Document sharing platforms come in three shapes and a small firm usually buys the wrong one. The general drive stores and shares files at a per-user price and knows nothing about clients. The enterprise platform logs everything, integrates with everything and is priced and implemented for a records team. The client portal, the middle shape, takes files in and sends them out under the firm's name, logs every access, files each document against the client on arrival, and is priced for a firm rather than a seat. The free document capture worksheet on this site sizes the intake a platform will carry; Batesio Pro is the portal shape, at one flat price.
The general drive
Dropbox, cited below, prices its Standard team plan at $15 per user per month for 1 person or more and its Advanced plan at $24 per user per month for 3 people or more. The drive shares a file; it does not confirm receipt to a client, log who opened it against the client's record, or set a retention date. Configured carefully it can do some of that; configured by nobody, which is the usual case, it is a folder.
The enterprise platform
Everything is logged and everything integrates, at a per-seat price and an implementation project. A firm of eight buys governance features it will never turn on. The compare assets for enterprise software hold that comparison; this hub stops where a records team begins.
The client portal
Files in and out under the firm's name, receipt to the client, log to the firm, filed against the client and the matter on arrival, retention date set, exportable per client. That is the shape a small firm needs, and Batesio Pro is $19 per month for the whole firm.
Questions people ask about document sharing platforms
Is a document sharing platform different from a client portal?
A portal is one kind of platform, the one built around the client record and the log. A drive is another, built around folders.
Should a small firm pay per user or per firm?
Per firm, because the price then does not climb with every hire; the worksheet on this site is free either way.
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