Why Your Business Needs a Virtual Data Room and How to Choose the Right One 

“Online data room software” is a common term for professionals, entrepreneurs, or business owners. That’s because it has quickly become an integral part of the modern-day business world. One of the common misconceptions about virtual data rooms is that people consider them a big-company solution.

Online data rooms have been a regular component of medium-to-large-scale dealmaking, but they are equally beneficial for small-sized businesses. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that virtual data room software is a more suitable data management option for smaller companies.

Here is a brief definition of data room software and why your business needs it. We will also discuss important things to consider while choosing the right VDR for your company.

What are virtual data rooms?

Virtual data rooms are digital cloud-based data management platforms where you can safely create, upload, store, share, edit, and distribute your company records and important information.

Online data rooms have every document management tool according to modern-day business needs. You can have a built-in document and Excel file viewers, annotation tools, live document links, real-time document editing, bulk uploads, drag-and-drop, scheduled file sharing, access management, etc.

Additionally, data rooms are usually enriched with an array of communication tools for meeting management, board communications, live polling, and one-to-one communications. These features, when combined, make a great deal management platform. It explains why VDRs are so popular in financial dealmaking.

Why should you use virtual data rooms?

The detailed definition of data rooms has given a glimpse of what data rooms can do. Here are more benefits of VDRs for your business.

1. Business data protection

If you are using email or similar platforms for sensitive data sharing, you are already jeopardizing the integrity of your business. The biggest challenge comes when your business needs to share data with other businesses or external parties.

Virtual data room software provides maximum cyber protection to your important data in various ways. For instance, VDRs have a two-factor feature that prevents unauthorized entries. Data room vendors create automatic backup copies of your files to prevent accidental data loss.

High-end data room services have a 256-bit SSL data encryption feature which helps store and share data in encrypted form.

2. Document control and smooth data sharing

Online data rooms give you better authority over your documents. It not only gives you control while sharing data with other parties, but you can exercise more power in internal data sharing. That said, you can define document access levels for all your employees and restrict them from misusing information that is not their concern.

Similarly, data sharing with virtual data rooms is faster and more controlled. Users can share hundreds of files (up to 50GB file) with a large number of users in one go. They can schedule data sharing for future dates.

3. Faster communication and dealmaking

Virtual data rooms are super helpful for businesses that follow hybrid or work-from-home culture. VDR technology, as mentioned above, has the latest business communication tools to automate the collaboration between employees and teams.

These tools include FAQ and Q&A sections which make it easy to ask questions and get them answered instantly. There are also document comments and annotations which allow open discussions or simply exchange of information in the data room. The same goes for online voting tools, allowing to gather people’s opinions during virtual discussions or online meetings.

All these tools become more useful when the company has to transact with other businesses or external parties. It is easier for businesses to keep document sharing and communications on one platform during joint business ventures.

4. Cost-effectiveness

Small businesses and entrepreneurs can understand the importance of utilizing financial resources efficiently. It takes more budget to develop a dedicated data management software than hiring a premium quality data room service.

Second, virtual data rooms minimize administrative expenses, such as paper and printing costs. Third, you can also reduce your meeting expenses by organizing online meetings via VDRs.

How to choose the right virtual data room

The selection of the data room software is as important as the technology itself. Businesses have their unique requirements, and the selection process varies accordingly. But the following tips can help you make a more informed decision.

1. Start with identifying your needs and the processes that you want to shift to your VDR. That can be data management, external data sharing, or communication.
2. Define your budget and the necessary features. However, at this stage, make sure you do not skip the mandatory security, communication, and document management features.
3. Compare virtual data rooms relevant to your industry. You can read customer reviews, compare benefits and features, and consider data room pricing. Be thoughtful about the pricing because vendors use different pricing methods.
4. Make a list of potential vendors and start contacting them one by one; don’t forget to check out their customer support service.
5. Ask for free trials to see if the data room can help your cause or not.

Final words

Your business can use virtual data rooms for secure data management and sharing, digital communication, online meeting management, and dealmaking. Most importantly, it can save you money by reducing administrative expenses. That said, virtual data rooms represent an irreplaceable tool for modern businesses.