Crescentek

Web Applications & Portals

Your clients deserve more than email.

Custom client portals, supplier hubs, and internal applications for Irish professional services, consultancies, and businesses with customers who shouldn't be chasing email attachments to find their own documents.

Based in Ireland
GDPR compliant
Reply within 1 working day
portal.kellyaccountants.ie · Admin dashboard
Portal
Dashboard
Documents
Invoices
Messages
3
Clients
Settings
Good morning
Siobhán O'Brien
Secure session
Open docs
14
Due invoices
3
Messages
3
Q4_2025_VAT_return.pdf
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Encrypted · AES-256Uploading...
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Siobhán O'Brien uploaded Q4 VAT return
just now
Darragh Lynch viewed invoice #2849
2m ago
Aisling Kelly sent a message
7m ago
Who builds portals

Irish businesses that drown in email attachments.

Legal firms

Client case files + document sharing + billing

Dublin, Cork, Limerick practices

Accountancy

Tax returns, financial statements, payroll

Most Irish accountants need this

Property management

Tenants, leases, rent statements, issue reporting

Residential + commercial PM firms

Professional consultancies

Engagement docs, reports, invoice tracking

Management, HR, tech consulting
Four portal types

Same architecture, different audiences.

Client portals

Self-service access for your customers

Core features
Document library (uploads + downloads)
Invoice viewing + online payments
Secure messaging with your team
Real-time status on engagements
Account details + billing history
Example use case
An accountancy firm's client portal
Built bespoke for their workflow, branded as theirs, integrated with their existing systems.
Four layers of a real portal

Not a shared folder — a real application.

A portal isn't a single thing — it's four layers stacked together. Miss any one and it's not a portal, it's a spreadsheet with extra steps.

01

Authentication & sessions

Proper login, SSO, 2FA, session timeouts, password policies. Dropbox + Gmail is not a portal.

Email/password, Google SSO, Microsoft SSO, passkeys. Audit logs of every login.

02

Roles & permissions

Your staff sees everything. Your clients see only their own data. Partners see theirs. No leaks.

Role-based access (RBAC). Team-level, user-level, record-level permissions.

03

Data + integrations

The portal pulls from (and pushes to) your actual systems — CRM, ERP, accounting, billing.

Real-time sync with Xero, Salesforce, HubSpot, or your custom backend.

04

UI + workflows

Clean, branded, responsive. Built for the specific tasks users need to do — not a generic CMS dashboard.

Mobile-friendly (70% of portal traffic is mobile). Your brand, not our template.

Custom vs off-the-shelf

SaaS portal products have their place. Bespoke has its place too.

Off-the-shelf
Generic SaaS portal products
—Template UX, not your workflow
—Per-seat pricing that scales painfully
—Limited integration with your stack
—Data lives in their cloud, not yours
—Branded around them, not you
Our pick for most
Custom-built
What we build
Workflow matches your process exactly
Flat cost — no per-seat tax
Integrates with anything (your code, your APIs)
Your data, your infrastructure, your control
Your brand — feels part of your business
Use cases

Common portal scenarios

Legal firms giving clients document access
Accountants delivering tax returns securely
Property managers housing tenant docs + issue logs
Consultancies sharing engagement deliverables
Manufacturers coordinating supplier networks
Franchises enabling location managers
Insurance brokers serving partner firms
Associations serving member organisations
Practical answers

Portal questions, honestly answered.

A shared folder (SharePoint, Dropbox) is one surface — files in, files out. A portal is a multi-surface application: documents, billing, messaging, status, permissions, workflows, all branded and built around who the user is. It's the difference between sending someone a Dropbox link vs. giving them a login to your business.
Depends massively on scope. A simple client portal (login + documents + invoices) for an accountancy firm might be €8–15k. A multi-tenant supplier portal with integrations and custom workflows could be €40–80k. We scope tightly at start — no ambiguous quotes. Compare to off-the-shelf: typical SaaS portal is €10-30 per seat per month forever. 100 clients at €15/month = €18k/year ongoing.
Depends on complexity. Simple portals with mostly read-only content and moderate permissions can run on WordPress with proper plugins (User Role Editor, Members, document management). Complex portals with custom workflows, tight integrations, or significant business logic warrant Next.js/Laravel builds. We pick based on what you actually need — not what's cheaper to deliver.
Properly. Encrypted data at rest + in transit, proper authentication (bcrypt passwords, 2FA option), session handling, CSRF protection, audit logging, regular penetration testing for higher-risk builds. For regulated industries (finance, healthcare, legal) we also handle GDPR compliance specifically — data minimisation, right to be forgotten, access logs. See our full security approach in scoping.
Yes. APIs exist for Xero, Sage, Salesforce, HubSpot, QuickBooks, most major systems. For legacy/bespoke systems we can build custom connectors. The portal becomes a branded view of your existing data — not a separate silo. This is how portals go from 'nice to have' to 'can't live without'.
Usually no. Modern responsive portals work brilliantly on mobile browsers — most of our portal traffic is mobile. Native apps add complexity and maintenance cost (€20k+ minimum) for marginal benefit. Progressive web apps (PWAs) give 80% of the native experience at a fraction of the cost where it's justified.
Related services
Custom Systems (hub)
The broader custom-systems service — where portals sit.
Learn more
Internal Business Systems
Internal tools for your own team, not external users.
Learn more
SaaS Development
Productised platforms, not just internal portals.
Learn more

Considering a portal for your clients or partners?

Free 30-minute scoping call. Describe who needs access and what they need to do — we'll outline whether WordPress, custom framework, or something in between fits, with a realistic cost range.

Reply within 1 working day GDPR compliant Based in Ireland