The virtual data room market is growing daily, with providers offering different options for every industry. If you’re considering implementing a VDR in your business, you shouldn’t be in a hurry to choose. Finding the right data room for your business isn’t easy despite the wide range of choices. Business owners should take some time to ensure that the vendor they choose fully meets the requirements of their business, but your efforts will be worth it. This article will look at an effective algorithm for selecting a VDR vendor.
Do a little preliminary work
A virtual data room is an effective online space for securely exchanging sensitive documents, conducting various transactions, and business communication, but that doesn’t mean that every offer can be right for you. They differ in the industry; they specialize in their feature set and pricing principle. That’s why you shouldn’t immediately go reviewing VDR vendor reviews but rather do your research. First of all, you should decide:
- For what industry do you need a VDR – if you buy a VDR that doesn’t fit your line of business, not only will it not be beneficial, but it will also hurt your business
- For what purpose -Data rooms can emphasize different processes; some are better suited for mergers and acquisitions, and some just as a secure storage facility
- What weaknesses would you like to correct with VDRs – analyze your operations; what are your weaknesses? How could VDR fix them?
- What is your level of technology proficiency – be sure to consider your and your team’s ability with modern solutions. If VDR management is too complicated for you, it will slow down your performance
- What your budget is – look for solutions that are within your budget and also check the provider’s pricing plan. It might not be feasible for your type of project
What features should be in an effective VDR provider?
Below we will highlight the main features and benefits that any quality provider should have:
- Document control
Any modern VDR should have a strong security infrastructure. But you still need to reassure yourself and determine if the provider has all the necessary features. VDR functionality should include explicit permissions, encryption, and watermarks. These features should work without IT oversight and apply to all devices.
- Flexibility of document organization and interface transparency
The platform interface should not be too cluttered with incomprehensible functions. This creates background noise, is confusing, and reduces attentiveness. Also, VDRs should have tools that offer the simple and efficient structuring of large numbers of documents. Namely, bulk loading, drag-and-drop features, automatic indexing, and smart search.
- Monitoring user activity
The monitoring features allow you to create automatic audit logs to see every step and action of another user. With it, you can get valuable analytics that tells you what step to take next.
- Seamless technical integration
A virtual data room should offer multiple solutions for seamless integration into your existing business structure. Thus, it should provide you with a secure web API service to integrate deeply into your system and use it easily. In addition, it will be a plus if the provider offers a single sign-on feature.
- Service and support
Be sure to check out what support the provider provides, whether he will keep you during the installation and setup of the VDR, and whether he offers any training materials or webinars. For example, does the provider provides a personal project manager who will tell you how to optimize it? Or whether support is available 24 hours a day.