M&A transactions are highly complicated and the expanding compliance prerequisites and data regulations do not make it any easier. The worth of effective M&As is expanding with the growth of the world economy and so is the value of efficiently managed deals.
Since a virtual data room is a very critical part of the transaction, choosing the best dataroom provider becomes very important. A good data room provides a fast and effective platform to carry out such time-sensitive transactions and allows you to concentrate on the deal and not on managing the data room.
On paper, most data rooms appear to be identical. In reality, it’s not true.
Let’s look at some key points you need to keep in mind when looking for your next data room provider:
1. How long does it take to set up?
The time taken to set up your virtual data room depends on the efficiency of the service provider and its support team.
VDRs have just come into the limelight in the past few years. Several companies are now providing this service. These companies do not necessarily give you the best security and may not possibly be there when your deal gets done.
Search for data room providers who have solid corporate support, a history of working with trustworthy organizations, and good experience of how deals like yours work. They can help you with easy and smooth set-up without any delay.
2. Do I have to Manage the VDR on my own?
The best VDR providers give you both an incredible platform and extraordinary assistance, and you’ll have to think about how valuable the service is to you.
Will your VDR provider assist you with setting up the data room? Is this service included in the package? You may have to pay more for good services but it will help you save lots of time and money.
3. Do I get 24/7 support?
“We’re client-focused and do an amazing job to support our clients anytime & anyhow”.
If a VDR provider makes that case, test it. Check if, and how, they’ll help you to uphold documents on the weekends or when everybody’s out of the office, and whether they’ll charge you extra for this.
Your M&A transaction doesn’t stop after working hours. Every arrangement including parties involved in the process should be able to rely completely on your virtual data room.
4. How Do My Global Clients Find Support?
Are your clients usually from around the globe working in different time zones?
Will the VDR provider be available every minute of the day to help you? Will you be assigned a data room specialist to assist you?
We’re not discussing a client care rep who turned out to be quick to get the office telephone. We’re discussing somebody who knows everything there is to know about your deal and data room.
5. How Many Users Can I Invite?
This will influence the amount you pay. Adding more individuals to your VDR can bring about extra expenses. You must be aware of the cost of adding users in the future if any. Don’t let it come as a surprise. Ideally, your data room provider should include unlimited users in the service.
6. Can I Manage Everyone’s Access Uniquely?
Good VDR providers ought to permit you to do this, while additionally allowing you to control who can print or copy files from the data room onto an external drive.
Getting the option to allow multiple access levels, even to clients from the same organization, is important during any M&A transaction. Also, you ought to have the option to set them up fast and without any problem.
7. What Additional Features Am I Getting to Run the Deal Efficiently?
There are possibilities that some of the features may not be valuable for you now, but it’s better if your VDR provider gives you the ability to:
- Customize your data room, or create invites, with your logo.
- Upload files altogether without any hustle of sharing them one by one.
- Monitor the volume of data or the number of pages in the data room.
- Run an audit so you can see who has done what in the data room.
- Have multiple parties access data simultaneously.
- Embed and NDA that shows up before new clients attempt to see a record.
- Maintain communication with multiple parties at the same time while in the data room.
- Look for any new records that have been added to the data room project since you last signed in.
8. How do I Ensure the Security of My Confidential Data?
One of the principal reasons you should use a VDR is to keep your data free from any breach or danger. It will be really difficult for you if your data room provider proves to be unreliable and gets hacked in the future.
Ensure that they must have third-party security certificates (such as ISO 27001, SSAE 16, and ISAE 3402), assurance set up in case of a breach, and a second server that gets activated automatically and is up to date in case your data room’s major server gets down.
How the data security works and what are the different access levels you can set up are significant, but we’re discussing system security here. You don’t have to dive deep and be a nerd but ensure you pose the right inquiries.
9. Is There Any Hidden Fee?
Make sure you enquire about any hidden fee for sending data archives or adding more users to the data room. If any service will come at an extra cost you should be aware of it in advance.
10. Do I Get a Free Set-up Period?
Most virtual data room providers offer a trial period of 30 days at least. Although, it is generally not necessary to get such an offer from every provider.
Look for the data room provider that at least gives you the advantage of using the VDR for free for up to 30 days. Those 30 days free trial may be having basic features but you may get assured of their services at least before committing to it.
With FirmsData, you don’t pay until you invite 3rd party users. Book a Demo today!
Virtual data rooms are the need of the M&A business. They make life easier for each one of the parties present during the M&A procedure. Mergers and Acquisitions are a lengthy process including stressful dealings & massive amounts of cash evolving hands. The only possible thing to make this process efficient is technology.
Past 20 years, technology has smoothed out the process to share and access confidential data with a reasonable level of effort at the click of a button.
Q&A management, instant review option, setting up of access permissions, etc are some of the basic features that made a complicated process like M&A an easy one now.
Firmsdata is one such provider, where virtual data room deals permit you to concentrate on your deal, not on your data.
