There are two types of currency: time and money. Founders gearing up for their seed round of funding generally operate in the red in both currencies. In this stage, you’re seeking out investors to support initial market research and early product development to build the foundation of your startup. Trying to strike the balance of looking professional to initial investors while keeping a bootstrap approach is similar to walking a tightrope.
With finite resources and time, you have to be strategic in your decision-making process. Whether you give up time in exchange for money or money for time, depends on which process brings you to your desired goal in the quickest and most efficient manner. Deploying technology –like virtual data rooms— saves cash and time-strapped founders in more ways than one.
Virtual Data Rooms are a collection of securely stored files, with enhanced security, controlled access, restricted sharing, and auditing capabilities. They are perfect for startups as they offer confidentiality between Workspace users, which is a critical function when seeking funding. Data rooms also offer much needed flexibility without sacrificing brand autonomy. Let’s talk about how using an online data room can give you breathing room in your budget and schedule.
One Stop Shop
Pitch decks help paint the picture of what a startup could look like and help investors understand the potential viability of your business. Of course, taking the time to send out, customize, and revise decks is not only cumbersome but a waste of resources. Virtual data rooms provide easy to use options to upload, store, tweak, and tailor your important due diligence documents like pitch decks, financials and more. With intuitive tools like drag and drop documents, company watermarks, and a plethora of customizable options, you can stylize your data room to match your brand, creating a professional look that shows investors that you take your work seriously.
Total Control
Ramping up a startup requires you to share proprietary information, and that comes with its own unique set of risks. Utilizing a virtual data room not only allows you to store your documents in one place, but you can also control who sees what, what type of permissions and access they have to certain files, all under a veil of anonymity. Viewers have the ability to access the same information, but they can’t see who the other viewers are or what type of access they have. Investors can view specific information and you don’t have to worry about the documents getting into the wrong hands. Even better, this option eliminates the dreaded ‘copy and paste,’ helping to avoid sending pitches with the incorrect investor information. Nothing says ‘dead on the water’ like sending an email to Investor A with Investor B’s name on it.
Cost Effective
Perhaps the best case for leveraging a virtual data room is the cost factor. As an early stage startup, raising seed funding is all about managing costs while infusing cash flow into your up and coming startup. Being diligent with those initial investments is tantamount to the success of your company. Virtual data rooms are ideal in that the cost is relatively low, yet the payoff is high as you have a designated space to store and share vital business assets. Of course, when comparing virtual data room pricing, make sure that the provider you choose is money well spent. Before committing to a virtual data room provider, test for quality, ease of use, and customer support. While you may save money on a cheaper solution, if these factors are a hit and miss, you waste time trying to navigate the product. After all, you’re only as good as the tools you use.
Bottom line
While becoming a successful startup requires you to hustle from sunup to sundown, how you handle your time and spending is key. Levering technology like virtual data rooms frees up time that you could be perfecting your pitch, taking meetings with new investors, and championing the work of your team. Startups win when they make decisions with their time and finances in mind.
Onehub offers a robust, secure virtual data room solution for any startup or other business looking to share sensitive files. Our straightforward pricing and easy to use interface makes us a leader in the virtual data room space. Try Onehub free today to see firsthand how our virtual data rooms can help your business securely share files more effectively.
Branding doesn’t always come easy. For some business owners, it’s a matter of not knowing where to start. For others, it’s a budget issue. But there is a way around both hurdles.
If you’re a small business owner who is ready to make branding a priority, learning more about client portal software is a great place to start. Here’s what you need to know.
What’s in a Brand?
A company’s brand has multiple layers. It starts with visual cues, such as a logo and custom colors. Diving deeper into a brand uncovers its personality, unique attributes, and how it leaves consumers feeling about their interactions with it.
Online reviews, influencers, and word of mouth via social media have made it more difficult for companies to control the development of their brands. This often leaves businesses without a large marketing team unsure of the best branding path to take.
Does Every Business Need a Brand?
Uncertainty leads to some business owners putting their undeveloped brands on the company back burner. But by not working on their brand, these companies are missing out on some amazing benefits.
