Indie Hackers! What are your thoughts on client portals?

Hey Indie Hackers! 👋

I am guessing that a lot of us here have either provided, or have been a client of creative agencies (design, dev, marketing services). Given this background, what are your thoughts on client portals?

Note: by client portal I am referring to a personalizable website/app that a consulting company uses as a gateway for billing, sharing deliverables and sharing relevant resources with the client.

Have you ever tried a product like this? If yes, what was it? Were you satisfied? Did a tool like this elevate your (or your clients') experience of working together?

If not, what would you expect a tool like this to have to actually help you provide (or receive) a better, smoother client experience? (magic wand question 😉)

I would appreciate honest, blunt feedback. Feel free to ramble!

TLDR: I've been running a creative agency for 7 years now. After trying to identify a portal product that could help me improve working with clients for a while, I decided to build one myself. And since I've gotten this opportunity to be a member of IH community, I was hoping to explore what were your experiences?