of the office, I have access to all the data. This allows me to work remotely, plus it serves as an “internal backup”, in case the CPA firm locks me out of the office and refuses to give me my data. (I don’t think this will ever happen, but I’d like to take preventive action, just in case.) It would also have a client portal, where they can upload their documents, and download the documents that I give them, effectively eliminating the need for office visits for any tech-savvy clients.

Any recommendations? Thoughts or comments?

#2

I’ve only used Dropbox and Google Drive. I think it just depends on the security features you want. Dropbox has more sophisticated monitoring of access and such. The more secure alternatives I suspect are even better on those fronts

#3

Do not go with anything Microsoft. To fully understand their products and their set up, you’d almost need to be a part of their development team. I’m pretty sure my personal PC has 3 different OneDrive locations that do not update unless I manually do it. In addition, if I update the storages on cloud, the result is different compared to if I update it on my PC. What a mess.