Progress ShareFile Industry Advantage review: Smart cloud collaboration for accountants

ShareFile has an impressive track record in the cloud collaboration and file sharing market and it starts this year under new ownership having recently been acquired by Progress Software. It joins a diverse portfolio of data and infrastructure management solutions including the IT Pro Recommended WhatsUp Gold network monitoring and FlowMon analysis products.

ShareFile is available in four plans which start at 1TB of cloud storage per user with all supporting a generous 100GB maximum file size. The Advanced plan starts at £13 per user/month when billed yearly for a minimum of three users and includes file sharing, syncing and versioning, file encryption using TLS or SSL up to AES-256, email encryption, desktop and mobile apps, custom portal branding, and malware protection.

The Premium plan costs under £20 per user/month and adds rapid client onboarding, the new AI-powered secure share recommender, projects, and templates for streamlining repetitive tasks and all the e-signatures you can eat. We review the Industry Advantage plan which ups the price to around £34 per user and adds a heap of extra features such as preconfigured workflows, a custom workflow user interface (UI) for tax preparation services, prefilled customer agreements, and options to import files from other accounting programs.

Progress ShareFile Industry Advantage review: Clients and employees

A feature that adds a lot of value to businesses working with external consultants and customers is ShareFile's support for two different types of users. External users are classed as clients and don't require a license so you can create as many as you want.

Internal users, or employees, each require a license and have full access to all ShareFile features as determined by the administrator which can include creating and sharing cloud folders, having their own web portal, and managing specific aspects of the company account. Clients receive a more basic web portal, are not allowed to share or request files, and can only access folders, files, and projects they have been expressly invited to by an employee.

ShareFile's rapid onboarding feature simplifies adding new clients. It emails one-click agreements with auto-fill templates, provides options to e-sign them, and tracks their progress using automated workflows.

Employees are equally easy to create as new users receive an email invitation to create their account and password protect it. Admins can delegate specific permissions from a list of nearly thirty management privileges while access security has been tightened up with mandatory two-factor authentication (2FA) for employees and clients.

Progress ShareFile Industry Advantage review: An inviting web portal

The ShareFile web portal dashboard provides shortcuts to common activities, a list of favorite folders, the most recent file activity, and links to video tutorials. Admin users have full access to all ShareFile functions while employees can view their folders, drag and drop files into them, share them with other users, and use their personal File Box for temporary storage of incoming file requests.

Both employees and clients can download the Windows and macOS syncing apps for fast cloud file access using a mapped drive and ShareFile offers free Android and iOS mobile apps. Employees are allowed to create connections to third-party apps such as Salesforce, Quickbooks plus Xero and integrate external cloud storage services using connectors for Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint Online.

Plug-ins for Outlook and Google Workspace are provided, allowing users to sidestep any file size restrictions enforced by their mail provider and securely send and request large files. The e-signature service is a smart feature as users import Word, text, or PDF documents to the web portal, add multiple signatories, arrange their signing order, and email them for drawn and typed signatures.

Documents can be viewed directly from the portal's content viewer and ShareFile's new AI Assistant generates summaries to save you reading all the content. Providing the document has less than 400,000 characters and is no larger than 20MB, you scan it in the viewer and ShareFile produces a concise and accurate summary.

Progress ShareFile Industry Advantage review: Engagements and workflows

The Industry Advantage plan has a sharp focus on streamlining tax return processes. Customer engagements are used to create automated workflows where you upload predefined documents, create an engagement, and assign an agreement template.

When the agreement is assigned to a client, ShareFile fills in all the variables such as their name, and creates a signature request. The client is notified of the request and once they've e-signed it, ShareFile starts the workflow process by sending further requests to fill in the assigned questionnaires and forms which the client can view and edit from their personal portal.

Clients are kept informed of the process and will receive email reminders for overdue tasks. Employees view engagements from the Tax section in their portal which provides a status view of completed and outstanding tasks for the client.

The predefined templates are currently aimed at US tax returns so UK users will need to create new ones, assign roles, add signature requests, and place variables in them so they are auto-filled using the assigned client's details. A wizard guides you through the process and once completed, the templates can be reused for all further client engagements.

More AI power is evident when creating new document requests for projects. Choose your line of work, your company role, and the purpose of the request, and ShareFile will generate a list of recommended items for your perusal.

Progress ShareFile Industry Advantage review: Is it worth it?

ShareFile is completely transparent about pricing and its plans look good value when compared to the competition. It will appeal to businesses with big cloud collaboration plans and the Industry Advantage edition provides clever workflow automations and customer engagements that can be easily customised for a wide range of industries - including accountancy.

General file sharing features are extensive and the 100GB size limit makes it ideal for businesses handling large files such as medical images or CAD drawings. It's easy to manage, offers plenty of app integrations and security is tight as it includes integral malware scanning, suspicious behavior detection and automated threat remediation.