Looking to hire an intern this summer? More and more businesses are planning on it. According to theNational Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers plan on hiring 8.5 percent more college students in 2012 for summer internships than they did last year.

Internship programs are a smart recruitment strategy for small businesses, allowing you to nurture and feed your full-time hiring efforts. A separate study by NACE found that nearly 90 percent of students who took part in internships said they would accept an offer of a full-time job from their internship employer. 

Here are six tips to help guide you through the process of setting up an internship program, and information on a new government initiative – the Summer Jobs+ Bank – that can help:

1. Review Your Needs

Remember, an intern will be looking for good experience, so be sure your needs match those of the interns. Ask yourself the following questions:

• How can an intern help you with your business goals?
• Do you have enough work to support an intern? Think about short-term and long-term assignments.
• Who will supervise and mentor your intern?
• What ramp-up and ongoing training can you provide?
• Do you have available office space and other resources?
• What about seasonal highs and lows? Could you use an intern beyond the summer months?

It will take several weeks to recruit and hire an intern, so the further in advance you plan, the better.

2. The Recruitment Process

Hiring an intern requires similar steps to hiring a full-time employee. You’ll need to write a job description with real work assignments and defined objectives. Decide in advance how the intern will be supervised and mentored, and how the student will benefit financially and experientially from your program.

There are several options for searching for interns:

• Online via the Summer Jobs+ Bank – This summer, the government is stepping in to help connect small businesses with young people seeking internship and other employment opportunities via the Department of Labor’s Summer Jobs+ Bank. Businesses can post internships directly with any internet job site that is participating in the Jobs+ Bank (these include Internships.com, AfterCollege.com, or LinkedIn). Check out information for employers for details about the program.

• School/College Career Services Offices – Many schools and colleges operate internship programs through their career services offices (in exchange for student credits). Getting registered with one of these programs can provide a level of accreditation as well as access to a pool of motivated and screened talent. You can also get one step ahead by seeking an advocate or reference for your business from college professors or staff members. This is why it often makes sense to approach colleges that you know or have attended.

4. Paying Interns (and the Legal Lowdown About Unpaid Interns)

If you are serious about attracting the right talent and creating a program that nurtures your future workforce, then your compensation needs to reflect this (the average hourly rate for paid bachelor degree-level interns is currently $16.21). Can’t quite afford that? Unpaid internships are a legal option; however, there are many limits on the work unpaid interns can perform:

• Unpaid interns cannot do any work that contributes to a company’s operations. This includes any tasks that help you run your business, like documenting inventory, filing papers, answering emails, etc.
• Unpaid interns can shadow other employees and perform duties that don’t have a business need. For example, a bakery may allow an apprentice/intern to decorate a tray of cookies that will not be sold to customers. Because the task was only a training exercise for the apprentice/intern and the bakery did not receive any benefit from that work, the bakery would not have to pay that student worker for that time.

For more information on what exactly unpaid interns can do, according to the Department of Labor, readThe Truth Behind Unpaid Internships.   

5. Other Benefits You Might Want to Offer?

Some of the more common benefits offered to interns include social activities, paid holidays, and recognition of education time as service time if they are hired to a full-time position. Other benefits to consider include scholarships, flex time, and one-on-one formal mentoring (take your intern on business trips, let them accompany you at strategic meetings, be immersive). 

6. Important Workplace and Labor Laws to Consider

Many of the labor laws that apply to employees, such as workplace discrimination laws, also apply to interns. You must also ensure you comply with workplace health and safety laws. Some states also require that you carry workers’ compensation insurance for interns.

In its sixth amendment since filing for an intial public offering in February Facebook said: In March 2012, we began to include sponsored stories in users’ mobile News Feeds. However, we do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered.

Basically that statement means: because more people are using Facebook on mobile devices instead of desktop computers the revenue isnt growing in relation to the numbers of growth in members and usage.

Facebook stated that 488 million people accessed the site through mobile devices. Of course many of the people also accessed Facebook on a desktop computer (I did). But there are tons of people who use Facebook exclusively on their mobile device.

Facebook places 4-7 ads an user’s desktop display. But the only source of ad revenue from mobile devices is sponsored ads the place in the news feeds. I havent seen these ads yet. I rarely view a feed from a mobile device. And currently theyre not placing a ton of ads on these mobile streams. Theyre trying to find a balance between generating revenue and making sure they dont turn off their users.

