Businesses depend on cloud-based systems for collaboration and file sharing. It’s a key component for getting work completed in today’s mobile business landscape. For startups and organizations looking to save money during their fundraising stages, sites like Dropbox may seem like an attractive option. They gain that initial appeal because of the price tag – they’re free. However, what many businesses fail to understand is the high costs of a security breach at the organization, which the free document storage services put the businesses at a higher risk for.
Even at the very early stages of business, companies have sensitive information that needs protection. During fundraising processes, that information may be in the hands of a number of different potential investors – some that may never actually become investors of the business. With so many hands in the cookie jar so-to-speak, there’s a lot of liability for unauthorized access to vital business information. Free service providers simply can’t offer the protection necessary to fully safeguard businesses at this stage. Because, once the information is sent over to investors via email or a basic file sharing tool, the control over what happens to it is lost – putting your organization in danger of a costly breach.
With a virtual data room (VDR) like SecureDocs, fundraising is made significantly easier, because of a few key features that the free providers simply don’t provide:
- Restricted Access Controls: With a VDR, you are able to set restricted access to controls so once the fundraising process ends with an interested party, their access to information can be removed.
- Access Records: VDRs provide the ability access detailed records of who viewed each document as well as the time it was accessed.
- Audit Logs: Specialized audit logs allow your business to gauge an investor's interest and create documents and records in the event of an IP infringement.
- Built-in NDA: Along with identifying watermarks, other parties are held accountable through the customizable NDA. Additionally, government-grade encryption works to ensure documents are not readable by unauthorized users.
- Increased Document Security Features: Offers view-only options for .pdf and Microsoft Office Documents, privacy blinds and end-to-end data encryption.
Dropbox is a wonderful tool, it’s user-friendly and can be used from anywhere and on virtually every device. It also creates a simple way to share information. For very basic information that doesn’t put businesses and investors at risk, it certainly meets the needs. However, when you are sharing your most critical business documents, HR records, and financial information to a number of different people, a more secured and managed VDR is simply the wiser (and more secure) choice.
The SecureDocs virtual data room is affordable and easy to use. From its simple set-up and user-friendly interface, it’s easy to install and start using right away. And for organizations still unsure about making the switch, don’t worry about a commitment because you can try it free for 14 days. Sign up for the free trial here.
