One of the first questions that you usually look for when
you are considering hiring the services of a professional virtual data room provider is the cost. This article is about the factors you should be considering before making a decision on how much you should pay for your virtual data room. Here are 5 points that you should consider:
Security First The reason you are even considering a virtual data room is because of security. If you don’t care about security then do not consider a virtual data room because it will be perceived as costly as compared to the free tools available online, such as Dropbox. Consumer grade solutions such as Dropbox will enable the people who have access to your files, to keep those documents forever. Business grade solutions like EthosData are built to do the opposite i.e. to disconnect a user from your data at any point in time. This clear distinction between consumer grade and business grade solutions will help you determine whether a virtual data room is a must requirement for you or not. Once you have determined that security is priority you need to ensure that they have been certified by third parties security standard. SSAE 16 and ISAE 3402 are standards that ensure that you are getting the best in the industry.
Do you need it for the short term or long term? Time influences the cost of your virtual data room. A data room that is required for only 1 month should cost less than a data room that is required for 6 months which in turn should cost less than a data room that is required for 12 months. Ask the virtual data room provider to share his or her cost sheet with you for each and every month so that you can make a comparison.
Is it a small data room or a large data room? Just like the time you require the data room for influences its cost, the amount of data you have also influences its cost. A small data room would usually use a variable rate model which charges you by the page. If your data room goes beyond 1 GB then you should ask your virtual data room provider to charge you a flat fee so that costs do not get out of hand.
Do you want to do all the work yourself ? This is a very important differentiating factor. There are plenty of DIY (Do-It-Yourself) solutions out there which have a 1-800-number to call for support but they will do 0 of your work for you. Such support is only there to help you with technical issues. Contrast that with a virtual data room provider that will provide you with a dedicated team that is meant to execute your every request. That means 2-4 hours of daily time saving for you as these teams proactively upload your data, create the groups, add the users and manage the permissions while also consistently following up with each and every user to ensure that they can easily access the documents. The support side of a virtual data room is the most underrated but most valuable aspect of any provider.
Is 24-7 support valuable to you? If it is then there should be no extra cost for nights and weekends. Some virtual data room providers will actually say that calling after hours is “outside the scope of the service”. That literally means that they cannot deliver. Ensure that you hire a provider who you can access at anytime on any day from anywhere.
How much you should pay a virtual data room provider should depend on the factors mentioned above. First and foremost comes the security. If you are not very particular about the security aspect of your data then you should consider using consumer grade solutions that are often free. Business grade solutions have a minimum cost associated to the infrastructure setup required to provide world class third party audited security for confidential information.
Once you are comfortable with the security infrastructure of your virtual data room provider the most obvious questions are how long you need to use the virtual data room for and how much data do you have to use during that period. The longer you need it for and the more the data, the more the cost. You should consider virtual data room providers that provide a fixed rate model if your data goes beyond 1 GB.
And finally do you want to do all the monotonous nitty gritty work of running your virtual data room yourself or do you prefer to have a dedicated team to execute all your requests? This last factor will save you 2-4 hours per day.Also ensure that you can reach your team 24-7!
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