Top 10 Virtual Data Room Service Providers | FileCloud

November 4, 2019

Things nowadays are getting virtual. Companies have been able to shift a large amount of their workload to decentralized locations, from remote work teams to crowd-sourced marketing tasks. For companies handling large amounts of confidential or third party information, managing these data is no exception to the virtual revolution. Virtual data rooms come in for […]

Things nowadays are getting virtual. Companies have been able to shift a large amount of their workload to decentralized locations, from remote work teams to crowd-sourced marketing tasks.

For companies handling large amounts of confidential or third party information, managing these data is no exception to the virtual revolution. Virtual data rooms come in for enterprises or to any companies dealing with sensitive data.

 

What is Virtual Data Rooms and why do organizations need it?

Virtual data rooms are neutral environments in which multiple parties can interact and collaborate. You can think of it as a secure online repository for document storage and distribution. It is typically utilized during the due diligence process preceding a merger or acquisition to review, share, and disclose company documentation.

Virtual data rooms have increasingly replaced physical data rooms traditionally used to disclose and share documents. With the globalization of businesses and increased scrutiny to reduce costs, virtual data rooms are an attractive alternative to physical data rooms. Virtual data rooms are widely accessible, immediately available, and more secure. As security concerns grow and incidents with breaches increase, VDR providers are developing more sophisticated and reliable databases.

The greatest advantage of a VDR is the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your confidential information such as financial and HR information, intellectual property, your clients’ legal documents will not be seen by third parties unless you’ve permitted them to do so. VDRs capabilities to upload large volumes of documents, tracks and audits the user and document activity, and sets specific user permissions that are vital for facilitating efficient and secure document sharing.

Tips for Choosing a VDR

Benefits of VDR

Top Vendors of VDR

1. Ansarada is an AI-powered VDR solution which specializes in material information platform for material events. You also get features such as its own deal assistant app, AiQ bidder engagement, and due diligence Q&A. Its interactive assistant is developed to provide immediate answers to your questions anytime and anywhere.

2. Box is a virtual data room by Box.com. It is a platform built on the simple file sharing system for individual users. However, the VDR service on the Box platform provides a more sophisticated set of permissions and security measures. This makes Box VDR better suited to sharing sensitive business documents and collaborating on projects with team members geographically located around the globe.

The key features of this data room provider include full customization with logos and company colors, easy installation, access expiry, and limitations on previewing, uploading, and printing documents, as well as detailed tracking possibilities.

3. Citrix Sharefile is a file sharing service built for business-class, real-time collaboration. It automates workflows for providing feedback, requesting approvals, co-editing, and getting legally e-binding signatures to accelerate productivity. It is developed for personal and professional usage. This tool is packed in an easy-to-use platform for all types of users, even those that aren’t tech-savvy.

One of the tool’s strongest points is its robust third-party integration. Data sharing is secure and flexible. It offers a variety of security capabilities such as granular permissions, multi-level access authentication, and SSL/TLS 256-bit encryption. You can manage your security settings on your own through extended customization with an internally monitored and password-protected document archive.

4. Codelathe’s FileCloud can create a Virtual Data Room (VDR) that makes document management and collaboration as effective just the way you want it. FileCloud’s easy, secure, and regulated access to your documents online, with functionality to share, review, download, comment, and archive them can prove to be a major success driver. You can securely store all kinds of documentation related to licenses, permits, contracts, intellectual property, proposals, plans, blueprints, and financial statements.

With FileCloud, setting up the VDR is simple, quick, and convenient. Once it’s set up, you can start adding people, uploading a document, tracking activity, and audit.

FileCloud powered Virtual Data Room has the potential to become the collaboration engine to drive your megaprojects. The availability of critical documents with requisite levels of access privileges makes due diligence quicker and more efficient. FileCloud delivers wholesome data security and privacy, enabling you to manage complex and grand projects, without worrying about documents. File encryption and access control ensure there’s no unauthorized data access to any document.’

FileCloud also offers DRM (Digital Rights Management) features. DRM Refers to protecting ownership/copyright of electronic content by restricting the actions of an authorized recipient. So you can securely share high value/ sensitive content across your network.

