Virtual data rooms have become one of the most popular options for sharing documents within an enterprise environment. The most common use of virtual data rooms is to facilitate short-term financial transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, making documents available during the due diligence process. However, virtual data rooms are equally well suited for corporate document management, thanks to a variety of features that make storing, organizing, and sharing important documents simple and secure.
Here are five ways the long term use of corporate document management software such as virtual data rooms can benefit your business.
1. Centralized document repository
For decades, filing cabinets were the preferred way to store important company papers and documents—but this method has a few major flaws. According to one estimate, it costs organizations an average of $120 to find a lost document and $220 to replace a document that’s gone missing.
Papers stored in file cabinets are easy to destroy or lose track of, hard to search through, and inherently insecure. Digital options such as email and Dropbox solve some of the issues with paper, but they don’t present a centralized solution and are still susceptible to security issues.
Corporate document management software such as virtual data rooms takes the concept of filing cabinets and brings it into the 21st century. These document management solutions allow you to store all of your critical business files within a single secure location. Your strategic initiatives, sales goals, and sensitive customer data can all reside within a virtual data room, ready to be accessed when necessary.
2. User-based permissions
Of course, not all of your files must be (or should be) available to all employees. Restricting document access to only those people who need it greatly reduces your chance of data breaches and security leaks.
Without a secure document storage solution, it’s extremely difficult to keep track of which employees should have access to which files, and what times each file was accessed. Fortunately, the right corporate document management software includes features such as the ability to assign user-based permission roles.
As a result, different groups of people are only allowed to access the information that is relevant to their work. Users can be assigned permissions based on their job function, their job level (executive, manager, or staff member), or even on an individual basis. Documents can even be watermarked with the user’s name, email, and time stamp to discourage unauthorized distribution.
3. Electronic document access and signature
The digital revolution has enabled people to work at the times and places that are most convenient for them, whether it’s at the office, at home, during their commutes, or on a business trip. Between 20 and 25 percent of U.S. workers telecommute on at least a part-time basis, and many more would like to work from home at least some of the time.
By storing files in a secure centralized repository and making them available online, corporate document management software allows users to access them at the time and place of their choosing. Many solutions also include the ability to sign documents electronically, which saves money and takes less time than an in-person signature.
4. Faster, easier approval throughout the organization
Market research firm IDC estimates that companies lose 20 to 30 percent in revenue every year due to inefficient business processes. Without a method to track the progression of your business workflows, documents may languish on top of a desk waiting for approval for weeks or months, without anyone even realizing it.
Corporate document management software makes it drastically simpler to oversee the approval process for your most critical business documents. Executives can more easily sign off on internal proposals and business cases, while department heads can approve important personnel decisions.
5. Best-in-class security
Every business has sensitive documents that need to stay out of the wrong hands: financial projections, tax records, business plans, trade secrets, and more. Companies must safeguard the confidentiality of these documents while ensuring that they remain available when necessary.
The top corporate document management software has built-in security features that will protect your most sensitive information to the best of your ability: two-factor authentication, data encryption, logging and monitoring capabilities, view-only mode, and much more. This greatly improves the ability to remain compliant with all applicable laws and regulations within your industry.
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