FirmRoom vs. Rackspace Email vs. Verizon Cloud

This is a great data room for a simple transaction. It does not offer all of the bells and whistles like some data rooms--but the price point is a fraction of what those data rooms cost. And I think this is a great solution for an M&A project. I'm not sure it would be as good for tracking what users viewed a document or how long--although in all honesty, I didn't see such features. These days, most clients want to try and use Dropbox or Google Docs and I feel that firm room is a far superior solution to those often-used choices and the price point is not very painful and does not decrease the attractiveness of the offering.

If you need a trusted email hosting platform, Rackspace is definitely the way to go. Not only is it simple to use, but the help they're willing to provide is also outstanding. Whether you're upgrading (or even downgrading) a service, or have concerns over any use cases, they're great at providing assistance and being diligent to understand your needs. If you only require a simple email for only a few people, it may not be the way to go, but it's hard to beat the price they offer (and the clarity on that pricing as well).

Incentivized

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)

Incentivized

• Securely Store Documents
• Customizable Permissions
• Organize Files

• Racksapce is quick and helpful when contacted for support.
• Rackspace is easy to set up and run on various email clients.
• The service is affordable and compares well with any similar services.
• It has a nice admin panel which is easy to follow and understand.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• There is some latency in loading larger documents. So sometimes it wasn't quite as quick as I would have liked.

• Ticket system - For the most part, it's fine, but you have to log in to see the ticket/case messages. The email notification only lets you know you have a message.
• Login speed - It takes a bit longer than what most users would like to login to the admin panel.
• Clicks to control panel - The default screen is the ticket screen. I would prefer the home page immediately include a method to get to my admin tools beyond ticket creation.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

Honestly, if it wasn't for the way in which ticket updates are shared, it would be a ten. They provide excellent support, from sales to technical to even migration services. I've always gotten my questions answered clearly, by someone who is human. If answers were displayed via email as well, rather than just a notice that I needed to login to see a message, it would be even better.

Incentivized

In expensive cost and simple design. There was basically no onboarding needed and you can sign up for yourself online. Security standards are similar to other M&A data rooms, but pricing is much less expensive. Never have to worry about permissions when adding new users to the virtual data room.

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

Incentivized

• Much less expensive than per page data rooms
• Can view documents quicker with the in-platform viewer
• Almost no training required which saves me time when inviting new users

• We have had little disruption with our emails. I can think of only one problem in the last three years.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized