When doing due diligence for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), partnerships, fundraising, or the sale of assets, a virtual data room (VDR) is the right platform for the simple, secure, and organised sharing of secret documents with third parties in an organised manner. Nevertheless, not all secure data rooms are the same.
Top 7: Virtual Data Room:
Search for a virtual data room that not only has all the bells and whistles you might want, but is also easy to learn and use.
You shouldn’t have to spend days learning how to use a VDR when you can have one up and running with all of your due diligence materials in only a couple of hours. Consider the following criteria when comparing virtual data rooms for your project:
1: Status of Documents
Virtual data rooms today are built around the central idea of keeping sensitive documents under tight control while nevertheless making them available to interested parties.
Even on PCs and devices that are not managed by the IT department, a reliable virtual data room employs enterprise-grade protection. Documents accessed on Windows, Macs, or iOS devices should all benefit from this security technique.
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2: Structure And Presentation of Content
Ideally, your VDR will make it simple and straightforward to show your files in a way that is both organised and visually appealing, so that they can be reviewed quickly and efficiently across any and all platforms.
Find a VDR that allows you to categorise files using tags, rather than relying just on folders. There may likely be occasions when you need to store the same file in different levels of a hierarchical structure.
In the context of due diligence, this is sometimes crucial. Having a folder structure necessitates duplicating the file and storing it in the appropriate location.
Not only does this need spending more money on storage space, but it also requires spending time maintaining version control over many versions of the same document. With a tag system, you may make the same file accessible in different places by assigning it to different tags.
3: Surveillance of Visitor Actions
You should be able to monitor who has viewed which pages, and for how long, in the virtual data room of your choice. Full-featured user activity monitoring in a virtual data room not only creates the audit trails essential for regulatory compliance, but also gives you valuable information into how far along your users are in the document review process.
If your HR and legal due diligence teams are spending a lot of time poring over employee complaint files, you can assume they are worried about potential legal action and take preventative measures accordingly.
Look for a VDR that tracks IP addresses and has customizable built-in statistics in addition to viewing user behaviour on a per-page basis.
4: Cloud Infrastructure that is Safe and Reliable
Asking the right questions before committing to a virtual data room will help you find one whose servers are housed in Tier 3 or 4 data centres and are hosted by a reliable service provider. Verify if the service provider offers numerous redundant layers of protection.
Find out if the servers are high-availability and have hot-swappable parts, and if the data centre has redundant network connectivity, power systems, cooling systems, routers, and cabling for maximum uptime.
5: Fast Document Editing And Writing
Due diligence periods are frequently time-constrained, thus promptness and effectiveness are of the utmost importance. You should be able to set up and manage your site fast and efficiently using the VDR you select.
Choose a VDR that simplifies administrative setup and maintenance. Changing rights, policies, or the structure of your material in bulk shouldn’t be difficult, and administration shouldn’t be a source of frustration.
6: Intact Technical Combination
With today’s virtual data room, you have a variety of options for integrating the data room into your existing workflows.
The virtual data room (VDR) you select should come with a comprehensive web services API that lets you programmatically build, configure, and control the VDR, as well as fully incorporate it into your existing business processes.
You want your VDR to be easily accessible from within your existing secure online application, so make sure it supports single sign-on and embeddable widgets.
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7: Aid and Service
In addition to being quick to deploy, simple to learn, and requiring minimal instruction, a high-quality virtual data room should provide exceptional support at all hours of the day and night. Feel free to ask any of the following:
- How will I get help with my VDR’s installation, configuration, and rollout?
- Would I be assigned a personal project manager who can not only assist me in establishing my virtual data room but also provide advice on how to improve the efficiency of my project?
- What I want to know is if the training I receive will be tailored to my exact needs.
- Can I get in touch with someone by phone whenever I need to?
- Do you allow for remote screen sharing so that problems can be solved more quickly?
- Is assistance with switching over from another VDR or p2p file sharing system part of the package?