Branding:
Builds trust
Generates new leads
Creates value
Boosts reviews and referrals
Branding also helps customers develop loyalty. An impressive 77% of consumers say they’ve remained with a brand for more than a decade. Put simply, branding can boost your bottom line by securing long-term customers or clients.
Client Portal Software and Branding
Even if you understand the importance of branding, knowing where to start can be a different issue. Client portal software is a potential branding solution to consider.
Client portals are a cloud-based method of interacting with clients. Think of them as virtual lockers. You can safely store proposals, contracts, documents with project details, and invoices in a virtual space that only you and its assigned client have access to.
You can also communicate through portals and track a project’s progress. Client portals eliminate frustrating searches for documents, provide a professional virtual setting, and cater to a client’s security concerns.
They’re ideal for businesses who need to simultaneously maintain multiple projects with multiple clients while providing a personalized experience. Client portals for accountants provide a single place to communicate and share files with customers that are linked to from the accountant’s main website making it easy to find and access. This is also true for lawyers, marketing agencies, health providers, and architects, among others.
Client portals can naturally help a company develop their brand through consistency, a critical element of branding. According to a Lucidpress and Demand Metric survey, a consistent brand presentation can increase revenue by up to 23%. Portals can also boost your bottom line by eliminating busy work and allowing you to take on more clients.
If you’re considering client portal software, look for the following features that can assist with branding.
Customization – A client portal that allows you to upload your company logo and add custom colors will create a visual brand that clients will recognize with consistent exposure. Make sure your portal carries this customization through to sign in pages and emails. You should also be able to add white label support so that your clients enjoy a seamless experience.
Security – Your client portal should guarantee strong security measures for both your business and clients, including document watermarks, automatic file deletion, and workspace agreements.
Ease of use – Your ideal client portal should include an embedded sign-in form feature. This will allow you to place a sign-in box directly on your website. This way, clients won’t have to search for a link or remember a different website address. You’ll also want to look for a portal that provides clients with an inviting and simple to use dashboard for navigation.
Building a brand is important to all business sizes and industries, and finding the right tools is the first step of the process. Onehub is a great example of client portal software that offers branding features. If you want to learn more about how client portals can help you build your brand, start a free 14-day trial today at Onehub.com.
If your firm is focused on managing mergers, leading contract negotiations, or facilitating a bidding process, many data management tools associated with these processes are outdated, hard to use, and expensive to implement.
Thankfully, virtual data rooms (or VDRs) provide a modern, easy-to-use solution. Virtual data rooms grant access for authorized users from all parties to secure documents that can be viewed, printed and downloaded depending on the permissions assigned by the data room Administrator. VDRs are cost-effective, efficient, secure and scalable, making them an ideal way to securely store and share your companies most confidential data.
However, this leads to an important question – what information should be stored within a VDR? Let’s cover the most common virtual data rooms scenarios and the types of documents that are associated with them.
Which Documents Are Typically Stored in Virtual Data Rooms?
A cloud-based data room allows you to quickly and securely collaborate on sensitive information critical to your business.
Whether you’re lawyers reviewing M&A documents, employees managing corporate regulatory risk, or commercial real estate firms finalizing deals, these data rooms are used in many scenarios and are a great option for storing, managing, and securely sharing files in the cloud.
So, what document types are best suited to be kept in a virtual data room?
1. Primary Business Information
One of the most common uses of virtual data rooms is the storage of basic, yet highly-essential, documents associated with a company’s corporate status. Documents within this context include:
Certificates of Incorporation and related amendments.
A list of corporate subsidiaries and associated ownership percentages.
Business licenses and permits.
List of current corporate officers and directors.
Shareholder meeting minutes, consents and other associated documents.
2. Capital Raising and Securities Offerings
Virtual data rooms offer an ideal solution for businesses that raise capital. Fundraisers require secure online spaces where financial information needs to be stored and shared with numerous individuals from a variety of companies and venture capital firms. Files that are frequently stored in a VDR include:
In-depth shareholder lists, which tend to include vital information like the name of individual investors and the number of shares issued to them.
Stock purchase agreements and other documents mandated by organizations like the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Stockholder agreements, stock option agreements stock certificates, and further documents of similar importance.
Organization documents, which can include reincorporation documents and disclosures of previous business dealings.
