TL;DR: Agencies lose margin to status-chasing, asset hunts, and approval stalls. A client portal pulls briefs, files, feedback, tasks, and updates into one place that both sides can see. Add a knowledge base and an AI assistant, and you cut back-and-forth while speeding delivery. If you want this out of the box, start with dokky.io.

The agency inefficiency tax

Marketing teams bleed time in tiny, repeatable ways:

• Status pings: “Any update on the ad set?”

• Version chaos: six “final” decks and a missing PSD

• Scattered approvals: Slack here, email there, none tracked

• Repeat questions: “Where do I upload assets?” every Monday

• Meeting creep: calls used only to read out status

Multiply that across accounts and the numbers bite. Even a modest 2 hours saved per person per week at a team of 12, blended rate £100/hr, recovers ~£124,800/year. A portal is the easiest, most realistic way to claw that back.

What a client portal changes (for agencies)

A modern portal is a shared, branded workspace per client with:

• Client-visible tasks for briefs, approvals, dependencies and SLAs

• File vault with version history and “who viewed what”

• Knowledge base for repeat answers (specs, brand rules, invoicing)

• AI assistant that searches your pages/files and answers in context

• Light CRM notes so AEs remember who owns what on the client side

• Sharing history for auditability and smoother QBRs

Result: less chasing, clearer ownership, faster sign-offs.

Use cases that pay off immediately

1) Onboarding in 24 hours

• Welcome page: goals, timelines, how to get help, where to upload assets

• Tasks: “Provide brand kit”, “Add analytics access”, “Sign SOW”

• KB: “How to share Google Ads access”, “How we work with feedback”

• AI: answers “Where do I put logos?” with a deep link to the right page

2) Creative review without the chaos

• Page per deliverable with the current file pinned on top

• Feedback captured as comments; resolved items auto-logged

• Approval task with owner and due date replaces “Looks good!” emails

• History: who viewed the page and when they approved

3) Paid media changes with evidence

• Change log: budget shifts, rationale, KPI impact

• Checklists: pre-launch (UTMs, audiences, placements), post-launch QA

• AI: summarises weekly performance notes for non-technical stakeholders

4) Content production that actually ships

• Templates for briefs (audience, message, CTA, distribution)

• Tasks across copy, design, legal; dependencies made explicit

• File handoff: final assets stored once, linked everywhere

5) Reporting & QBRs in minutes

• QBR page that pulls milestones, closed tasks, highlights, risks

• Linked evidence: decisions, files, campaign notes all one click away

• AI: drafts the executive summary you refine, not write from scratch

The “centralised workflow” layout

Per client Space

• Home: plan, deadlines, current priorities

• Pages: briefs, campaign notes, release notes, decision log

• Files: brand kit, ads, decks, exports, contracts

• Tasks: To Do / Doing / Done, with owners on both sides

• KB: client-specific docs (e.g., “Analytics access for ACME”)

• AI assistant: grounded on this Space and your public KB

Why it works: Everyone sees the same truth, so updates stop being meetings.

Example templates you can copy

Campaign brief (page template)

• Objective, audience, key message, offer

• Channels & budget

• Success metrics and guardrails

• Timeline & stakeholders

• Attachments (research, past winners)

Approval task (task template)

• Title: “Approve Q3 Creative v4”

• Description: Summary of changes + link to page

• Owner: Client stakeholder

• Due: {date} | SLA: 2 business days

• Checklist: “Viewed page”, “Reviewed copy”, “Checked brand use”

Feedback guide (KB article)

• What “good feedback” looks like (examples)

• What to avoid (subjectivity, mixed channels)

• Where to leave it (on the page, not email)

• Turnaround expectations

Metrics that show you’re winning

• On-time approvals: % of approval tasks completed by due date

• Deflection rate: % of questions answered by KB/AI

• Cycle time: brief → first draft → approval (median days)

• Asset rework: drafts per deliverable (trending down)

• Engagement: client logins, pages per session, file views

• Meeting reduction: status calls replaced by page updates

Even modest improvements across these compound into healthier margins and calmer weeks.

Objections you’ll hear (and how to handle them)

• “Clients won’t log in.”
  They will if the portal is the easiest path to status, files and approvals. Put the current plan and next steps front and centre.

• “We already use Drive/Slack.”
  Drive stores files, Slack stores messages. The portal coordinates work with context, ownership and an audit trail.

• “Approvals live in email for a reason.”
  And that’s why they get lost. Approval tasks with timestamps protect both sides.

• “AI will make stuff up.”
  Not if it’s grounded on your portal pages and KB, scoped to the client’s Space. If an answer isn’t in the docs, the bot should say so and create a task.

The inefficiency table (agency edition)

FAQs

Will this replace our PM tool?
Keep your internal PM if you like. Use the portal for client-facing plans, tasks and approvals so clients see what matters without your internal clutter.

Can we keep some work private?
Yes. Keep internal tasks in your PM. Publish client-relevant milestones and dependencies to the portal. Least-privilege permissions apply.

What about brand safety and security?
Per-client Spaces, role-based access and sharing history prevent accidental oversharing. Approvals and file views are timestamped.

Does it help with procurement/legal?
Yes. Store contracts, DPAs and compliance docs in the Space and log approvals. Your QBRs become much easier.

Final thought

Agencies win on speed, clarity and craft. A client portal amplifies all three by moving work, files, answers and approvals into a single shared place that reduces friction and builds trust. If you want a clean, branded portal with client-visible tasks, a searchable knowledge base and an AI assistant that cites your content, take a look at dokky.io.