Management at a modern enterprise requires clear control from management and automation of production. Business processes are no exception. To manage the databases of suppliers, partners, and customers, special programs are increasingly being used – the best data rooms. What are their advantages over traditional methods of conducting transactions in production.
Benefits of using VDR for business
Modern production is a complex organism and for its success the coordination of actions of all departments is important. And the company’s profit depends on the speed and quality of order fulfillment. Therefore, data room vendors are being implemented everywhere in the work of all structural divisions of the enterprise: from sales departments to workshops.
There are a number of tasks that the best data room providers can effectively perform:
- Creates a reliable environment for communication and online meetings with partners and investors.
- It stores information about clients and the history of communication with them: with a couple of clicks, you can find information about any client.
- Automates the routine: the system can automatically send mailing lists and emails to customers, as well as generate quotations and issue invoices.
- Collects new applications in one place: pulls leads from the site, mail, social networks, and instant messengers – customers are not lost.
- Sets tasks for clients with deadlines: data room services managers do not forget about clients, deadlines are met.
- Evaluates the performance of managers, the sales department, and the entire company in a couple of clicks in real-time.
- Shows the effectiveness of advertising channels: saves the advertising budget, allows you to see which channels are not working.
- It helps to set feasible sales plans and forecast profits.
What to look for when choosing Virtual Data Rooms
The developers offer several hundred of the best virtual data room providers programs, and only business consultants and other professionals can navigate this variety. But what about those who first get acquainted with the IT market? To begin with, narrow the circle of searches by defining the basic requirements for the system. Learn about this here.
Universal or industry-specific virtual data room
This is the first question you should ask yourself. Most virtual data room providers systems are versatile and suitable for the average sales force. Most generic virtual data rooms don’t have these features, and if you’re looking for specific features, consider industry-specific solutions. There are special systems for the banking sector, real estate, and logistics, as well as many programs for the service sector: beauty salons, insurance, and legal agencies, fitness clubs, car repair shops, and so on.
Availability of a mobile version
If your employees work only in the office, then you can move on to the next selection criterion. If they often have to be “in the fields”, then a “pocket” virtual data room is indispensable. For example, realtors and medical representatives definitely need a mobile version of data room software in order to quickly receive notifications about new clients and applications, immediately mark the results of negotiations with counterparties in the program, change the status of transactions and make comments on sales.
Functionality
Before testing different systems, identify the problems you want to close with online data room software and describe your business processes. To understand whether the product is able to solve your problems, contact the representatives of the virtual data room, who will consult in detail on the functionality.
Simplicity and convenience of the interface
In the test version, you will be able to evaluate how intuitive the interface of the system is, whether it is convenient for you to work in it as a user. Look at the layout of the virtual data room blocks, pay attention to how quickly you find the sections you need and how intuitive it is to use the program. Within a couple of days, you should get comfortable with the program.
Flexibility of settings
Be sure to ask the developers how flexible the settings in the electronic data room are: how many sales funnels and custom fields can be created, what business processes can be automated, whether it is possible to create new statuses, types, and other parameters for objects on your own, whether it is possible to remove unnecessary functionality from the interface. The more flexible the settings, the more individual needs of your company it will be able to satisfy.
Data security
The data room providers hold a complete database of your clients, applications, deals, projects and financial statements, so data security is very important. Ask the developers how data is protected in the system. What to look for:
- Restriction of access rights. Each user sees only that part of the information that is open to him by the administrator. This will help protect data from dishonest employees.
- Backup. The database is stored on several hard drives at once and will not be lost in case of force majeure.
- Filtering access by IP addresses. You can prevent employees from accessing the system outside the workplace.
- Distributed database. Each employee sees only those clients with whom he works. He does not have access to the information of other accounts.
Often companies are disappointed in special virtual data rooms, simply because at one time they chose the wrong system: during the implementation, they did not take into account business processes, studied the functionality superficially, and did not write the requirements for the system. In order not to waste money on a data room comparison, and most importantly, to recoup the investment and start earning more, it is important to take into account a number of criteria described above.