3. Financial and Tax Information
Whether you are a small or medium-sized business or a large corporation, a virtual data room can prove invaluable when it comes to the secure storage of financial or tax-related documents. Documents in this context can include:
Historical and forecasted financial statements.
Federal, state and foreign tax return documents.
Analysis of cash flow and working capital.
Information associated with banking and investment accounts.
4. Intellectual Property Information
Invest in a VDR solution to protect your firm’s intellectual property. Common documents of intellectual property (or, IP docs) stored within virtual data rooms include:
Summaries of patents and outstanding patent applications.
Contractual obligations which include the licensing of proprietary information to third parties.
Employee and contractor non-disclosure agreements.
Communications against organization believed to have infringed on an organization’s intellectual property.
5. Legal Information
Below are a few situations where a virtual data room can help manage legal documents:
Being issued a subpoena for additional documents and the other party needs it immediately.
A claimant needs to upload data but wants it only to be visible to themselves and the lawyer.
Court filings have been made and various parties need immediate viewing access.
6. Bid Collecting
Virtual data rooms are great for deals and projects that require extra layers of privacy. You can use a virtual data room to collect multiple bids on a project without those bidders knowing about each other. This, in turn, let’s you share the same information at one time while still getting multiple bids.
Conclusion
Virtual data rooms are used in a variety of contexts. From satisfying the needs of enterprises to providing law firms and startups with a secure way to collaborate on critical documents, data rooms serve as a dynamic tool for the ever-changing business environment.
Virtual data rooms are a great way for any company in need of storing documents or other data in a manner that allows for a confidential and timely transfer of information between two or more collaborating parties.
If your organization is actively seeking cloud storage solutions that can help to streamline critical document sharing while upholding the highest level of security, then your team will benefit from a VDR.
Onehub offers secure document sharing that’s straightforward to use and affordable. Contact us today to learn more about our VDR solution for your business.
Over the past decade, the widespread adoption of technology like the virtual data room has resulted in a fundamental shift in how numerous legal functions are carried out. This shift has affected legal practices everywhere.
No one area of the legal industry has benefited from this shift towards legal technology more than the field of mergers and acquisitions, or M&A. The field of M&A is truly unique within the legal sector, both in terms of its critical importance and complexity within the context of modern business practices.
The world of M&A is dependent on due diligence, which requires a set of steps to be taken by organizations to ensure that every legal and business-related requirement is met for a transaction. Due diligence is a straightforward procedure that acts as an investigation of a potential agreement or contract that confirms all facts, in addition to the evaluation of the firm’s commercial potential. It is expected to be taken by all parties before entering into a contract to establish a baseline understanding of the situation. However, M&A professionals are often plagued by the fact that the sheer number of files, data, and documentation required to carry out these tasks can overwhelm even the sharpest of analysts.
As such, M&A has dramatically benefited from the widespread adoption of solutions such as virtual data rooms. These tools, which are also commonly referred to as VDRs or Deal Rooms, allow for the creation of an online repository for the storage, distribution, and protection of case critical documents. Within the scope of mergers and acquisitions, virtual data rooms provide many benefits to attorneys carrying out due diligence proceedings during a transaction. This is an innovative advancement as it allows lawyers to safely and securely share critical information confidentially.
Bring Your Firm’s M&A Processes into the Digital Era
Virtual data rooms offer firms and corporations participating in mergers and acquisitions a unique set of benefits and strategic upside. VDR solutions give participants the opportunity to execute their deals entirely online, regardless of complexity or outstanding legal status.
As practicing M&A attorneys know, numerous highly-confidential documents are exchanged in a short amount of time during due diligence. The nature of M&A requires that any digital solution adopted can deliver a user-friendly experience while simultaneously ensuring the highest levels of protection for critical assets, including intellectual property, performance metrics, and trade secrets. Thankfully, modern virtual data room solutions can excel at walking this fine line, providing key stakeholders with the ability to share and collaborate on extremely sensitive documents while ensuring the best security possible.
Because virtual data rooms are anonymous, confidentiality can be maintained for all parties involved, ensuring that each respective team can focus on the task at hand instead of harboring stress surrounding the safety and security of the documents being utilized.
