Firmex Virtual Data Room vs. Verizon Cloud

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.

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I think this service works very well for me, but I have been a Verizon customer for almost 15 years. If you are someone who hops carriers it may not be the best fit. I also like that you can easily use it with all of your employees regardless if they prefer Android or Apple phones. (Whereas using Apple's or Google's services may not work seamlessly for all phones.) I think it still has room for improvement, and sometimes I worry about the longevity of utilization due to the nature of cell phone carriers constantly changing prices, plans, and every option under the sun to make a buck that we could be very screwed in the future if Verizon does something stupid (because historically, they all have)

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• Status updates
• Visual display
• Organization capabilities

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• Auto-Sync of files or contacts to the cloud that are chosen to be auto-synced.
• Has the ability to turn off auto-sync and allow only manual sync.
• Stores files and contacts in the cloud for later recovery in case of a data loss.

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• 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.

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• The home screen shows a little bit of everything, but being a control freak, I would like to be able to customize it. (Granted, it would most likely have most of the same elements, but, for example, I don't need photos scrolling across the top. I'd rather have buttons like quick links to jump directly to what I want or to see a further bird's eye view of the content.
• I like receiving notifications that a back-up is complete, but I would like to be able to set what other notifications are and aren't allowed to push to my phone.
• I have set Verizon Cloud to back up on wifi OR using the data network. But if you are using wifi while doing a content restore and you lose that connection, either by leaving the building or the local wifi dropping out momentarily, the entire content restore will stop and need to be restarted. This can be very frustrating.

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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.

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All of the others provide more free storage. Verizon should out best or at least equal the best when you are already a Verizon data subscriber. It seems that by not doing this that they want to "nickle-and-dime" their already loyal customer base

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• 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.

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• Thus far is has been a positive experience, and has saved a lot of man hours of both employees who replaced their phones to the IT department trying to help them put everything back no longer needs to go through a lengthy process.
• The cost of this option is a bit higher than I'd like. I think Verizon is a little too proud of a product that every company is now starting to offer.
• There is a free version with limited space, so at least trying it out to see how it will fit with your needs isn't much of a risk.

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A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info