Let’s picture your dream data room
Close your eyes and visualize your happy place. In the world of M&A, that means a data room that can combine security, speed, and service too.
You want to deal fast — with your data sealed fast. You want a frictionless workspace that’s like Fort Knox for the uninvited. Ease of use, perfectly balanced, with peace of mind. With expert help on hand whenever you need it — even before you ask. Surely, that’s any dealmaker’s happy place.
If you could design your dream home for your deal data, it would probably look much like this:
Safe and sound — your data room’s security
Security is the top priority when choosing a data room. It’s the whole reason data rooms exist. But they’re not all the same. For true peace of mind, you need a provider that embeds security at all levels: platform, processes, and people.
Security of platform
Firstly, the platform itself must be robust: in terms of software, data encryption, and user access — to give just three examples. It should have protections against both hostile activity (e.g., attempted hacking) and also accidental data loss (e.g., caused by damage to physical infrastructure).
Therefore, data should be encrypted at all times, whether at rest or in transit. Data should also be fully backed up in multiple locations. Furthermore, access should be limited to authorized users (obviously) — and even then, this access should be rigorously restricted to what these users need.
Datasite encrypts in-transit data to TLS 1.2 and at-rest data to AES 256. It runs on Microsoft Azure, which has built-in redundancy to guard against data loss. Access controls include multi-factor authentication and/or single sign-on, and there is further security at the document level via information rights management (IRM) and embedded redaction of sensitive content.
Security of processes
What about processes? Processes include the methods used to handle your data and the regular activities by your provider to prevent or mitigate threats.
First and foremost, a good data room should meet international standards of security and compliance. Secondly, the provider should maintain constant vigilance for threats and potential weaknesses. Thirdly, there should be robust and rapid procedures in place for dealing with any breaches that do occur.
Datasite’s certifications include ISO 27001, 27017, 27018, and 27701, alongside SOC 2 Type II attestation. For personal data regulation, Datasite is compliant with EU & UK GDPR, CPRA, and APP.
Datasite maintains user activity monitoring and audit logs to capture all events in real time, helping to detect potential threats. Furthermore, all user information, app data, and logs are stored and maintained separately.
Datasite conducts regular vulnerability scans and also infrastructure penetration testing by an industry-recognized third party. The Cloudflare web app firewall (WAP) detects malicious events, and there is protection against deliberate denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks.
Datasite annually tests its security incident response plan, and the security response team is always ready to act fast in the event of any breach.
Security of people
People form the final, essential layer of security. Since many potential breaches are the result of human error, a good data room provider must rigorously train its people to follow secure behaviors at all times. This is doubly important for the people who develop the code itself, to ensure that weaknesses do not creep in at the platform’s development stage.
Datasite conducts regular mandatory training for all employees in security awareness and data privacy, alongside mandatory Code of Conduct and Confidentiality Agreements. Furthermore, all developers are given regular additional training in secure coding.
Seamless control – your data room’s technology
If security is your number one concern, then speed runs a close second. Your teams need to be able to collaborate swiftly, with minimal friction, and without ever leaving the secure environment. Such speed is only possible through technology — firstly by enabling seamless collaboration, and secondly by handling labor-intensive tasks in moments.
Firstly, you want an intuitive platform that enables you to launch projects in minutes instead of hours. You want effortless uploading of content to the data room, either via simple drag-and-drop or just emailing files into the project. And you want to be able to assign roles and permissions in just a few clicks, and track all tasks using central checklists that link to your index.
It’s also great to be able to search across entire file rooms at the document level — even for text inside images — and translate content from multiple languages. And you must be able to redact sensitive content in bulk, down to the word level, according to specific reasons — then unredact by reason, with a click. Handling buyer questions is often the biggest challenge, so you want this made simple via a central Q&A dashboard. And you want custom analytics to capture intelligence you can act upon.
Finally, you want to keep your deal moving wherever you are, using a mobile app that’s just as secure as the desktop.
Datasite’s technology meets all these needs — and more.
Proactive assistance – your data room’s service
Data rooms are often described as ‘software as a service’ (SaaS). However, as a dealmaker, you need far more service than that. In the fast-moving, pressurized environment of M&A, you need any and every edge you can get. That’s why expert, proactive, round-the-clock service should be an essential feature of your ideal data room.
Troubleshooting isn’t enough. Deals are incredibly demanding, requiring many hours of work from every team member. True service should do everything possible to ease this burden. What’s more, deals can be unfamiliar processes in which you aren’t even sure what questions to ask, never mind how to find the answers. Therefore, your provider should anticipate your questions and roadblocks,
and deal with them before they become issues. Last but not least, deals are always on — which means your service offering must be too.
Datasite Assist is the comprehensive support offering that comes included with every Datasite project. If you’re pursuing a sell-side or buy-side deal, then you receive proactive support throughout from your Project Pro — a dedicated expert assigned to you. Your Project Pro will regularly check in to ensure you have all you need and will make appropriate suggestions to speed your deal on the road to success.
In addition, Datasite Assist can handle many labor-intensive tasks on your behalf, such as populating and structuring your data room and setting up your dashboards. This can save you hours, days, or even weeks of work. A self-service hub enables you to solve many minor issues in moments, and for larger queries, you can call on the Datasite Assist team 24/7/365, in 20+ languages, anywhere in the world.
True service should be about more than just helping out when things go wrong. Genuine assistance should speed up your deals, cut costs and risks, and enable you to seize success. And it should be a fundamental part of your data room offering — not an afterthought.
Are you using your dream data room?
Think about the data rooms you use now or have used in the past. Do they measure up to the standards described here? If not, the result is likely to be slower, less secure, and less successful dealmaking — while also being costlier and more labor-intensive. Cutting corners with a data room is invariably a false economy — because, at this competitive level, only the best is good enough.
Get everything you need for dealmaking, all in one 100% secure place. Contact the Datasite team today to receive a live, personalized demo or request your quote.
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