Have you been researching and checking on Google what could be a virtual data room? Is that software? Is that something you need to buy? What is it for? do not fear With this quick overview, we try to answer your questions. Let’s jump right into that. A virtual data room, or VDR for short, is a place on the Internet where users can store and share documents. From the feel of the term, one might think that it is something new related to file sharing in the cloud, and while that might be the case, the term data room is much older than the cloud computing hype cloud.
Who uses virtual data rooms and why?
So what do you do with a virtual data room? You can often find people and companies involved in docurex, M&A (M&A), and VC (Venture Capital) who use virtual data rooms to keep all data and files in one place for review, archiving, and legal certainty…Some people also refer to it as the “Dealing Room”. In addition, board members of large corporations often use virtual data rooms to collaborate in a secure environment.
All of this usually doesn’t happen in the same network because the parties are from different companies. You could say a virtual data room is a kind of extranet, so it’s not public, and you don’t run it inside your own company like an intranet. The use of virtual data rooms is primarily for governance and compliance purposes, not for a better user collaboration experience.
Virtual data room vs. Dropbox and others
Why don’t we just use all the popular cloud file sharing providers? Have you ever received an email that contained something like “I uploaded the contract to our shared Dropbox drive”? I hope not. A strong differentiator here is InfoSec and overall digital security, encryption, and protection with a full audit trail. The actual features, of course, vary depending on the virtual data room provider you choose and the type of plan you pay for. Here are some of the features you may need:
· data encryption
· Audit logs and activity tracking
digital rights management
access management
Online document viewer (in browser)
· Bulk upload, drag, and drop
· as much file storage space as possible
Use functions to adapt to your use case
· defend against external threats
Who is the best virtual data room, the provider?
I’d love to offer you a go-to docurex company right now, but there’s often no one-size-fits-all software solution. Depending on your budget, functional requirements, due diligence requirements, business requirements, legal requirements, and all your partner requirements, you should carefully research and compare VDR solutions and digital meeting room, providers docurex.
I don’t particularly endorse any of the following, but if you want to start your research here, I recommend checking out the companies and products listed below in alphabetical order:
· DocurexVirtual Data Room
BlackBerry Workspace (WatchDox)
Brainloop Security Data Room
Citrix ShareFile Virtual Data Room
Drooms NXG Virtual Data Room
Intralinks Virtual Data Room
Merrill DatasiteOne
Nasdaq Board Advantage
Safe-T Software-Defined Access Package
Virtual Data Room
Of course, there may be other good ones, but these are a good starting point for your comparison and review. It’s also worth noting that you should look for a “local” supplier or at least a global supplier that understands the legal requirements and relevant laws of all the countries involved in the transaction.
Exchange information in VDR
Documents in VDR can be shared with people working in the company and with outsiders. Administrators are responsible for determining which documents can be shared and with whom. It also defines whether you have access rights, such as permissions that allow you to read the document, modify the document, upload the document, download the document, etc. This is useful for managers and employees working in the cloud, but also for customers.
Temporary Virtual Data Room
It is not necessary to set up a virtual data room indefinitely. The data room can be rented temporarily, for example during special projects, contract negotiations with large clients, or audits. It saves the associated costs with moving and hosting files, and parties can directly share files, modify them and negotiate in complete confidentiality. Combined with web conferencing software, the possibilities are endless.
The difference between VDR and cloud storage
Everyone uses cloud storage (free) these days. For example, the most famous ones are OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive or iCloud. The three main differences between general cloud storage software and VDR are:
VDRs are the ones that offer the most security. Chances of accessing and stealing data traffic are (nearly) zero. Use advanced encryption and bit keys during data transmission and storage. Only authorized persons can read these documents. All these protections are not available in cloud storage.
VDR includes document management software. All actions performed on documents are recorded and communicated.
Share your experience
I hope you found this short summary helpful and learned some key facts. If you already have experience with VDR and other types of trading rooms, be sure to share your experience in the comments below. I wish you all the best with your projects and work.