Today reliable data room software is essential for storing and archiving data, contracts, and documents in a legally compliant and auditable manner. This article will review basic data room tools for secure business process management.
Virtual data room: organize secure business workflows
For any enterprise, the issues of business document flow optimization and control over information processing are of key importance. The following data can confirm this statement. According to Siemens Business Services, a manager spends up to 80% of his time working with information. Furthermore, up to 30% of the employee’s working time is spent creating, searching, coordinating, and sending documents. That is why the efficiency of managing enterprises and organizations depends not least on the correct solution to the problems of rapid and high-quality formation of electronic documents, control over their execution, and thoughtful organization of their storage, search and use. The need for effective data management has led to the creation of virtual data room software that offers a digital platform for secure business communications.
A comprehensive data room covers an enterprise or organization’s entire cycle of office work – from setting a task to creating a document to writing it off to the archive, and provides centralized storage of documents in any format, including complex composite documents. The software combines disparate flows of documents from geographically remote enterprises into a single well-protected system. Moreover, the data room provides flexible data management through the rigid definition of traffic routes and through the free routing of documents. If you are interested, you can click here to read more about its functionality. The data room must implement a strict delimitation of user access to various documents depending on their competence, position, and powers.
Benefits and features of a data room software
All data room vendors are built modularly, and their APIs are open. It allows users to add new features to the software or improve existing ones. The most interesting basic functions of a data room software also represent its characteristics and advantages:
- Fast access to information
When working digitally, numerous e-mails, spreadsheets, presentations, images, drawings, or other documents (e.g., contracts or certificates) quickly accumulate. As a result, what initially seems clear soon becomes a veritable jungle of data. With intelligent indexing, the system helps to quickly find the data, files, and documents you are looking for.
- Location-independent access
Access to the data room is possible worldwide via the web interface. Some systems even offer access via WebDAV. The network drive can be connected to the software via the Internet.
- All information in one place
The data room is like a large filing cabinet – all documents (including e-mails, presentations, etc.) are in one well-organized, secure workspace.
- Compliance with Laws and Policies
Standard virtual data rooms offer revision security. Procedural documentation proves that the electronically filed document is the original. This way, it is archived following the law, and the paper document does not have to be kept.
- Online collaboration
All project teams have access to the documents released for them and their electronic files. While paper files can usually only be viewed directly by one or a few people, digital files can be made available to a wider group. This way, data room software makes business collaboration easier and more transparent.