Facebook announced that they’ve developed a soon to open app store. And there will be apps that charge for you to access. But they know that it probably wont match the revenue lost from ads not being viewed on the desktop. Additionally Facebook apps tend to be designed for use on the desktop. So this may be more of the same.

The answer to remaining relevant in today’s digital marketplace is adopting this simple philosophy: “Share everything, everywhere.”

As an Internet marketer with a specialization in professional SEO services I’m consistently asked a question that goes something like, “How do I ensure my company remains relevant in today’s ever-changing digital marketplace?” Simple, right?
Typically, these executives or business owners are looking for some new digital marketing tactic that will ensure their success, so that they can start sleeping again. Many of them are frustrated after spending millions on failed digital marketing initiatives. Unfortunately, I can give them no silver bullet tactic. My response is a business philosophy that I believe has built many digital giants, such as Zappos and Ebay.

This philosophy is simple: “Share everything, everywhere.”
Share everything about your business, industry, staff and products or services, and share this information everywhere possible. Engage your customers both on your website and off it in blogs, forums, and social networks. Be open and honest about what makes your company great and discuss your struggles. Contribute thought leadership to your industry. I’ll go as far as to advocate taking a long hard look at closely guarded trade secrets to determine if any can be shared. Trade secrets are often extremely powerful pieces of thought leadership, and sharing them can help a company evolve beyond them. The only exception to this philosophy is sharing irrelevant information on irrelevant websites, otherwise defined as SPAM.

Sharing will ensure your company remains digitally relevant by vastly expanding your digital footprint. To determine how digitally relevant your company is, perform a Google search for your products or services. Google is the first single source that the majority of the population trusts to determine the best companies in any given industry. If your company doesn’t show up on the first page of search results, you’re not digitally relevant; and it’s very likely you’re not sharing as much information as your competitors.
Sharing works for one simple reason. Google and other search engines judge companies based upon the information available about them on the Internet. The less quality digital information associated with company, the less relevant you are on the web. Your company may have incredible products or services, but without sharing, engaging and contributing to the digital conversations about them, search engines may have no idea.

Search engines have ushered in the Information Age by cataloging the world’s information and putting it at our fingertips within seconds. Consumers are now more empowered than ever to research your company online before making a purchase. This new phenomenon has been labeled the Zero Moment of Truth where consumers search for digital information about your product or service before buying. This Zero Moment of Truth can happen at most any time—after seeing your commercial or even in the aisle with product in hand.

Sharing increases the likelihood that consumers will find compelling information about your products or services during the Zero Moment of Truth. Working with many large enterprises, I find that this philosophy of “Share everything, everywhere,” is often a hard pill to swallow. The majority of large companies are extremely protective of their brand and its easily accessible information. This risk-aversion often leads to strict, cumbersome compliance and little sharing of information. Often it is not fully understood by executives just how inherently risky this “risk-averse” stance can be.

One thing to keep in mind when sharing is to focus far more on the information you’re sharing than your branding. During the Zero Moment of Truth consumers typically shut down immediately when they find blatantly biased advertising speak and in-your-face branding.

Again, my advice to companies that want to remain relevant in the evolving digital marketplace is to share everything everywhere. I know this may sound like an overwhelming initiative, but so is the ROI from being digitally relevant.  Not only is digital relevance an incredible boon to brand awareness, but it’s also a ticket to one of the largest lead sources on the Internet, organic search engine rankings.

Kevin Bailey is co-founder and president of Indianapolis-based Slingshot SEO, a national leader in online marketing, planning and execution. An Indiana University graduate, Kevin has more than fifteen years of Internet marketing experience. @SlingshotSEO

One of the segments that most of us like best is when they visit past show guests. Unfortunately they haven’t given us updates on all of the previous entrepreneurs. To do that on the shoe they’d probably have to cut one of the pitches. This is where they could use their own website instead of their subsite on ABC.

It comes as no surprise that all of the “where are they now” segments are doing well. Including the entrepreneurs that failed to get an investment from any of the sharks. I call that The Shark Tank Effect. It’s basically a numbers thing. Millions of people watch Shark Tank every week. Common sense will tell you that any business can succeed if they can deliver their product or service in a quality manner at a profitable price.