Notable Benefits of Virtual Data Rooms
To provide a better understanding of the advantages that virtual data rooms can offer, let’s highlight a few different ways that this cutting-edge solution can help further the goals of your company. These benefits include, but are not limited to, the following:
Lower travel demands
Instead of having to be physically present to receive, sign, or exchange highly confidential documents, virtual data room solutions allow participants to transfer their files through a secure, seamless connection. Travel less. Get more done.
Higher levels of security
While this benefit may sound counterintuitive at first glance, virtual data rooms tend to be far more secure than their physical counterparts. This is because all required documents and information can be exchanged via a highly encrypted and controlled digital solution, which is only accessible with user permissions granted. In this case, digitizing your organization’s M&A proceedings can help to eliminate security threats posed by physical access control issues. Get higher levels of security when compared to traditional data room solutions.
Important files stay in place
Virtual data rooms allow your firm to eliminate the possibility of important files being accidentally taken at the end of a large meeting. Best of all, VDRs let administrators control who has access to which documents, safeguard against copy-and-paste attacks within a document and prevent all users from printing documents if deemed appropriate. VDRs also give administrators control who has access to which documents, with multiple people able to collaborate without becoming aware of each other. This guarantees anonymity for all involved.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the many benefits associated with the adoption of a virtual data room solution for the due diligence processes of any merger or acquisition. Overall, virtual data rooms allow for any organization, regardless of size or previous technical expertise, to adopt one of the most advanced legal and cloud-based software solutions available throughout today’s corporation-minded marketplace.
At Onehub, we understand the importance of securely sharing due diligence documentation for any M&A or investment deal. Our virtual data room solution includes all the essential features you need to get those deals done faster. Contact us at help@onehub.com to learn more about setting up your own virtual data room today.
If you’re an accountant or work for an accounting firm, your main job is to help clients get their finances straight, right? You deal with extremely important and confidential statements, tax records and personal information on a daily basis.
Secure file sharing for accountants not only provides security and protection of these crucial documents, it also helps you maintain accountability, gives you precise permission control on certain files and makes working with and sharing files exponentially easier.
Why Secure File Sharing Is a Must
Secure file sharing is your gateway to effective accounting, not to mention, if you don’t practice it, you could risk losing business. Your clients want an easy way to send you tax forms or financial records. Not only can secure file sharing facilitate this instantly, it ensures that their files are safe.
Without a secure file sharing platform, clients may end up sending confidential documents over email or a public network which puts their information at a greater risk of getting placed in the wrong hands. It’s an accountant’s responsibility to practice and promote secure file sharing to protect client privacy.
What Secure File Sharing for Accountants Should Include
There are many levels of secure file sharing for accountants and different options you can utilize in order to run a business more effectively. At the very least, your secure file sharing service should provide:
Secure cloud storage. Seems like a no brainer, but make sure you have enough space within your cloud storage and that the space you have can only be accessed by you, your team and the client.
Ease of use. Make sure your secure file sharing service has a user-friendly interface, aka – it must be easy to navigate to the average user (in this case, your client). When your client can drag and drop the right files into a platform instantly and easily, it makes their experience working with you that much better. Plus, it makes your job collecting or gathering their financials more streamlined and efficient.
Accountability. Your secure file sharing service should hold you and its users accountable (excuse the pun). At Onehub we have advanced activity tracking that tracks every event that happens in your Workspace, including individual file sharing.
Precise permission control. This means you have the ability to grant precise permissions and access to certain documents to the right people. Granular permission control adds an additional level of security to the protected documents being shared.
Straightforward pricing. You’re in the business of balancing the books and making sure the price is right. The last thing you need to add to your workload is dealing with vague pricing on secure file sharing services for accountants. Look to a provider that’s upfront about how much a service cost and make sure there aren’t any hidden fees for adding additional storage and other features.
Best Practices: Secure File Sharing for Accountants
Understanding what secure file sharing is, is one thing, but properly executing the practice so that it reaches its full potential is another. If you are an accountant using a secure file sharing tool or service, take the following steps to ensure maximum security.
