What is a Client Portal 

The client portal is a platform where the relationship between the service provider and the customer can be seen and various actions can be taken through the system. If you are the service provider, you will have the opportunity to control your invoices, projects, actions you have taken about your company and all information about your customers from one place. This platform, where you can securely share documents with your customers, also gains your customer confidence.

The most common client portal benefits include increased customer satisfaction, improved communication, and the elimination of non-value-added data entry. client portals can also be integrated into your primary business systems such as accounting, ERP and CRM systems, allowing you to automate real-time data transfer between your systems. A customer web portal helps your employees and customers access and update relevant information quickly and efficiently.

Thanks to the client portal, when your customers have any problems, they can convey their complaints and wishes to the company through the system and the company can respond to this request so that the problem can be resolved before it grows, and the positive requests can be quickly implemented.

Customers choose to gather information and resolve a product or service issue on their own or at a time convenient for them. The client portal provides a secure place for customers to manage and review documents and policies, invoices, place an order, raise a support issue, or arrange payments to enhance customer collaboration.

One of the main benefits of the client portal is the healthy communication between the customer and the service provider. More effective communication brings about trust.

More efficient interaction is provided on both the provider side and the service receiving side. As a customer, instead of waiting to be connected to an authorized person for hours to notify any request, it becomes more time-efficient to log in through the online system. Since the requests are recorded on the system, the customer can monitor the status of his request and thus pass the process without anxiety. Otherwise, when these transactions are handled by phone calls, the customer may experience a problem of not being able to connect, may not be recorded or forgotten because the request is understood incompletely. Efficiency is higher on the service provider side. Maybe the company receives hundreds of customer requests a day, but because it tries to execute them manually, many requests are lost, but they can be entered into the system incorrectly. Instead, thanks to the client portal, customers create their own demands and the company can access all of them regularly with their dates through the system. This saves time for the company and creates an opportunity to take a closer look at its customers.

Providing a platform that can be reached instantly on the customer side for any question or curiosity keeps the relationships healthier and increases the customer experience.

It ensures cost savings as a service provider. While increasing time creates space to touch more customers, the attention given to existing customers turns them into loyal ones.

The client portal provides professional service by making all information accessible.

The client portal, which can be preferred by companies who want to increase their service quality and customer feedback positively, greatly benefits the strengthening and improvement of bilateral relations.

One of the advantages of a customer web portal is that customers can communicate with a business outside of business hours when it suits them best. This means that an organization does not need to find additional resources to extend working hours and increase the number of employees.

To summarize the benefits of the client portal;

•       Better access to real-time information 24/7, 365 days a year
•       Increase in company cash flow by making it easier for customers to pay online
•       Eliminate costly, non-value-added data entry tasks
•       Improved customer experience and increase in retention level
•       Improved visibility of transaction information
•       Reduced e-mail traffic to the source of information
•       Improved customer communication

Theoretically, the client portal can be used wherever the customer is. All companies that are in constant communication with their customers should use the client portal because customer satisfaction can bring many customers with it. Thanks to the client portal, customer satisfaction can be achieved at the highest level. The client portal offers the opportunity to carry out all works from documents, various activities, projects to invoices over the integrated system.

To talk about SME-scale companies; client portal, accounting, consulting, architectural offices, web agencies, law firms, retail companies, etc. sectors can use.

In larger organizations, telecom companies, government organizations, companies distributing electricity-gas-water, etc. organizations can use it.

The client portal can be thought of as a 24/7 open office. Normally, there are certain working hours, but a company that uses a client portal can turn into an organization that provides 24/7 service. If customers cannot find the appropriate time during the day, they can perform their transactions on the portal at any time they want without leaving their questions, problems and requests about the service they receive to the next day.

Customers can comment, request or review all actions taken by service providers on a single system. By this way, the company turns into a platform that lives 24/7. It is a very valuable advantage for the company as well as for the customer. For example, the customer will place another order, but there is no online access as the company is closed at that time.

Thanks to the client portal, customers can make transactions wherever and whenever they want, and the firm's business intake and the revenue will increase. To look at it from a different perspective, the client portal is the form of electronic commerce that has come to life in service companies. In the client portal, the concept of time disappears as in electronic commerce and a working and ongoing business process occurs at any time, and no manpower is required for this. The client portal is a platform that can work, access and interact, even on holidays.

Face-to-face interaction and office visits are minimal due to pandemic conditions today. The inclusion of the client portal in the companies during this period will positively affect them.

When choosing a client portal, companies choose a platform where they can manage the customer experience well. This portal, which they can manage securely and without interruption, should be online and easily accessible.

•       It is important to find a client portal that can scale as the customer volume grows because the client portal brings with it more customers and if the capacity of the system cannot be increased, it cannot be sustainable. For this reason, a scalable platform should be chosen in direct proportion to customers.
•       The client portal used must have the self-service capability. Not only a document sharing but also a platform where various requests and comments can be made should be used. Sustainability is higher if a client portal with interaction is selected.
•       A flexible platform should be chosen, where the meetings can be arranged and adapted to the workflow.
•       It is very important for both the company and the customer to use a suitable client portal where standards are set in terms of the security of both customer information and documents.
•       Using a client portal with various analytical tools that can increase the customer experience is of great benefit in customer analysis.
•       Using client portals with features that can be adjusted according to various conditions such as automatic mail sending and automatic notification saves time and reduces the error rate.

The client portal is a bridge between the company and its customer. This platform is the beating heart of many companies, where the customer can follow those business processes, make notes, report problems and make requests at any time. Because companies always do business based on assumptions if they do not establish a healthy communication with their customers, but thanks to the client portal, they can take their customers' requests by themselves, eliminate the assumptions and shape their workflows based on the facts.