For example, VDRs usually have an added layer of security that wouldn’t be accessible if a solution was developed in-house. They also provide an easier and much more efficient way of sharing information between different providers, such as partners, customers and suppliers. Authorisation is typically built in too, with varying levels of permissions so that you can differentiate between regular users, managers and administrators.
Some VDRs even include virtual meeting rooms that can be used to bring different stakeholders together to review, comment on and collaborate on sensitive documents. The idea is to provide a more cost-efficient, virtualised solution to sharing and collaborating on documents that maintains full privacy and security without requiring people to gather together in a single, physical location.
Virtual Deal Rooms and M&A companies
Because of their ability to act as a facilitator between multiple different parties, VDRs are also occasionally called Virtual Deal Rooms. But whatever you want to call them, Virtual Data Room providers like Firmex typically aim to service industries where the security of data is mission critical, with industries typically including finance, healthcare, government and infrastructure, mining, renewables, oil and gas, the legal industry and more.
VDRs are particularly popular amongst M&A companies. M&A is short for mergers and acquisitions, and these types of companies typically aim to purchase smaller companies and to consolidate their employees and their assets under a single umbrella. In fact, for M&A companies, VDRs and cloud services are a godsend because they can help to make workflows much simpler while simultaneously allowing communication amongst the different siloes that can ensue after multiple mergers and acquisitions.
The good thing about VDR systems is that they’re usually provided as a software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) solution, which means that you typically only pay for what you’re actually using. This makes them much more economical than developing your own expensive proprietary systems, and the added support that most companies throw in means that you won’t have any problems implementing a VDR platform or importing data and documents from elsewhere.
What this means for you
If your company works with large amounts of data and needs to be able to share that data at a granular level between different teams, a VDR platform could be a good solution for you. This problem of data sharing, security and ownership is very much a modern problem, and modern problems need modern solutions. And while VDRs aren’t exactly a magic bullet, you might be surprised at how useful they can be.
If you think that VDRs could help you to bring your company’s data under control, it’s a good idea to get started by looking at virtual data room comparison websites and to check out different providers to see what they can offer and how much you’ll be expected to pay. Some will even allow you to take out a free trial or to receive a product demo from an account manager.
Remember that different companies have different requirements, and the best VDR providers will go out of their way to understand the way that your company works and to tailor their offering as a result of it. Perhaps you work in a highly regulated industry and you need to put data security front and centre, or perhaps your company is relatively small and so there’s no need for you to use a comprehensive system designed for large enterprises. Whatever your situation, just make sure that you find the right provider for you.