You may not even notice a difference, but we’ve just completed a repair to the Secure File Transfer to keep it running smoothly for you all through the upcoming tax season.

Some of our power users- firms with over 500 clients in the Portal and Secure File Exchange- noticed that the system slowed down when they signed in to manage client files.

With that feedback, we were able to optimize the code and make Secure File Exchange even quicker.  As a result, not only is it faster, but it can now handle over 2,000 users without any difficulty.

What’s more, these extra users won’t cost you a penny more.

Unlike other secure online document storage providers, we don’t charge per client.  If you compare us to eDocsOnline.com, you’ll see that they charge $249.95 per month for 25 clients, so even 100 clients would cost you $11,997.60 per year. That’s more than twenty years worth of our service. Plus with us you also get your website, content, email and all the other tools.  Likewise 100 clients with Leapfile.com costs $24,000 per year, that’s over forty years of our service!

This is exactly why we love your feedback.  When you pointed out that the system was running slowly, it gave us the chance to improve our services to better suit your needs.

We’re always on the lookout for ways to improve, so if you ever run into any problems with our tools or content, or if you just have a suggestion for an improvement we could make, please call, email or use our Live Help Chat to let us know.

Your Portal’s Secure File Exchange has just been improved. We received a lot of requests for more detailed information about how much space your clients are using in the Secure File Exchange.  We listened to you and added a new feature to your Secure File Exchange.

The next time you log in as a Firm User, you’ll see a new item on your Secure File Exchange’s ‘More’ menu: Usage Report.

This report displays all your users, the number of files and the storage space they’re using.  By viewing or printing this report, you can easily monitor your total storage space and see who’s using what.  Then, if you’re running low on space, you can quickly find out where to trim some fat.

We’re always on the look out for new ways to improve our service and our tools. If you have any more suggestions for us, feel free to call, Live Help chat or email.

A year ago we released The Vault, our full Client and Workgroup Colloboration tool and Secure File Exchange System. Since then we’ve continued to improve and update the tool and have kept it on the cutting edge of security and usability.

With our most recent Portal security updates and new FileVault application, we’ve begun the process of phasing out the older file exchange applications, so that we can be sure you’re always providing the most advanced, secure and fully-functioned tools to your clients.

You should already have the Firm and Client Portal built into your site. Check for a login button at the top or bottom of your site. It’s simply a matter of providing a new login and password to your clients, and we’ve added a tool to allow you to easily add a batch of client users.

To add a batch of users, simply log into your Portal as and administrative user and click the Firm Administration link on the upper right. Once there, you’ll find an “Add Batch Of Client Users” tab, which allows you to simply copy and paste a list of email addresses to create new accounts for each user.

Client files still stored on the previous versions of the Secure File Transfer will need to be moved over to the Secure File Exchange. While you’ll have to download each client file manually, the new FileVault application is ideal for moving the downloaded files into the new Secure File Exchange.

To make this transition as easy as possible, we’ve just added a new feature to our Vault help to walk you through the Secure File Transfer transition.

Once that transition is complete, your client users will have access to all the new features, tools and security provided by the Portal and Document Vault system.

You can rest assured knowing that your clients files are safe and secure on our servers because your Vault and Client Portal data is encrypted 100% of the time.

While many Client Portal vendors use encryption to secure data in transit, CPASiteSolutions is the only provider to implement encryption where it resides most of the time, on the server hard drives and other storage media.

If this were easy to do, everyone would be doing it. Storing data in an encrypted format requires a lot of programming from extremely high level security experts. All the encryption and de-cryption places a heavy load on the server’s processors so significantly fewer accounts can be placed on each server.

It’s expensive, but worth it when you consider that encryption is considered the most effective method of securing personal and corporate information according to corporate and government security regulators. In fact, many data protection laws specifically list encryption as a “safe harbor” exception to notification rules, and some laws explicitly require the use of encryption.

Keeping You In Compliance

All CPAs and accountants must comply with the privacy laws governing the safe storage of personal and corporate financial information. A single violation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act caries a fine up to $100,000. So your firm is in jepordy if it isn’t protected.

This new 100% file encryption gives you an extremely high level of protection and virtually eliminates the legal liability associated with data breaches. In fact, your Client Portal has very detailed Audit Trails that help prove that information hasn’t been leaked.

At CPASiteSolutions, we go overboard on security. Other Client Portal vendors provide 5 or 6 layers of security. We don’t stop there. We provide a full 14 layers of security to give you the most protection available.

You don’t need to do anything to get this new level of protection as long as you are using our “Vault” Secure File Exchange system.

If you’re using one of our older Secure File Exchange systems we strongly encourage you to upgrade now. There is no additional cost to upgrade. Yes, the upgrade is completely Free. So please call or email us and we’ll get you setup on our extremely secure “Vault” File Exchange System.

We’ve just completed another improvement to your ability to upload files to your clients’ secure FileVault. The next time you log into your Secure File Exchange System, look out for our brand new FileVault Windows application in your “More” menu.

This new Windows application is actually installed on your computer and allows you and your clients to quickly upload files to your Secure File Exchange System without having to log into the Client Portal.

This new version of the Windows Application includes many new features you’ve been requesting.

It allows you to upload complete batches of files with just a few clicks , eliminating the repetitive process of uploading one file at a time.

You can quickly upload files to any Client User. And each of your clients can upload files to their own account.

The One-Click Upload feature allows you to easily send any file to your Secure File Exchange System. Simply right click on any file and select ‘Send to FileVault’.

This new application also includes an automated file backup feature that allows your clients to backup their QuickBooks file (or any other file) every night. This is a great disaster recovery solution because your clients vital financial records are securely stored off-site. So if anything ever happens to their office or their computer they still have a clean backup of their accounting records.

Ensuring safe off-site backups of your clients accounting data is another way you add value. You use this feature to generate extra revenue by charging a small fee for the service. Many firms charge their clients anywhere from $9.95 to $29.95 a month for this service. Or you can offer it Free as a way to thank your clients for their continued loyalty.

The FileVault Windows Application is only available to Gold and Platinum level clients. To download it, log into your Firm Portal, select More, then click “Download Windows Application.”

Our Online Help includes a full walk through of installing this new tool and using all of these features.