Give the Right Permission to the Right Parties: Whenever you upload various folders, NDAs and documents to a secure file sharing data room or in a cloud storage space, be cognizant of who you give permission to access the files. Onehub’s services let you place granular permissions on the documents that are being shared. Additionally, you gain more control when sharing. For example, instead of sharing an entire folder, you can choose to share just a single file. You can also give precise permission to who can download or print a file.
Monitor Activity: To practice extra secure file sharing for accountants, opt for a virtual data room service. Oneub helps you stay on top of your job giving you the ability to continually monitor activity happening within the file sharing platform. You’ll be able to see when someone has opened a file or created another version for you to review. This paves the way to a smoother workflow that moves along a process or a job in the right direction.
Centralize Your Communication: Onehub’s secure file sharing service offers a messaging function and message board feature—use it to your advantage. You can communicate with both clients and colleagues to ensure everyone is on the right page and working towards the same goals.
Create NDAs and Watermark Documents: One advantage of using Onehub’s virtual data room service is gaining the ability to create or upload NDAs right within the portal. This allows you to conveniently share confidential contracts securely. To add, you can place a watermark on a file that has been shared. Adding a watermark that states a person’s email or IP address lets you easily and quickly identify whose documents you’re reviewing.
Create a Client Portal: Being able to store common documents such as contracts and guidelines in one place can streamline business operations for accountants with a lot of clients. By creating a client portal, accountants can make workspaces for each individual client. You can manage multiple client portals in one virtual data room. This works to unify communications and file sharing across all clientele in one place. Client portals help you stay organized and makes operations more efficient.
With so many forms, files, contracts, accounts and disclosures that accounting entails, securely sharing these documents is crucial to the business. By understanding what online file sharing platforms and services are available and how you can use their different features, you can promise security to your client and your company and also run a better organization. Optimizing and streamlining processes can lead to a more organized way of going about all sorts of accounting tasks.
For a long time, FTP was a great way to move large files online- and lot of them – to the clients and customers you work with. But the web of today is a lot different than the web of ten years ago. Modern file upload and document sharing services are easier, faster and more secure.
Instead of forcing colleagues and co-workers to download complicated FTP clients with bad user interfaces, it’s time for your growing business to use an FTP alternative.
As a background, FTP historically has been used as a tool for website developers and tech professionals to move files from the desktop of a computer to somewhere online, it’s oftentimes complicated and clunky to use.
First it requires users to download and install an FTP client — a piece of software that lives on their computer, which allows them to upload files. This can create headaches as different FTP clients have different user interfaces, so troubleshooting becomes more complex for project managers.
Second, FTP is no longer the safest way to share files. The authors of Request for Comments (RFC) 114, a formal document of the Internet Engineering Task Force, identified several vulnerabilities of FTP, including:
FTP bounce attack
Port stealing (guessing the next open port and usurping a legitimate connection)
Spoofing attack
Username enumeration
Ultimately, basic FTP is no longer sufficient to handle your business’ file transferring needs. It’s time to use an FTP alternative.
Exploring FTP Alternatives for Your Business
Many companies have evolved past traditional FTP and now opt for more modern and secure alternatives that suit their file transfer needs. Is your use of FTP putting your company at risk? Here are some of the questions you ask yourself when considering a secure alternative to FTP:
How many files do you currently transfer on an ongoing basis?
How often do you transfer files? Daily? Weekly? Biweekly? Who utilizes your system most often and do you foresee additional people on your team needing to do so?
Do you expect your business or client base to significantly grow in the next 6 months? 1 year? 3 years? If so, what type of file transferring and file storage will that growth require?
What data security factors do you need to consider when implementing a new file transferring system? For example, industry specific compliance standards, etc.
How large are the files you most often transfer and what types of files are you transferring? Be sure to consider data related to future projects and take into account that you may need to move massive files (and therefore, your new system will need to handle that.)
How Onehub’s FTP Alternative Can Replace Your Current FTP
Thankfully, Onehub makes the need for a complex FTP obsolete and it does so with powerful file sharing features:
Easy Sharing – Onehub works in the cloud, so there is no software to download and any team member can upload and download files through a web browser.
Granular Permissions – Grant varying levels of access to your data with precision down to the file level to make sure only the right people can view or edit files.
