Digify in San Francisco provides an electronic document security service with virtual data room featuring digital rights management, access controls (and revokation), passkey encryption, and other methods of ensuring a safe and secure file sharing and collaboration process between companies and their outside partners.
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Firmex Virtual Data Room
Score 6.0 out of 10
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Firmex in Toronto offers a Virtual Data Room touting bank level security and customizable DRM, as well as two-factor password access and authentication and compliance with strict international privacy laws (e.g. HIPAA, SOC 2, UK Data Protection Act, etc). Beyond this the VDR offers tracking and versioning, dynamic watermarking, and other security and collaboration features.
Digify is an ideal tool for exchanging sensitive documents with partners, clients, and investors. Also to securely share files, videos, movies, and PDF presentations. Controlling the printing, sending, and downloading of vital documents is a huge advantage.
Great for transactions involving file sharing where large amounts of documents need to be shared between multiple parties at different organizations. I could also see its utility as a document management site for an entity going through a reorganization or transition. It is not appropriate as a permanent document management system.
I don't have a lot to complain but it is a bit overpriced, in my opinion.
Sometimes it messes with the firewall and some of the clients are not able to open the Digify links.
Initially, a few of our team members found it difficult but eventually they got the hang of it. It is not particularly a drawback but maybe there is a learning curve for some people. I'm extremely happy though.
This is a bit of a stretch, because as far as I know, no data room provides this, but I think it would be interesting if they added a feature to manage supplemental due diligence requests. In almost every transaction I've been involved with, the buyer has supplemental due diligence requests, either because the seller did not want to provide a document or because they did not think it was sufficiently material (or they just forgot!). These supplemental requests get handled separately, using a Word or Excel document, but I think it would be nice if it could be handled directly in the data room. The reason this would be handy is that you could include dynamics links in the questions (Page 2 is missing from Document 1.1.2 - and then there is a link right to Document 1.1.2) and in the answers (See Document 3.3.4 for the missing financial statements - and then there is a link right to the missing document).
This is partly on the users, but I do not like it when a data room allows you to delete a document without there being an ongoing reference to the deleted document. It makes it hard for the other side (the purchaser) to keep straight the numbering of the due diligence documents. At a minimum, the software should just keep the numbering of the documents the same with an "Intentionally Deleted" next to the deleted document.
It has more ease of use. We started with the free trial and we quickly realized that Digify tops the competitors. Its interface is user-friendly and it is fun to work with.
I think Firmex stacks up well with Merrill DatasiteOne, and I do not really have a preference between the two. Likewise, there are other data room services out there, and the good ones generally work pretty much the same, and I do not really have a favorite (this coming from someone who has a favorite on most things). Firmex does work much better for complex transactions than Dropbox Business, OneDrive and other cloud base file-sharing services because those services are designed for (1) more general uses, and (2) collaborating across organizations. Firmex is better for due diligence on corporate transactions because of things like the ability to print a complete data room index of 1000s of documents (this makes it easier to tell individuals in the organization who has to review what documents) and strong protections on what people who download documents can do with them (ie: watermarks, locked PDFs so they cannot manipulate the documents). Firmex is optimized for due diligence review, rather than collaboration.
It has helped us secure our confidential data and that's something very important. Hence, it would be fair to say that Digify has played a positive role in the overall growth of the business.
