As the amount of the world’s data continues to growth, the need for a secured way of storing them grows even more. In the last two years alone, more than 90% of data was created. In 2015, mergers & acquisitions amounted to $4.2 billion, making it the busiest year in the history of M&A. With this growth in data, virtual data rooms became popular as online repositories for documents that need to be distributed and reviewed by multiple parties.

The VDR Boom Continues

Since their introduction a decade ago, virtual data rooms has replaced the laborious and paper-heavy process of due diligence. It often resulted to increased valuation and shorter deal cycles. VDRs have become an integral part of M&A transactions. It has helped businesses save time, improve their efficiency, and enhance their security.

VDRs have contributed to an immense industry growth. From 2009 to 2014, virtual data rooms grew at an annualized rate of 16.7 percent. It grew from $628 million in 2012 to $1.2 trillion in 2017. This growth has precipitated to an increase in virtual data room providers. According to Rob Koplowitz, Vice President and Principal Analyst for Forrester Research, the need to share content externally is being pushed by the demand of today’s employment setup. For businesses that are not yet bitten by the VDR bug, here are some reasons why you should consider one for your business.

Benefits of VDR

There are many benefits of a virtual data room.

Save time. VDRs can be set up and accessed within just a few days. They are accessible to multiple potential bidders simultaneously 24/7.

Save money. While the initial cost for setting up a virtual data room may be expensive, in the long run, it is more cost effective compared to a physical data room. Lawyers do not have to spend money copying and collating hard copies of documents. Multiple parties can remotely access information from computers wherever they are in the world. They do not have to spend on travel in order to visit a data room in a physical location.

Increase efficiency. The due diligence process can be achieved interactively and in real-time. Potential bidders need not keep coming back to a physical data room when they have questions or needs further review of a document. VDRs allow setting up and sending email alerts when new documents are uploaded allowing potential bidders to review new documents. Documents will not be overlooked as they provide notifications when documents have not been viewed.

Improve understanding of deal progress. VDRs notify parties which documents have been reviewed, who reviewed them, and the duration of review.