Secure Sharing – Onehubuses bank-level encryption and all communication with the service is automatically done over HTTPS. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Mobile Access – Securely share files from Android or IOS mobile devices through the Onehub app so everyone has access to the latest data.
Additionally, Onehub offers extra file sharing protection that FTP just can’t match.
Upload multiple files at once by simply dragging-and-dropping them into your browser.
An activity tracker that shows you every event that happens in your Workspace so you know who and when someone is interacting with your information.
High-quality previews of more than 30 different file types.
Data rooms allow you to share sensitive information with multiple investors or vendors – without them knowing about each other.
For businesses, implementing an FTP server alternative means getting rid of outdated FTP clients that require your team members and partners to download specific software programs and use a tedious system. Instead, your organization can use simple, browser-based uploading and downloading for secure file transfers.
Get Started with Onehub Today
To make your business file sharing straightforward and more secure, use an FTP alternative like Onehub.
With 2019 upon us, many businesses are beginning to consider their data security practices for the new year. Whether your company operates primarily in the online space, or simply uses a secure cloud storage platform to manage and share your business files, data security is incredibly important. In fact, your company’s success could depend on it.
Utilizing a secure cloud storage system that you can rely on, and taking advantage of other data security measures, can help you better protect your company. Safer systems mean your customer’s data is less likely to be compromised and your clients and business partners can feel more confident trusting you with their sensitive information.
Protect your company’s online data better in 2019 by becoming aware of several helpful tips when it comes to data security.
Follow Basic Security Best Practices
As new platforms come into existence, and our existing systems become more advanced, it can be easy to forget to stay on top of the basic security measures for your data. Don’t make the mistake of becoming lazy when it comes to your company, or your customers’ important information. These basic data security measures should still be taken in 2019:
Carefully review the security practices of all your business apps. Thankfully, nowadays most major apps and major websites force traffic over SSL. This encrypts all the traffic from the device, which greatly reduces the risk of a hacker intercepting your data. However, it’s still vital that you do your diligence and ensure every app you use is going over a secure connection and using SSL. Ultimately, every app your team utilizes should be encrypting data in transit and at rest.
Enforce two-factor authorization when available and ensure everyone in your company uses a secure password manager. Enforcing two-factor authorization greatly reduces your risk of comprised passwords being used to access your secure data. In addition, password managers make it easy to use complex password that are unique for every app you use. Never store passwords in an unsecured file like an Excel spreadsheet and always avoid using the same password on multiple sites.
Limit the sharing of confidential data. One of the best ways to do this is to set up internal policies around how and when sensitive data can be shared. This will ensure there is no confusion when it comes to the type of information that is allowed to be shared internally and externally. Having clear, written rules around confidential data ultimately protects everyone interacting with the information.
Ultimately, being super careful with your company’s data is always worth the extra effort. Don’t leave your data at risk in the new year.
Beware of Malware
Unfortunately, Malware is still the biggest security threat in 2019. Although we would love to leave this tip in 2018, the reality is that hackers are only getting more sophisticated with how they install malware, and how they use it to gain unauthorized access to your company’s data.
To better protect your data against Malware, be sure you’re running only up-to-date software programs, and have a variety of security measures in place for your business’s information. If you haven’t already, it’s time to install security solutions to protect your devices from Malware.
Additionally, in order to better protect your organization’s information, it’s essential to educate your employees on common hacking techniques and social engineering. This is key to better protecting your company’s data and overall organization. It will provide them with the basic education they need to recognize any cyber threats or risks.
Create Internal Policies for Mobile Device Access
Advanced Security for Mobile Devices
Over the past few years, it’s become the norm for companies to execute more and more of their business functions via mobile devices. Whether employees work from home, or on the go, being able to access vital business functions on their devices is imperative to get their jobs done. Working from a mobile device may pose challenges to working securely, however.
So, can you replicate the security functionality that your secure cloud storage system on your desktop offers? Possibly, with the help of more secure logins. As work via mobile device continues to be popular, 2019 will bring better authentication for phones, tablets and more. Things like facial recognition, the use of fingerprint logins and more will become more mainstream in 2019.
Stay Up to Date on Regulatory Compliance and Privacy Laws
Becoming GDPR Compliant
This is the year GDPR compliance is an absolute must. Does your organization understand what this means and are you currently implementing applicable measures? Have you considered all of the new data privacy regulations that may affect how you conduct business online?
Managing Security for Cloud Apps
Make 2019 the year you implement workplace policies around using only approved cloud apps across your organization. To better protect your organization’s data, ensuring standardize usage of certain tools is crucial. The good news is that there are many tools that exist already, such as CASB tools, to watch what cloud apps your employees are using and then block access to unsupported apps.
Make Data Security a Priority in 2019
Ensuring your data is properly protected in 2019 will be of utmost importance. Regardless of how small or large your team is, or the field you work in, a data breach could paralyze your company and its operations. Being aware of important data security measures like implementing a more secure cloud storage platform, is vital. Also, remembering the most basic data security tips, like unique and complex passwords, will also help protect you.
If you’re looking for a more secure, easy to use secure cloud storage system, Onehub can help. Our systems offer white-labeling functionality, so your clients can quickly recognize your systems and you always present your information professionally. Easily customize your system to reflect your logo, brand colors and more importantly, our systems allow you to take advantage of a slew of security features such as activity logs to track everyone’s moves within your system, varying levels of permissions and much more.
Learn more about our commitment to secure cloud storage today. We look forward to helping your team operate more securely and seamlessly.
For many types of businesses, in a variety of industries, their data is among their most important assets. In an ever-changing online world, data security is of the utmost importance. Between hackers and new regulations and stipulations on users’ online privacy, your company can never be too careful when it comes to protecting its information. That’s where virtual data rooms can help.
It’s important to note that data rooms shouldn’t be confused with general secure file sharing scenarios. They are intended for very specific use cases. Virtual data rooms (VDRs) first originated in the financial industry. Today, M&A due diligence is still the top use case for a data room. When considering businesses that commonly exchange sensitive information online such as lawyers, large financial corporations, and many others, these data rooms are a must. In order to properly do their jobs, they need to know their data cannot be accessed by outside parties.
Ultimately, the right virtual data rooms will allow your business to focus on their work, their customers and their business partners rather than whether or not their online information is in good hands.
Explore the importance of virtual data rooms, as well as five use cases for the online storage rooms. Then, consider which VDR would be the best fit for your organization and begin better protecting your information today.
Why Are Virtual Data Rooms Important?
There are numerous reasons why virtual data rooms are imperative for a business that operates online. VDRs allow your company to operate more efficiently and more securely. They also can enhance the trust your business partners place in your company.
Let’s quickly review the definition of a VDR to ensure we’re all on the same page. A virtual data room is a secure space online used to store and exchange information during various business transactions.
Consider businesses who routinely operate within the financial field, or lawyers who negotiate highly sensitive business deals. For them, it can make or break a business deal if their professional partners do not take their online security seriously enough. Worse yet, a security breach could have huge, legal consequences.
Next, let’s explore some of the most common use cases for VDRs. You may be surprised at how these online storage platforms can enhance the way your company communicates with its clients and improve your business partnerships, regardless of the professional field you operate in.
#1. M&A Due Diligence
As we mentioned above, merger and acquisitions (M&A) due diligence is one of the most popular uses for VDRs today. Why is that? In a nutshell, virtual data rooms allow businesses to execute deals entirely online in these scenarios, rather than having to meet in person to sign documents or review paperwork. During due diligence, tons of confidential information is exchanged, so all parties need to be sure that their assets and intellectual properties are being safeguarded. Key stakeholders are sharing and collaborating on highly sensitive documents. VDR is used to help streamline this process by simplifying tasks and automating processes.
Specifically, for startups in the tech field, being acquired by a larger corporation is a common business practice (and one that many small companies hope for). Virtual data rooms for mergers and acquisitions offer many features that make going through a business merger significantly easier. VDRs are actually significantly more safe than traditional physical data rooms because all the information exchanged can be encrypted and controlled completely with user permission features.
VDRs also allow you to say goodbye to the idea of someone leaving the meeting with a document they’re not supposed to have in their possession. These online rooms let you control who sees every file, and can even safeguard against cutting and pasting information within a document, or printing documents.