So with millions of viewers these entrepreneurs are bound to find more customers. For some of these businesses 500-1K customers will be just the type of jump start they need. Its obvious that potential investors are also watching. These investors also know about the Shark Tank Effect. They know that these business owners are going to need funds to keep up with the new found success.

Hopefully they’ll show what happened with these companies three years from now. Even the companies they’ve already profiled. Like I said its easy to get an immediate bump. But I’m interested to find out what will happen after the initial spike.

A friend (lets say Sam) and I have recently been talking about their friend (lets say Tony). Sam for the past year and a half or so has told me that Tony was thinking of starting a business. Then in the last quarter of 2011 Sam said that Tony has gotten more serious lately. Tony had researched a franchise opportunity and was ready to move forward. When Sam told me the franchise opportunity I was leery of Tony moving forward.

The first reason that gave me pause was because I knew about the industry inside and out. While there’s great money in this particular industry I think there’s going to be a major shift in the way the money is made. Most people who really know business knows that most businesses evolve. Some industries may take longer than others. Some industries may have a long transition period where both the old and new processes are relevant. But most industries evolve. I believe that this industry is about to start a transformation period.

The second reason for hesitation was time. Sam was starting a seasonal business. Which means that although he could open in June or October, the highest percentage of the money would be gone. This business needed to be ready to go by the second week of January. To make matters worse Tony has a full time day job and this franchise is a business that’s full steam during the daytime (many nights too).

The third reason for my qualms was money. Although Tony had a pretty decent sum invested in this business I don’t think it was enough to give him a greater chance of success. If you know me you know that I feel all businesses need time and money. A good amount of both is ideal. But if one lacks you have to make it up in the other. So if you don’t have enough time to handle what needs to be done you have to pay someone capable of doing it. Another money issue is the fact that Tony had borrowed money and the person was looking to get the fund back at the end of the busy period. Unrealistic.

The title of this article is They Just Want Your Money. And in this case they is the franchisor. They should have had the same reservations that I did. They should have told Tony to wait until later in 2012 to open shop. They should have found out the source of Tony’s funds and let him know how quickly they should expect enough cash flow to start repayment. Does the franchise want you to do well? Of course. The better their franchisees do the better the franchise system does. But it seems they also want your money A.S.A.P.

A competent consultant would have told Tony about the issues I stated here.

Website: Your main website is the hub of your online presence. It shouldn’t be the site that directs visitors to the other destinations. It’s just the opposite. All of your other online sites should point here (but that’s a article for another day). Your website should be updated once a month minimally. And if you’re only going to update it once a month then make sure you update several pages, or items at that time and not just once. New services, industry information and other content that you want featured for the longest period of time should hit your website.

Blog: You have a blog right? They’re much easier to create and cheaper to maintain than ever before. Many websites have the ability to have a site built in. If not blogger (we’re not really a fan) and WordPress (our favorite) are two of the most popular blogging platforms around. You should update your blog at a minimally once a week. Three to four posts a week is great. Daily updating would be outstanding. But don’t blog just to add more posts to your site. If the content isn’t good then stick to creating quality content once a week. Blogging is best for content you’re not going to feature as long as you would on your website, but longer than what’s featured on a social site. Your opinion of a current news event that will last a week makes a good blog post.

Facebook Page: I would suggest updating a facebook page three to four times a week. Just like a blog if you post daily its better. But make sure you’re posting quality and not quantity. Unless your facebook page represents a site, blog, news source or other media people expect to hear from frequently don’t post more than three times a day. Posts about your business and industry do well. But also post about those who “Like” your page and other businesses on facebook.

twitter: twitter is for those who love to post. You should probably post at least once a day. If you can’t think of anything ask an industry question. If you’re a rapper you may ask what trends in music are turning people off. A bank may ask their followers if they’re intimidated by the loan process. You want to “tweet” ten times a day? Feel free. But if its shouldn’t be about everything you’re doing in your personal life if your twitter page represents a business. Tweet new posts from your blog and facebook page, useful retweets, event dates, just about anything you can think of.

We have a formula that we use that takes into account for expenses, annual profits, projected sales and more. But one of the most important aspects of pricing is the type of client you’re targeting or most likely to attract. There are two basic types; price customers and value customers.

Price customers’ biggest reason for buying your product or service is cost. They are seeking the lowest. Many business gurus say price customers are worse to have. We don’t always agree. Depending on your product/service and what it takes to deliver it, you may do well competing on price. This is especially true if you have a larger percentage of the market share. I’m sure you remember when business owners made their money on volume.

Value customers usually look at price after product/service quality and customer service. The cost still has to be reasonable to the value customer. But reasonable is relative. If you don’t think that pricing counts go to an Audi dealer. If you’re looking at an A8 and tell them you’re considering a Mercedes Benz S-Class they’re going to mention the lower price. Of course they’re also going to talk about how nice of an experience you’ll have purchasing, owing and driving the Audi.

Many owners/operators will tell you or think to themselves that they have their plan in their head. While you definitely should have much of your plan in your memory so that you can constantly think about it when making daily decisions, its not going to be thorough enough if you never write it down. You may think that you want 10% market share next year and 20% in three years but how do you get there? What type of employees are you going to need when your company grows? How happy are your rivals’ customers?  Are there any pending laws/regulations coming up for your industry? These and many more internal issues need to be addressed.

And then there are external reasons. Of course most people know (even though too many act like they don’t) a business plan is necessary to secure funding from banks, private investors and other financial institutions. But what many business owners don’t know is that if you’re trying to become a vendor for a large corporation a business plan may be required. Looking to get certified with your local or state government entity? Many accept business plans if you haven’t met the mandatory length of time to be an established business. Thinking about partnering with a more established company? They may ask to see your business plan.

Whether for internal or external reasons, a business plan is too important not to complete.

Depending on the type of business you’re running and the particular service you need. For example a graphic designer is someone that can almost always be someone with PT availability if that’s the person you want to go with. When you need a logo, brochure or other collateral designed it’s not likely that you’ll require turn around in hours. And graphic design is something that can be done from just about anywhere at just about any time.  So if you really need something done today and you call your guy while they’re at work they can make adjustments on their lunch break if they have their computer with them.

Now your web designer is a different scenario. If you’re running a part time venture and have a simple informational 3-7 page site you can get away with a part time web designer. If you’re changing prices or services on a particular date, get the necessary information in the agreed upon front time and you’re good. But if your website is your sales channel or you’re in a field like law or real estate you’re going to want a full time designer. Imagine your site is designed to ship your book from a distribution point automatically when payment is received. Instead of your book being listed on your site for $20.00 it’s listed for $2.00. Now if your web designer can’t fix your site until tomorrow or the next day and you were just on a radio/TV show urging people to buy your book, that’s a ton of lost revenue. What about the lawyer who incorrectly placed information about a new law that affects many of their clients and potential clients. If the information about the law is added incorrectly, their practice can really be harmed. Yes there are disclosures on the site. But don’t we have certain expectations of professionals we’re paying $150-500/hr? The same is true for tax consultants.

While your graphic artist can always be a part time person and your web designer can be part time or full time depending on your needs, an attorney should be full time. Even if you can’t get a meeting with your attorney at a moment’s notice you need some type of response. Many legal issues are urgent. Lawsuits, notices, and other legal issues can get worse in 24hrs without any action. Most lawyers are full time professionals. Just be aware of your needs if you’re going to work with an attorney with limited availability.

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It is not possible to have human relations without communication. However, good and effective communication is required not only for good human relations but also for good and successful business.

Effective communication is required at various levels and for various aspects in an organization such as -

For manager – employee relations:
Effective communication of information and decision is an essential component for management-employee relations. The manager cannot get the work done from employees unless they are communicated effectively of what he wants to be done? He should also be sure of some basic facts such as how to communicate and what results can be expected from that communication. Most of management problems arise because of lack of effective communication. Chances of misunderstanding and misrepresentation can be minimized with proper communication system.

For motivation and employee morale:
Communication is also a basic tool for motivation, which can improve morale of the employees in an organization. Inappropriate or faulty communication among employees or between manager and his subordinates is the major cause of conflict and low morale at work. Manager should clarify to employees about what is to be done, how well are they doing and what can be done for better performance to improve their motivation. He can prepare a written statement, clearly outlining the relationship between company objectives and personal objectives and integrating the interest of the two.

For increase productivity:
With effective communication, you can maintain a good human relation in the organization and by encouraging ideas or suggestions from employees or workers and implementing them whenever possible, you can also increase production at low cost.

For employees:
It is through the communication that employees submit their work reports, comments, grievances and suggestions to their seniors or management. Organization should have effective and speedy communication policy and procedures to avoid delays, misunderstandings, confusion or distortions of facts and to establish harmony among all the concerned people and departments.

Importance of written communication:
Communication may be made through oral or written. In oral communication, listeners can make out what speakers is trying to say, but in written communication, text matter in the message is a reflection of your thinking. So, written communication or message should be clear, purposeful and concise with correct words, to avoid any misinterpretation of your message. Written communications provides a permanent record for future use and it also gives an opportunity to employees to put up their comments or suggestions in writing.

So, effective communication is very important for successful working of an organization. Business writing software with grammar checker and text enrichment tool, which enhances a simple sentence into more professional and sophisticated one, can be used for writing effective business communications.

Communication Is Key In All Organizations

Social technology policy will help to define the purpose(s) of the company’s social presences and will establish recognizable boundaries to keep business on track and employees out of legal difficulties. Every company that uses computers — from the smallest to the largest — should have a written policy on computer and Internet use. If you have employees who are already engaged in social networking on their own, this can also be an excellent professional training opportunity for you all.

Does Your Company have a Social Media Policy ? Mashable, one the leading social media sites, had an excellent article posted in 2009 by Sharlyn Lauby, president of Internal Talent Management, titled “10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy.” Her article can be read in its entirety at http://mashable.com/2009/06/02/social-media-policy-musts/ (available as of June 1, 2010) and is summarized here with our own comments.

1. Introduce the purpose of social media -  Many employees have social networking profiles in at least one place for their own reasons. This is a good place to establish the boundaries of acceptable use for your company – that it is a place for professional networking.

3. Be authentic - Allow your employees to add associates or friends to your network, to see what other people in your industry are doing or saying, and engage in discussion. Don’t be afraid to leave the chat box open on Facebook or to check incoming messages on LinkedIn. Update your followers when there are newsworthy changes or even just post tips.

4. Consider your audience - Clients may come and go, but what you post online stays forever. Be mindful that you might be writing for people who haven’t even started following you – yet.

5. Exercise good judgment - The good news here is that you probably have already covered most of this in your workplace policies or in labor law. Simply put: If it’s taboo in the workplace, it’s taboo in the workplace’s social media.

6. Understand the concept of community - Listen, respond and engage.

7. Respect copyrights and fair use - The ease of which Copy & Paste may be engaged in no way diminishes the stringency of the copyright laws and the importance of crediting sources. If you see something interesting and informative, by all means pass it on, but do unto others.

8. Remember to protect confidential and proprietary info - According to Sharlyn Lauby “Employees who share confidential or proprietary information do so at the risk of losing their job and possibly even ending up a defendant in a civil lawsuit.”

Don’t share the secret recipe for Krabby Patties online, unless you want to have your personal life in turn dragged through the courts and media.

9. Bring value -  Let your employees be your biggest promoters. Let them post interesting, creative comments on social sites. Social media sites aren’t just hosting sites for profiles anymore: People use them as search engines.

10. Productivity matters -  Lauby stresses the importance of striking a balance between social networking and other job duties. It’s a nice problem to have an employee so engaged in a particular task in their job that they have a difficult time tearing away from it. However, it’s still a problem.

A business that is all promotion and no actual service or product is a business that is selling New Clothes to Emperors. As Aristotle advised, moderation in all things.

Companies must make sure that they at least think carefully about how they are regulating (or not regulating) the use of social networking tools. Companies should incorporate Web 2.0 technologies into their existing information and document management policies.  A team approach to policy formation, including representatives of all affected constituencies (legal, records, risk management, IT, business units and others) is essential.

Start with some form of survey or assessment of current social networking practices within the organization and the needs of the organization going forward.

WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Oct. 26, 2011) - Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today announced the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 smartphones are the first SIM-based NFC smartphones to be certified by MasterCard Worldwide asPayPass-approved devices.

The certification was granted on the basis of the BlackBerry® smartphones meeting the functionality, interoperability and security requirements of MasterCard. With this certification, any MasterCard PayPass-issuing bank globally will be able to deploy MasterCard PayPass-enabled accounts to the SIM card of these smartphones.

