Alternatives to Smart Vault?

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#1
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I just got off the phone with the Smart Vault people. They are "sunsetting" the pro plan I have been using and being charged for one user, in favor of an "Accounting Something" plan with a minimum of two users. The cost is double, so it's going from $500 or so annually to $1,000 annually. They try to sell it as though I'm getting some spectacular new additions to my use, but it sounds like Intuit telling me all kinds of unimpressive fluff warrants huge price increases. I really am getting tired of all of this.

So my question now is what other programs are available that I can use that are good, safe, reliable, easy to use? I have until October 9 to renew or change.
 

#2
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I'm on the Accountant Plan and I don't recall paying $1k/year for it but I have so many subscriptions I cannot recall what I pay for each. I did just acquire TaxDome and it can most definitely replace SmartVault in all capacities, though it takes some setup. But, it has a decent mobile app for clients and is a powerful practice management system, too. Unlimited esignatures included, though KBAs need to be purchased but are cheaper than DocuSign, for example. One user is $600/year paid upfront, then $70/addtnl user/month IIRC.
 

#3
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I suppose it depends what you use it for. I use Sharefile for secure file transfer with clients. Smartvault's comparison with Sharefile: https://www.smartvault.com/features/sma ... sharefile/

Does that meet your needs? The most basic Sharefile is about $120 per year. As you're paying $500 I imagine you can do a lot more with Smartvault. Consider Drake Portals and Tax Dome. I haven't tried either of them but expect to demo one or both after tax season.
 

#4
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I just did a cursory check, I'll look deeper when I finish what I'm working on. I just paid a couple of hundred dollars for Docu Sign through Smart Vault, do you think that can be transfered to a new vendor?
 

#5
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Well, I just received the e-mail from SmartVault. And while my initial plan was to slowly phase out SmartVault and phase in TaxDome, anyway, that is now out the going to occur within 2 months. I just sent an e-mail to all clients with the announcement since SmartVault is now going to double my cost for ONE system I utilize for client interaction and thus need to phase it out.

It's that, or increase my fees. :)
 

#6
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How hard is it to make that transition? I'm thinking that I need to just suck it up this year. So many outside things have started happening that use up my time and concentration right now. A lot of personal things that just can't be avoided. So needing to contact and retrain ciients who were a little afraid of the SV thing in the first place, retraining me, transferring everything over, it's just so overwhelming and frustrating.
 

#7
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It's not difficult but it takes time to build a default folder structure in TaxDome, for example. Others, like SmartVault, already have default folder templates. This is one area where SV has done well, but their system is now simply too little for too much compared to competitors.

Moving documents from one to another can be simple but is still time consuming, since they generally have desktop apps that make it simpler to transfer existing files.

My intent is to have this conversion completed by end of October, though now with some new things that popped up with my compnay, it may not be until November when the transition can be completed, I record "how to" videos, etc.
 

#8
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Interesting. I opened my e-mail this morning and found one from Smart Vault. They just charged the annual price and it is the same as prior years. I checked my account and it says they charged me for the Tax Pro plan, which I've always been on and which is the plan the person on the phone said was going to be retired. I checked the SV website and it doesn't look like my plan and cost is still available to someone just signing up. Do you suppose they had so much flak that they decided to grandfather in existing clients?
 

#9
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I corresponded with the CEO on it and they did mention my fee would be increasing because the new fee now includes a minimum or TWO users, and I switched to SV in 2019, I think. That is why mine is doubling. I only need one user, right now. I may need 4-5 users within 2-6 months, but I'll deal with TaxDome on that topic since I need staff to have access to portals AND practice management. Perhaps my change in fees is because I am on their full tax/accounting plan to take advantage of added features not available under the tax pro "only" plan.

If they did receive too much pushback, I certainly have not received any correspondence on it. As soon as I am done with most tax filings, I am going to begin moving clients over to Tax Dome and recording "how to" videos.
 


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