Privacy legislation for online activities is long overdue. Most consumers welcome it because they hope it will help protect their data. However, from a corporate perspective, privacy legislation opens the door for more compliance lawsuits brought on by shareholders, especially for technology companies.

Decades ago, the file room was often the heart of an organization — information  flowed  in and out of its chambers, bringing critical resources to every part of a company. While  paper  is on the fast track to obsolescence in many environments, the file room has evolved to take up residence on local servers or the cloud, with virtual data rooms making M&A due diligence and paperwork that much easier.

And yet, the  organization  of that data room remains a key aspect of ongoing business success. Check out these three tips for maintaining an organized virtual data room to support your entire organization — whether you’re in the midst of M&A activity or not.

Mergers and acquisitions involve an enormous effort and spend every year -- upwards of $2 trillion in the United States annually -- but throwing money at the transaction doesn't make it successful. According to the Harvard Business Review, between 70 and 90 percent of all M&A activity fails. HBR points the finger for these failures, at least partially, at poor research and due diligence.

For many companies, undergoing an audit and/or financial due diligence will likely be an inescapable reality at some point in their existence, and the idea of undergoing either arduous process is no doubt rather daunting. Granted, they are quite different processes, but they both involve fairly substantial scrutiny of a company’s finances. This can obviously shed a lot of light on how a company is doing, but it can also bring up some unexpected issues and may force a company to have to make some pretty tough decisions. Here is a brief rundown on the primary differences between an audit and financial due diligence:

Meticulous record keeping and an organized data management system are imperative to running a business successfully. Of course, there are also a number of instances throughout the life of a business during which a company will be called upon to furnish some of their records and documentation. This kind of massive data exchange is probably most commonly associated with a transaction-related due diligence investigation. Given the extent of data sharing required during any due diligence process, a coherent document retention and management system will prove critical to sealing the deal. Here is how to organize your virtual data room to ensure your company is adequately prepared for due diligence:

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are fairly routine deals these days, and conducting a due diligence investigation to identify and rectify potential issues before sealing the deal is obligatory. Although due diligence is an expected part of the process, the scope of the investigation continues to evolve. These days, companies need to scrutinize more than just financials, with matters related to technology and cybersecurity becoming increasingly important. Here are the key aspects of cybersecurity to consider during due diligence:

It takes a lot of diligence and hard work to close deals, especially mergers and acquisitions, and there are ample opportunities along the way for things to get derailed. Even if a deal manages to stay on track, it is all too common for the closing date to be postponed and postponed because of both foreseeable and unforeseeable obstacles. Here are five common roadblocks to a timely close and some tips on avoiding them:

Companies buy and sell all or part of other businesses on a pretty regular basis, but getting through the sales process isn’t always easy to do. There are plenty of times throughout the life of the transaction that things can easily go wrong, from the very initial discussion to sitting at the closing table itself. Although there are a lot of different reasons that the transaction may fall apart unexpectedly, there are some deal killers that pop up more often than others. Here are four ways a business sale can get derailed:

Many entrepreneurs dream of growing a business quickly so that they can sell it for a handsome profit at some point. However, many of these motivated individuals may not quite realize just how difficult the growing and selling processes actually are. Even the most successful businesses have had trouble finding and closing favorable deals, as seemingly trivial issues can become quite significant once it is time for everyone to sign on the dotted line. It is important to go into the sales process knowing exactly where the business stands and precisely what sort of things to expect from any prospective buyers. Here are some of the key things to consider before jumping into the complex process of selling a business: