DATA ROOMS 101

Firmex is a relatively new member to the virtual data room world and already they have worked alongside industry giants such as Deloitte, CIBC, Good Year, KPMG and over 100,000 more companies. Companies worldwide trust Firmex as their virtual data room to securely share their data. Firmex focuses on making a complex concept a simple and user friendly process for busy business professionals. With Firmex expect large-scale transactions without any hidden fees in their subscription or single-use pricing.

A few of Firmex’s renowned features include drag & drop uploads, dynamic watermarking, restricting printing and downloading, View As, and Email In – all allowing the client to remain in control of their data when sharing it with third parties. Paired with complex permission settings, top security compliance, such as SOC 2 and HIPAA, and 256-bit AES SSL/TLS data encryption Firmex’s VDR remains inaccessible to malware and threats. Firmex has created an intuitive platform that allows clients to feel comfortable when distributing large amounts of documents and data. Firmex is also supported by their impressive customer experience team that is always on standby.

Since 2005 Ansarada has been in the virtual data room world space. Ansarada has worked with clients such as J.P. Morgan, Barclays, and Deloitte. In their 20,000 past deals they have been

commended on their speed and high security. Their data room is designed to assist more specifically M&A deals and their features to facilitate a smooth due diligence process.

As one of the most expensive virtual data rooms, everyone assumes that they assist in a broad range of transactions. Unfortunately, their virtual data room is limited. It is limited in the ability to provide a customizable platform for anything other than M&A deals. If a company is looking for a general virtual data room, this could be an issue. Ansarada, like most providers, claims to have exceptional customer support in case of any confusion while navigating the platform. Utilizing customer care is always a great idea.

These are important matters to remember when selecting your choice of VDR.

Intralinks was founded in 1996 and is one of the leading technology providers in the virtual data room market. They are a New York based company, however, also have offices in Europe and Asia. A few of their notable clients include Panera Bread Company, Whole Foods Market, Starbucks, and Essar Oil.

As pioneers of this technology, they claim to offer security, speed and excellence with their features. Intralinks has many impressive traits, however, it is important to note they cannot always prevent print screens and they cannot apply watermarks to dynamically generated graphs and charts. These features are common with many other providers to ensure optimal security when sharing with third parties. These are important matters to remember when selecting your choice of VDR.

Frequently compared to Dropbox, Box has been offering cloud storage solutions longer. Box is focused towards business and for users who require cloud storage for backing up data.

Box offers the best free plan in the industry, an entire 10GB. With Box, there is no need to install on your computer. They have been referenced as a gentle giant in the virtual data room space, and while they support millions of users, they also receive attention from hackers. Unfortunately the hackers won in 2014, when they breached Box and users were accidentally allowing their private data to be indexed by the search engines.

Merrill Datasite Since their founding Merrill Datasite, has made a significant impact on the growth of the virtual data room industry. Since Merrill Datasite is recognized as a more legacy VDR, they offer their service at a higher price. The services are similar, but they do cater specifically to higher-revenue sectors. These sectors include, litigation and M&A. They operate world-wide, and annually conduct 6,000 deals. Merrill Datasite guarantees no hidden or additional costs. They also provide services common amongst most data room providers – complex permission

settings, Q&A, 256-bit SSL data encryption. They are however lacking some permission setting abilities.

Secure Docs has made a name for itself in the data room world by having worked with clients such as Buzzfeed, Asana, and Sonos as a better option than generic data sharing service while still remaining affordable. Secure Docs has partners in 55 countries and they provide security, simplicity, and savings. Secure Docs offers control features, this list includes audit log, watermarking and two factor authentication. These various security security fees are available for a flat monthly fee.

Unfortunately Secure Docs is still lacking some features when comparing them to other virtual data rooms. All of their permission settings are group based and security features have been recognized as restricted. Even with that, they do have a unique built-in electronic signature, and the ability to preview a document the way another user will view it.