Item: SmartVault
Rating: 9
Author: John Griffing

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SmartVault is used by all employees and clients. There is no alternative with included features presently on the market. We have found zero bugs in five years of use. Initially, there is a steep learning curve. Afterward, it becomes an essential tool that increases efficiency significantly. Support is hard to reach and you cannot call them directly. Also when they were bought out, all support moved overseas. However, we would have preferred to remain with native English speakers.

Pros and Cons

Cloud document storage.
Transmission of tax returns to client.

They have cut back on support as have many SaaS companies recently.
The documentation can sometimes be a little difficult to follow.

Return on Investment

Expensive product but the ROI is still excellent.
Can't see how any accounting firm could get by without it.

Alternatives Considered

Our due diligence on this application was a bit week. We read the reviews on its closet competition (Sharefile) but did not actually enter into a trial with them. We would definitely suggest that potential subscribers do so.

Support Rating

Reaching someone is more difficult than it should be. Also, they don't take possession of known issues always suggesting it is a local PC issue in initial conversations. That, of course, can be frustrating for the end-user.

Key Insights

Do you think SmartVault delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SmartVault's feature set?

Yes

Did SmartVault live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of SmartVault go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SmartVault again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

SmartVault sends out a cover letter with the tax returns that includes a link for them to download their tax returns, avoiding the insecurity of an email attachment. It does not include a statement retrieval feature but does work very nicely with a third-party app called FileThis. The majority of the users in the office have not been able to install the Outlook plug-in due to "a certificate error." In five years, SmartVault has not addressed this issue.

SmartVault is an essential accountancy tool.

Overall Satisfaction with SmartVault