Datasite vs. Firmex Virtual Data Room

Merrill DatasiteOne is particularly useful with multi-party due diligence for business development purposes. It is not as necessary for sharing nonconfidential data.

Incentivized

Firmex Virtual Data Room is well suited to complex mergers and acquisition transactions. For example, we recently used it when acting for a potential purchaser involved in an auction transaction for a business unit worth approximately $1 billion. In that scenario, the vendor uploaded all of the documents to the data room and each of the bidders (and each of their lawyers, outside accountants, etc.) had access to the same documents. There were over 1000 documents uploaded to the data room (the index was around 100 pages I think), so it was a good way of managing such a large volume of documents, and such a large volume of users.

Incentivized

• 24/7 help desk is the top differentiator. Every help desk agent I've interacted with has really known the product end to end.
• Cross-platform compatible with no plug-ins, software downloads needed.
• Beautiful UI, looks very professional
• Reporting at the page level (with timestamps)

Incentivized

• Status updates
• Visual display
• Organization capabilities

Incentivized

• Frankly, I can't think of any missing features or things that need to be improved. From the perspective of the user who is reviewing documents, it works quite well.

Incentivized

• This is a bit of a stretch, because as far as I know, no data room provides this, but I think it would be interesting if they added a feature to manage supplemental due diligence requests. In almost every transaction I've been involved with, the buyer has supplemental due diligence requests, either because the seller did not want to provide a document or because they did not think it was sufficiently material (or they just forgot!). These supplemental requests get handled separately, using a Word or Excel document, but I think it would be nice if it could be handled directly in the data room. The reason this would be handy is that you could include dynamics links in the questions (Page 2 is missing from Document 1.1.2 - and then there is a link right to Document 1.1.2) and in the answers (See Document 3.3.4 for the missing financial statements - and then there is a link right to the missing document).
• This is partly on the users, but I do not like it when a data room allows you to delete a document without there being an ongoing reference to the deleted document. It makes it hard for the other side (the purchaser) to keep straight the numbering of the due diligence documents. At a minimum, the software should just keep the numbering of the documents the same with an "Intentionally Deleted" next to the deleted document.

Incentivized

Very intuitive system, mostly drag and drop. There are ample opportunities for user and admin training with the Merrill staff as well.

Incentivized

Customer service has always solved my issues in a relatively short period of time.

Incentivized

I prefer Firmex. They have a strong search function and a user interface that makes it easy to identify new documents. Merrill is robust and offers the same basic tools, but I find its interface less intuitive.

Incentivized

I think Firmex has one of the best visual displays -- I like its basic user interface a lot. It's easy to recommend that clients use it who have no prior datasite experience because they onboard quickly. It is far more intuitive than Dropbox and has more organizational capabilities. Merrill is a close competitor as it also offers a sleek design and user friendly interface.

Incentivized

• Merrill DatasiteOne has had a positive impact by allowing us to review large amounts of documents under tight timelines.
• Really it is just a tool to serve the larger business objective of completing due diligence for our clients.
• I don't think I've ever had a negative experience when the target has elected to use Merrill DatasiteOne for their datasite.

Incentivized

• Positive impact on conducting due diligence efficiently.
• Positive impact on being responsive to fast-moving transactions because of the e-mail updates when new documents get uploaded.

Incentivized