FileCloud addresses three aspects of DRM

a) Content Protection/ Encryption

b) Access Control

c) Access Tracking

Features for DRM in FileCloud includes

5. Digify is designed with a focus on protecting and tracking sensitive files, giving you control and peace of mind over confidential documents that you share online. It scales to the needs of small business to enterprise. Your data room is secure with features such as rights management, watermarking, file tracking, and encryption.

If you have different sets of users, Digify helps you manage access permission at varying degrees. You can restrict forwarding, revoke access, or make your files private or public. You can also set rules for downloading, so you can decide which users can save locally or print a confidential document.

6. Egnyte is a VDR designed for content collaboration, data protection, and infrastructure modernization. Beyond being a file-sharing solution, it enables seamless collaboration between your business by enabling you to access the system on any device using other devices in any app you prefer. It ensures compliant data governance across the program by enabling you to monitor usage patterns and access controls. This ensures you stay on top of private and sensitive information on your organization.

7. Firmex is an enterprise virtual data room widely used for a variety of processes including compliance, litigation, and diligence. It is highly secure, utilizing document control and DRM such as custom permissions, dynamic watermarks, lock-down files and document expire. This makes it an ideal platform for exchanging, transmitting, and collaborating with sensitive documents. The system has specific solutions for investment banking, biotech, government, energy, and legal industries.

Designed for non-technical users, it has drag-and-drop ease to set up your projects quickly or move documents by bulk. It helps you to organize the files easily with a directory listing and data room index-which can be exported to PDF or Excel. A large organization with tons of documents will appreciate this feature best.

8. Google Drive is one of the most popular cloud storage systems with robust office-suite collaboration functionality. It includes a word processor, presentation, and spreadsheet program. At its core, it is an online storage service with a generous storage space you can use, especially if you’re using Google productivity apps and files such as images, videos, and documents. Individual users readily get a free 15GB storage and basic sharing capacity which you can use for regular files or office documents. Its collaborative office-suite is also a good cloud-based solution with its programs called Docs (word documents), Slides (PowerPoint presentations), Sheets (spreadsheets), Forms, and Drawings.

9. iDeals Virtual Data Room is an amazing VDR option, with all the functionality you could expect from an industry-leading virtual data room provider. The emphasis is on facilitating due diligence in any industry, including M&A, real estate, biotech, and technologies. With many competing vendors requiring users to download plug-ins or other software, such as Flash or Java, iDeals works consistently across all web browsers, operating systems, and devices with no plugins required. Full mobile compatibility ensured by dedicated apps for IOS and Windows.

Secure, powerful, flexible yet intuitively accessible with a great user experience and multi-language 24/7 customer support, iDeals VDR platform is available either as a web service or integrated with the enterprises existing infrastructure.

10. V-Rooms operates in the virtual data room market for more than ten years and is repeatedly awarded for the high-quality services it provides. Its VDRs are designed exclusively for simplifying the life of deal-makers: data management, storage, and exchange occur in a highly protected and functional environment. The data undergoes strong 256-bit encryption and is accessible only for those who passed the two-step authentication process. Digital rights management allows room administrators to protect the documents and prevent their misuse: they control document saving and printing, withdraw access to the document even if the document was already downloaded. Regular activity reports keep the administrators updated about the recent activity of the users and help them to identify the most active and interested visitors. Being secure, VDRs by V-Rooms remain simple and convenient.

Recommendations

■ Consider VDRs when looking for temporary or permanent mechanisms to support highly-controlled sharing of proprietary documents in highly regulated environments, in external-facing processes, or for collaboration with third parties.

■ Consider VDRs when the extended collaboration use case involves a joint venture or a consortium of partners, or requires centralized governance, privacy, compliance, audits trails and e-discovery.

■ Ensure IT is involved in the VDR selection process. Do not work around them as their help is key in VDR selection and configuration.

■ In other cases, especially when the cost is constrained, it is worth considering less-costly CCP alternatives — recognizing that a general-purpose tool will need customization to support specific UIs and capabilities.

By Team FileCloud