TOP | Logo | Provider | Tag | Profile |
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1 |
iDeals Virtual Data Room
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#top choice#best price#free trial#24/7 support#mobile app | Visit Website View Profile |
2 |
Intralinks
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#top choice#mobile app | View Profile |
3 |
Merrill Datasite
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#top choice#free trial#mobile app | View Profile |
4 |
Ansarada
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#24/7 support | View Profile |
5 |
Firmex
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#24/7 support#mobile app | View Profile |
6 |
Onehub
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#free trial#mobile app | View Profile |
7 |
Dealroom
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#free trial#24/7 support | View Profile |
8 |
Securedocs data room
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#free trial | View Profile |
9 |
CapLinked data room
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#free trial | View Profile |
10 |
Citrix Sharefile
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#24/7 support | View Profile |
A virtual data room is a service designed to securely store, edit, share, and discuss information. The most advanced data rooms are compatible with any file format and let you edit files in the most popular formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).
At their core, virtual data rooms are the descendants of physical spaces where various documents related to a business or intended for a specific deal were stored. Before the rise of technology, to close a deal or work with sensitive documents, those people who participated in the transaction were granted limited access to the room.
Unlike their predecessors, virtual data rooms give their users flexibility and accessibility: users can work with documents 24/7/365 regardless of their location or the type of software they use. Restrictions can be defined and set only by the admin of the data room. The admin decides which documents and data are available for the use, as well as what the user can do with these documents and whether users have the right to download these documents.
A modern data room is an online directory with files, accessible by login and password. After accessing the directory, users can view, edit, and comment on the files or upload these files. The most popular data rooms also have additional options: a F.A.Q. section, work chat, integration with a calendar, and project management tools.
A virtual or physical data room is a repository for large volumes of data related to intellectual property, the fundraising process, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, etc. Undoubtedly, all this highly confidential information must be under high-class protection to not endanger the company’s life or the deal.
However, because physical data rooms could not provide sufficient safety even with physically secured data centers, an improved alternative emerged for companies — online data rooms.
Physical data rooms require expenses for rent, proper security, maintenance, etc., which also need staff employment. In addition, the parties to the transaction had to get to the storage, and it was often necessary to organize business trips.
On the other hand, virtual data rooms are an online solution available anywhere, saving time and money. Moreover, thanks to dedicated tools, the online data room provides complete data control, secure file sharing, user activity tracking, easy document search, and smooth collaboration.
2021 has been a year of increased legal transactions, including due diligence and M&A in Australia and worldwide. This rise is due to a large amount of cash in the market, low-interest rates, and pent-up demand due to Covid-19.
So, according to one of the leading Australian law firms Clayton Utz, in 2021, Australian companies entered into a record number of deals in real estate, healthcare, agribusiness, energy and resources, transport and infrastructure.
In 2022, the epidemic is on the decline, but it continues to impact businesses in all industries. As a result, directors are looking for solutions to continue operating at a sustainable growth rate and make the entire deal process less time-consuming. After all, these high-tech tools allow them to make deals and develop despite the restrictions.
