Virtual data room services are

transforming the future

. In a world of boring finance meetings, virtual data rooms are breathing new life into an old paradigm. Due diligence, document sharing and collaboration between businesses can happen instantaneously (though you might miss out on some airline miles when you don’t have to travel for your deals). Even though you’re a savvy consumer and you do your research, you may still wonder how to choose the best virtual data room service for your business. Here are some tips to help you find the perfect service:

1. Carefully read reviews and compare data room services

Most virtual data room services will scream from the rooftops that they’re the best! While this approach may have worked before the Internet, we now can see what others are saying through a little something called…review websites.

It’s not rocket science.

Just like Yelp allows customers to review restaurants, Capterra can help you find the best business software. On Capterra you can find virtual data room provider reviews, ratings, and infographics and they even have a simple summary at the top of that tells you “who uses the software.” Knowing which other companies use that data room software is helpful in determining which provider is best for your business.

For example, under the CapLinked profile, it says “Professionals seeking to exchange confidential documents with third parties who value security, ease of use, and 24/7 services and support. Common uses: M&A, raising capital, asset sales, licensing.” If that sounds like what your company needs, well you’re already on the right site!

Capterra also shows a handy comparison chart of virtual data room service providers like the one linked here: https://dataroomsearch.com/ (The Internet archaeologists of the future will marvel at the type of info we compile). Sometimes a good, old-fashioned review websites give you the information to help you make the best decisions.

Be careful though, some data room firms create dummy review sites that make them look amazing. If something looks too good to be true, there’s a decent chance it is.

2. Test the customer support

Here’s the paradox: When you choose the best virtual data room service, you won’t need much help from their customer support because the product should be both reliable and intuitive. Things happen though, so the data room services that truly are the best will have a robust customer Bonus points if they have a support center.

A great way to test a software’s customer support is to download a free trial, then ask some questions about it.That way you get more information about how the product works and you can scope our their customer support quality. Here are some other questions to consider when checking out their customer support:

Is the support team knowledgeable and helpful?

Do they understand the product and use cases?

Do they sound human? (e.g., they’re not reading off a script or an FAQ)

Are they friendly?

3. Review the user interface

User interfaces are important in a virtual data room. On top of looking for industry-recognized, robust security credentials and customizable permission settings, you’ll want to make sure users on both ends will be able to access, upload and download the files they need as easily as possible. You don’t want your deals stuck in limbo because of antiquated interfaces and slow load times. Quality data room services are here to prevent those issues.

Often, less is more when it comes to a virtual data room software. You don’t necessarily want a needlessly complicated interface with loads of features you’ll never use. You also don’t want to risk your files on something as basic as Dropbox. There is a healthy middle ground when it comes to user interface, something easy to navigate and organize, allowing to see the status of all your files, along with your progress on the deal.The good news is that this type of data room technology exists, and it doesn’t have to be expensive.

We’re always surprised to hear that potential customers want to pay more. Our product development team reacts like this:

4. Virtual data room pricing needs to be transparent

Many of the customers that come to us from our competitors tell us that the older platforms are clunky and less intuitive. We won’t judge you if you like this type of thing. It’s just that our user-friendly interface means you can focus on your deal and not navigate outdated technology. Why make your virtual data room more complicated (or expensive) than it needs to be?

News flash: Better technology isn’t necessarily expensive. Let’s repeat: Better technology isn’t necessarily expensive.

A big part of the reason why a lot of virtual data room services are so expensive is simply that they don’t have transparent pricing. If you ask them how much their product costs, they will tiptoe around the question but won’t give you a straight answer (number of pages, viewers, etc.) and have a lot of add-ons. You can read through the lines there and know that just means it can get expensive. Don’t throw away money when you’ve worked so hard to raise that capital.

5. Having a secure data room service is important

When you’re sharing documents with external parties you don’t want to worry about your information ending up in the wrong hands. If “multi-layer security firewalls” don’t rev your business engines, how about the fact that all CapLinked data is stored behind network segmented firewalls at every point of transit to prevent, protect, and detect external threat?

Still not excited?

Ok, we’ll wrap this section by letting you know that CapLinked is ISO 27001 certification, 256-bit encryption, and has dynamic watermarking – all features that are necessary for a modern business today. Secure online document sharing is something we take seriously. Very seriously. With Caplinked’s FileProtect system, you’ll have complete control over your documents- even after they’ve been downloaded. Digital rights management has never been so simple, or secure. Worry about your deals, not about your documents.

The beauty of learning how to choose a virtual data room service is that you get to decide. We won’t pull your arm (good thing – you need it to type to us!) but we pride ourselves on having a modern, clean interface that’s both secure, transparently priced, and easy to use. Take a free test trial of the only data room service you’ll need by clicking here.