How Officeheads automated 8+ workflows with a "dream" client portal

{{first-testimonial}}

The Problem

Despite being a tech-savvy accounting firm, Officeheads relied heavily on email for client communication. They faced the challenge of answering repetitive questions about services, tasks, and gaps in understanding about financial reports.

“One of the things I was trying to solve was answering questions about the contract, which is a forever thing," said Rebecca, CEO of Officeheads. "Questions like: ‘When are you working on my stuff? How do I get a hold of people? What are you doing for me?’”

Rebecca dreamed of a custom client portal to address these questions and provide a one-stop directory for clients to access digital accounting tools like Quickbooks. On top of that, many of her advisory clients were in creative industries and not comfortable navigating spreadsheets and reports. She wanted to give them easy-to-understand dashboards and videos instead, so they could use the information more effectively.

But after trying tools like Microsoft Sharepoint — and even hiring a developer to build a custom tool — nothing gave Rebecca the user-friendly portal she envisioned. She was looking for a solution that would allow her to:

• Embed live reporting dashboards from other tools, as well as recorded videos from her team
• Show advisory clients an always up-to-date view of when Officeheads provides services (so the client sees “this week they’re doing payroll,” “this week they’re filing taxes,” etc.)
• Provide different content visibility for different clients from one “master” portal: some broader educational videos and self-serve information goes out to all clients, while each client also has their own set of documents, projects, reports, and videos.

The Solution

After years of trial and error, Rebecca discovered Softr. It allowed her to create the first version of her custom client portal in less than two days using Airtable as her database. ‍

Rebecca started by populating the basics she knew she wanted in the portal into an Airtable base, including client and project information, team information, contracts, and links to fintech tools she uses. Then, starting with Softr’s client portal template, Rebecca connected her Airtable base and populated standard informational pages (Home page, Fintech tools page, team page, etc), plus a Videos page she could use to embed video files from her team.

Here are the 8 key workflows automated by the portal: 

• Self-serve information: View a detailed list of services Officeheads provides, along with FAQs.
• Fintech tool management & training: Quick launch essential tools like QuickBooks Online and access training videos to increase adoption and usage.
• Team communication: See team members, find contact info, and book meetings directly through the portal with Calendly links.
• Project management: View a calendar showing when projects are worked on each month and check the status of one-off and recurring tasks on a dynamic Kanban board.
• Live reports and dashboards: Access interactive dashboards (updated monthly), including profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow, and budget vs. actual. These are embedded from Reach Reporting.
• Document management: Download contracts and reports directly from the portal, eliminating the need for email exchanges.
• Custom reports: Some clients get custom dashboards tailored to their needs, with specific relevant business insights.
• Video education: Watch broad educational videos tailored to SMBs, plus insights specific to their business and finances. Clients also have the ability to comment and ask questions.

Using Softr’s advanced permissions, Rebecca set up user groups for each of her clients so she could customize the portal views and show them only their own content. Officeheads’ team members have access to special pages, including a page listing all clients and an onboarding status page.

The Download File feature in Softr also allows Officeheads clients to download the full reports from the portal, something Rebecca previously had to send over email.

‍

The Impact

Officeheads transformed their client experience with an accounting portal tailored to the needs of their business and clients. The portal now serves 50+ SMB clients and counting.

“Clients can always see what we’re doing for them, and they can actually use the financial information we provide to grow their firms,” said Rebecca, adding the portal makes Officeheads look more professional and cutting edge — it’s even something they show off in sales calls with prospects.

"I’m happy that I have the client portal after dreaming about what I wanted it to be. It makes everything complete of what I want to offer."

💡Rebecca loved the Softr building experience so much, she rebuilt her website on Softr (replacing WordPress) and plans to build an employee portal next.