#2. Capital Raising
Virtual data rooms are ideal for companies who commonly raise capital. Fundraisers require secure online spaces where financial information needs to be housed, sometimes for several weeks or months. They also typically involve a variety of people from many companies and in a range of professional roles. Thankfully, virtual data rooms make previewing content types like images, documents and other files, super easy. This ensures you find the exact file you need for your event, in less time.
VDRs also offer a user-friendly Workspace so everyone can remain on the same page when there are lots of moving parts of your fundraising event. You can assign tasks, post updates and even send users messages, all within your VDR. It also offers data transparency, which is critical for potential lenders and investors.
#3. Legal Document Management
In terms of managing legal documents, VDRs are an excellent way to exchange information securely outside of your company’s firewalls when you need to. It goes without saying that scenarios where extensive legal documents are present can be high-tension and fast moving. Virtual data rooms allow each party in a situation to have 24-7 access to documents in an organized, secure system.
When several lawyers from various law firms need to review and negotiate a large set of documents, you need an organized system online that you can trust. Consider specific situations, such as class action lawsuits that involve numerous people. A VDR lets your team easily and quickly assign new users permissions and upload various types of file formats. These situations are exactly what Onehub’s VDRs are built for, due to their extensive role-based permissions and granular control at the folder and file level for users.
In terms of managing legal documents, consider some of the additional situations where virtual data rooms can be of help:
When your team is hit with a subpoena for additional documents and the other party needs it ASAP.
If a claimant needs to upload important data but wants it only to be visible to themselves and their lawyer. And, they also need to be able to share other information with other parties involved.
New court filings have just been made and various members of your team need to access it immediately.
#4. Regulatory Risk Management
When a significant change in laws and regulations occurs that impacts a business, things can get really hectic, really quickly. Does this scenario sound familiar? The cost of doing business changes, and all the sudden your investment isn’t so attractive to potential buyers. Or, the local government passed a new law that your company didn’t see coming, which impacts how you’re able to sell your services. It’s in these times that sensitive documents, financial statements, and many various types of documents need to be organized and housed online safely for you to start proving compliance.
When you’re trying to make sense of a changing competitive landscape, the last thing you need to worry about is how you’re going to get someone important the document they need, as soon as possible. Virtual data rooms allow your team to share documentation to various users, by quickly dragging and dropping files into your browser.
You can also track who has accessed which documents, and when, letting you monitor who has been in and out of your files. As you need to pull together various types of documents and create reports for regulatory risk management, let Onehub make the process more streamlined and secure. As you navigate regulatory risk management, our tools for compliance can make your lives significantly easier throughout regulatory processes.
#5. Commercial Real Estate Transactions
Commercial real estate transactions generally require several complex components. It’s crucial that you’re able to quickly send documents to the involved parties when you’re in the middle of negotiating a big real estate deal.
For example, consider that during these transactions, there is often a huge amount of data on the physical property itself. These documents need to be uploaded and managed in a common area online for potential buyers and members of financial institutes to review. Oftentimes, this information also needs to be accessed immediately, by interested parties or lenders across varying timezones, so having an organized system that’s easy to use 24-7, is vital.
Additionally, the financials for these real estate transactions will depend on what type of property the building is, for example an office complex versus a hotel, etc. All of this financial data needs to be shared with potential buyers. When negotiating a deal, you may start with several interested parties, and then eventually get down to the more serious parties involved the further along you go. Therefore, you’ll need a system that offers more limited permissions, so you’re able to present confidential financial data only to people who have first signed an NDA.
Virtual data rooms allow you to assign varying permissions levels to different users and also enable your team to easily change or revoke those permissions as you see necessary. As your real estate deals evolve, making sure the right people have access to the right information is key.
Opt for Virtual Data Rooms to Better Protect Your Information
Virtual data rooms help protect your company’s information, regardless of the industry you’re in or the size of your team. If certain security requirements are an absolute must for your team when it comes to your business partnerships, it’s time to start using a virtual data room.
Learn more about virtual data rooms, as well as how Onehub can help you and your team operate more securely, and seamlessly, online.
