Custom applications across Canada · Client portal
A custom client portal for your business.
A client portal is a secure online space where your clients check their file, send their documents and approve, without a chain of emails. We build it custom: in your name, with your steps, connected to the tools your team already uses.
Let’s talk about your clientsSee what the portal includes- In your name and your colours
- Every document in the right file
- You own your code and your data
Why a portal
Email was never designed to follow a file.
A client who wants to know where their file stands calls or writes. Someone looks for the answer, finds it in an email, calls back. Documents arrive as attachments, sometimes twice, sometimes in the wrong inbox, and nobody knows which version is the right one.
A portal puts everything in one place. The client sees the status of their file, uploads their documents, answers questions and approves online. They can also place a new order themselves and add their purchase order number. Your team works in the same file, with the full context, instead of piecing the history back together from emails.
Your clients’ documents often contain personal information. In Quebec, the law requires a business to take reasonable security measures considering how sensitive that information is, how much of it there is and the medium it is stored on, and it requires the business to act in the event of a confidentiality incident. A portal takes this into account from the design stage: account-based access, role-based permissions, a history of actions.
What your client sees
- 1Sign-inPersonal access, in your name and your colours.
- 2Their fileThe current step, the next one and the person responsible.
- 3Their documentsThey upload what you ask for, in the right place.
- 4Their approvalThey approve or request a change, online.
What the portal includes
A space for your clients, a tool for your team.
We start from your real exchanges with clients: the questions that keep coming back, the documents you ask for, the approvals that hold things up. The portal then follows your steps.
Access for each client.
Each client signs in to their own space and sees only their files. Your team sees what their role allows.
Accounts · PermissionsThe status of every file.
Current step, next action, person responsible: the client no longer needs to call to find out.
Steps · NotificationsDocuments and forms.
The client uploads their documents and fills in the forms you need. Everything lands in the right file.
Uploads · Forms · ValidationOnline approvals.
Proposals, plans, changes: the client approves or requests a change, and their decision stays on file.
Approvals · HistoryNew orders online.
The client places a new order from their usual products and adds their purchase order (PO) number if needed. It reaches your team complete, with no re-entry.
Orders · Purchase ordersConnected to your tools.
CRM, accounting, email: the portal connects to them so nothing is entered twice.
Integrations · SyncThe portal is in your name, and it belongs to you once delivered and paid for: the code, your clients’ data and the access. Your clients deal with you, not with a software vendor.
Case study · Pavar
The client receives a link.
They approve and specify their choices.
Pavar builds chairs and banquettes for restaurants across North America. In the application we built, the client reviews their proposal, requests a change or approves it, then specifies their manufacturing choices online. The team finds every answer tied to the right product.
See the Pavar client’s journey
Our products, the client’s choices and the details of their order all live in the application.
Maria IermieriVP Sales and Marketing · Co-owner · PavarBefore you start
A portal is worth it when your clients take part in the file.
If your clients have nothing to check or send, a portal only adds one more password. If off-the-shelf software offers the portal you need, we will tell you from the start. Custom development makes sense in these cases:
- Your clients often ask you where their file stands.
- You receive documents by email, and one is always missing.
- A client approval regularly holds up your team’s work.
- The documents exchanged contain personal or confidential information.
Frequently asked questions
Your questions about a client portal.
Can the portal carry our name and our colours?
Yes. The portal is in your name, with your visual identity and, if you wish, at an address on your website. Your clients deal with you.
Are our clients’ documents protected?
Security is planned from the design stage: account-based access, role-based permissions, encrypted exchanges, hosting chosen with you. The portal takes into account the requirements of Quebec’s personal information law, but it does not replace your own practices.
Will our clients have to install an app?
No. The portal is a web application: it opens in the browser, on a computer or on a phone.
How long does it take and how much does it cost?
A first version is usually ready in about eight weeks. The price depends on the screens, the rules and the integrations; the proposal sets the scope and price before work begins. Our guide to the cost of a custom application explains what makes the price vary.
Who owns the portal and the data?
You do. Once delivered and paid for, the portal belongs to you, with its code, its data and its access. Documentation and hosting are planned in the engagement, so it can keep evolving with or without us. Our guide who owns the code explains what a contract should cover.
Let’s talk about your clients
Show us what your clients ask you for.
The question you get asked over and over, the document that is always missing, the approval that drags on: start from there for a first conversation with François. Together, we will see whether a portal is worth it for you. The first conversation comes with no commitment.