The optimal software to have such deals and related due diligence processes in Australia is virtual data room software. The popularity of this software is explained by the benefits that virtual data rooms offer:
Enterprise-level of security for a secure virtual data room | Confidential data protection with a limited viewing mode, remote shred following downloading of the data, watermarks, etc. |
Speed and availability from any location and device | A VDR’s transfer speed and the design of infrastructure ensures that files are uploaded safely, while the downtime of collaboration is low. For example, an Australian data room should not be dependent on a German data center. |
Flexible document and file management | Dragging and dropping of selected files or uploading files of any format in bulk, automated index numbering and full text search for simple navigation allow users to upload, delete, merge, move, view, download, restore, and rename files and folders easily. |
Ease of use | Online rooms to store data offer a single sign-on, multilingual access with mobile user interface and native apps (iOS, Android) to work with files from any device. |
Granular access settings | Single or bulk invitations for users (separately or in groups) with detailed user permissions and customizable user notifications makes VDRs simple for use for companies of any size. |
User activity and actions-with-files reports | Everything that users do in the data room is recorded for admins to easily generate a variety of reports and track all changes undergone by the data. |
Distributed work with files | Modern online rooms combine a set of built-in collaborative tools: frequently asked question segments, real-time discussion, the tools to allocate questions across experts with question status added, educational tools, etc. |
Appearance settings | Logo, company branding, header and footer, theme colors along with watermarks and automatic translation make VDR an easy-to-navigate workspace for any team member. |
Compliance with international security policies | ISO 27001:2013, SOC2, Microsoft Secure Development Lifecycle, OWASP: these standards make VDR a reliable space to store important data. |
This site was created to help Australian businesses to choose among dozens of data room providers. Luckily, with the development of technologies, a large number of players that meet the needs of various companies have emerged in the market in the recent years.
To outrun their competition, some providers use the terminology and segmentation of their own features rather frivolously. In order to make your choice of provider easier and help you make an informed decision, we decompose all of their features rather meticulously and compare all of them separately. By doing this, we get the most objective assessment of each data room available in the market.
To choose the most relevant provider for your business of any size from any industry, we recommend that you pay close attention to the following parameters as any investment should not be made in vain:
Among the important decisions you have to make when selecting online data room software is the choice between a boxed and cloud-based solution.
In general, the selection of features behind both approaches is similar: they store documents securely while providing flexible access control and collaboration tools, etc. However, there are differences as well.
First difference: maintenance cost
With a software (server) solution, you will need to pay for the server, hire a support team and programmers to maintain it. With a cloud (software-as-a-service or SaaS) solution, there won’t be such a need.
Second difference: the drawbacks of human factor
A software solution works the same way as a SaaS solution in terms of user access, control of users’ rights to view, edit, copy or download documents in an electronic data room; it provides the same collaboration tools as SaaS.
Yet, the boxed solution has one significant drawback: the influence of the human factor. Most hacker attacks that occur in the corporate environment today are performed not by using programmers’ skills, but employing social engineering.
Therefore, if someone gains physical access to your server (s) storing sensitive data, these people will have full access to downloading any information, bypassing even the most advanced digital security protocols.
VDRs are mostly used by companies that need to work with a significant number of documents, control the level of access to each document, and ensure uninterrupted and secure collaboration.
That is why the main areas of the VDR use are:
To choose a virtual data room and its provider, businesses need to understand the major principles of virtual data room comparison.There are two areas to focus on as part of this process: the data room features and reputation of data room providers.
The table below will help you structure all features properly. All data was collected from providers websites and interviews with direct providers’ customers and structured by in-house virtual data room experts.
To manage the second area — the reputation of a software provider — you can use the rating below as well: it includes data room reviews collected from independent solution listings.
Virtual data rooms have many advantages over physical data rooms and other online platforms. The most important benefits are.
As we’ve mentioned before, the number of corporate transactions in the Australian market remains the same despite the lockdown. Businesses of different sizes use virtual data rooms to close deals or store sensitive documents because of their security, control, predictability and ease of use.
Virtual data rooms allow precise and flexible control of users’ access to separate documents or chosen sections of data rooms. Moreover, advanced remote functions allow business admins to delete sensitive data, even if it was downloaded to the users’ devices.
SaaS-based solutions are the most popular VDRs in the market. They allow businesses not only to reduce maintenance costs (businesses do not need to maintain their own infrastructure, hire full-time programmers or administrators) but to predict the expenses for months and years ahead.
Two-factor authentication, a log of actions with documents and user activities within the data room, and other security options and protocols ensure a secure data exchange and collaboration within the virtual data room.
All these options have made virtual data rooms widely used and praised as a handy tool to facilitate deals in Australia.
And this site — with all the virtual room ratings, real user reviews, and feature comparisons — is aimed to help you choose the perfect VDR for your company.