Introduction
Are you worried about securely sharing your company’s confidential data with potential investors or clients? A convenient solution to this problem is setting up a virtual data room or VDR. A virtual data room is a secure and accessible online platform where you can share confidential files with stakeholders. It ensures ease of access, reduces physical data exchange, and maintains strong security protocols. In this blog post, we’ll discuss ten easy steps to set up your virtual data room and ensure secure data sharing.
1. Define your Requirements
Before setting up your virtual data room, you need to define your requirements, such as the type of data you want to share, the number of stakeholders, and the level of security you want to maintain. You can choose from various VDR service providers and compare their features, pricing, and reviews to pick one that aligns with your requirements.
2. Organize your Data
It’s crucial to organize your data in advance for easy and quick sharing through your virtual data room. You can categorize the data into different folders and subfolders, label them to avoid confusion, and ensure that they are relevant to the stakeholders you’re sharing them with. This would make it easier to grant access to specific folders to different individuals, helping you save time and improve data security.
3. Invite your Stakeholders
After organizing your data, you need to invite your stakeholders to access your virtual data room. You can add them by email or provide them with a custom link and set permissions to the data and the functionalities they can access. During the invitation process, you should explain the protocol and the reason for setting up this VDR. Also, you can assess if the stakeholders have any questions they’d like to be addressed before granting access.
4. Set up a Watermark on your Documents
To protect your data from unauthorized leakage, consider setting up a watermark on your documents before uploading them to the virtual data room. Watermarking adds a layer of security to your data and ensures that it cannot be duplicated or distributed without authorization. Most VDR service providers have an automatic watermarking feature or can integrate third-party solutions.
5. Granular Permission
To protect your sensitive information, it’s necessary to grant granular access permissions. Granular permission settings would allow certain stakeholders to view particular documents or folders, while restricting access to others. This feature provides a higher level of control over your data, and even if a stakeholder’s credentials are compromised, the security breach can be quickly identified.
6. Keep Track of Activity Logs
Activity logs provide a record of every action taken within the virtual data room. Keeping a track of activity logs will help identify possible security breaches and also help in creating a report about the behavior of the stakeholders. It is recommended to enable email notifications for activities related to uploads, downloads, and deletions, so you can review them accordingly.
7. Use Two-Factor Authentication
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) adds an extra layer of security to access your virtual data room. This feature will require an additional authentication factor that the user has to provide besides the login credentials. Most VDR service providers offer 2FA as a standard security feature.
8. Prepare an Exit strategy
An exit strategy ensures that when you no longer need the virtual data room or want to switch to a different VDR provider, you can migrate and secure the data effectively. Before organizing the data, you should consider the exit strategy while maintaining an updated backup of all the files.
FAQs
Q. What is a virtual data room used for?
A. A virtual data room is used for securely sharing and exchanging confidential information with stakeholders such as investors, potential buyers, or partners.
Q. What are the benefits of a virtual data room?
A. The benefits of a virtual data room include maintaining data privacy, providing convenient access to parties with permission, and reducing the need for physical file exchange.
Q. Who can use a virtual data room?
A. Virtual data rooms can be useful for small to large-scale companies, private equity firms, law firms, and investment banks to store and share sensitive data with stakeholders.
Q. Can a VDR system be customized to suit my specific needs?
A. Yes, as the level of user access, functionality, and integration varies between providers, VDR service providers allow customization to meet specific organizational needs.
Q. What security measures should be taken while using a Virtual data room?
A. To ensure safe data sharing, granular permission, Two-Factor Authentication, activity logs, and watermarking need to be enabled. In addition, a secure exit strategy should be prepared to ensure data security during data migration.
Q. How much does a VDR service cost?
A. The pricing of VDR varies based on factors such as the level of security and additional functionalities. VDR pricing can range between $100-$500 per month.
Q. Are virtual data rooms user-friendly?
A. VDR service providers ensure that the user interface is user-friendly and intuitive. Service providers also provide help and support services to ensure a seamless experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a virtual data room is not only an efficient way to share confidential information but also provides maximum data security. Implementing these ten easy steps while setting up your virtual data room can provide secure and controlled access to your confidential information, irrespective of the size of your organization. Don’t wait, and set up your virtual data room today.