The ecosystem to allow customers to take advantage of the certified BlackBerry smartphones for NFC payments is already growing. France Telecom – Orange believes that mobile NFC has the potential to enable a new revolution in mobile by further connecting people’s mobile digital world with the physical world around them. France Telecom – Orange is the first operator worldwide to have commercial NFC launches in two countries, UK and France, with trials in several European markets.

“We are happy to offer the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 as part of the Orange range of mobile NFC devices. We are committed to actively marketing NFC devices, and these new smartphones will help accelerate the adoption of mobile NFC services secured by an Orange SIM, including mobile payments,” said Vincent Barnaud, Director of Contactless Services at France Telecom – Orange. “We have a strong partnership with RIM, and look forward to working together on more NFC initiatives in the future.”

Andrew Bocking, Vice President, Handheld Software Product Management at RIM said, “NFC technology is making smartphones even smarter and the MasterCard certification is a significant step forward in helping transform the way we use mobile devices for payments. We are working proactively with our carrier partners, banks, retailers and other industry players and we are excited to push the boundaries of how NFC can enable new mobile experiences for BlackBerry smartphone users around the world.”

“MasterCard is proud to be the first to certify these popular BlackBerry smartphones for mobile payments, and offer consumers another simple, easy, safe and convenient way to pay. In card payments, MasterCard has long been a leader in the testing and certification of products – for the benefit of customers, issuers, merchants and acquirers. We are delighted to extend this leadership role into the mobile payments arena and applaud RIM’s efforts to usher in the next phase of NFC adoption by delivering compliant devices to the market,” said Mung Ki Woo, Group Executive, Mobile at MasterCard Worldwide. “The availability of NFC on popular BlackBerry smartphones is an important milestone for the mobile contactless payments business.”

With hype comes opportunity. Not just opportunity for your the business owner. But opportunity for those wishing to sell to you. With hype you have to be careful. Too often people get caught up without thinking rationally. Being in the cloud can be convenient and efficient. It’s not new.

I’ll break it down to its most simplest form. Being in the cloud means software or data stored on a computer outside of your company.

That’s it. Your data or software products aren’t really in the air. It’s nothing magical or super techy geeky. Its not something beyond the realm of capability for the most. If you log into your online account to look at your cell phone bill you’re cloud computing. Here’s something else. Many of us have been in the cloud for a decade and a half.

Those of us who are early adopters of sites like AOL, Yahoo and other hosted email providers have been in the cloud since the 90s. We didn’t think much of it. We just logged on, read our email, sent some replies and thought nothing of it.

The next time you get pitched on using this new service and being in the cloud is radical, let them know you’ve been a radical for years.

In the past there have been four main solutions to this problem. The phone was a pretty secure method. With cell phones, VOIP etc, it’ not the most secure means. Having someone else deliver the documents is still a popular option. Whether it’s a courier, postal system, employee etc they all have ways to track your documents. Faxing was a much used choice that has declined. It’s probably good that it has. Fax transmissions don’t always produce the clearest image and unless it’s on a secure line there are security issues. The most used of the four is now email. While extremely convenient and easy it’s not the best option. Most email passes through several servers, have size limitations and delivery isn’t guaranteed or confirmed without the receiver replying.

Now there are client portals. Client portals have been in use by accountants, lawyers and consultants for at least five years. Of course some of us have been using them without even knowing it. In its simplest form, a client portal is a repository for documents. Usually both the service provider and the client can add or download documents from the portal. There are many pluses to the four solutions described earlier. It’s faster than personal delivery (as quick as you can upload it’s there. It’s more secure than all except maybe personal delivery. Sometimes there are size limitations, but it’s not likely someone will have a document that exceeds those limitations.

I’m going to break down what I believe are the three main benefits of client portals. The first is security. Most portals use 128 or 256 bit security which is the same adopted by banks. This should help put your mind at ease. The second is availability. As long as you have an internet your connection you can access your documents. Whether it’s 11pm when your accountant is closed or 12pm when you need it now. As long as you have your password you’re good to go. The third is control. Documents in the portal are just for you. It shows a record of when uploaded, downloaded, modified set to delete etc.

Client portals are inexpensive enough that there’s no reason for anyone dealing with your confidential information not to have one.

Does Your Consultant Use A Client Portal