Firmex Virtual Data Room vs. Progress ShareFile

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.

Incentivized

Progress ShareFile has been a great tool for sharing files. When you send to outside people they get an easy link to click on to download the needed files. On the sender side you get options to have the person do things logon to get the file, just enter a name and email address, or just click on the link and download. There are hooks to use other tools to scan for personal information like SSN or credit card numbers. Many of our users use email to send and store emails. They have found that clicking on a link to get a file adds a bit of complexity but many have learned how to adjust to the change.

Incentivized

• Status updates
• Visual display
• Organization capabilities

Incentivized

• I think that one of ShareFile's greatest strengths is its ease of use. With the outlook plug-in sharing large documents is so quick and easy.
• I also like the security and control that is provided for who can access the documents and tracking the changes within them. I think it does well at protecting information that leaves the company.
• I also think the website is well organized and easy to use. It was very easy for us to implement and train our employees on the proper use of the website and software.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Users grow quickly (each client gets a separate account). Automated pruning would be nice.
• I'm not aware of integration with Office365 online (only the outlook app). This could make it harder for some users.
• It would be nice to have something that auto-scans emails and attachments for PII and would require Sharefile for those emails.

Incentivized

It's a highly effective and secure storage system, has robust workarounds for serving the various equipment limits of our users, meets high security requirements of HIPAA standards, significantly reduces our needs for producing paper trails.

Incentivized

Some of the clunkiness in the user interface and the processing of documents could be made more seamless. However, once you get over that learning curve, it's straightforward enough. The API for integrating external systems is well documented, and the support crew is great at getting you over the rough spots. There's nothing bad about their system, just a few things I thought could be more elegant.

The software has never been down when I needed to use it.

Incentivized

Easy to use, easy to integrate with Outlook. I only gave it a 9 because I have found that sometimes it does not play nicely with Outlook and can slow it down. But, when that happens (not frequent), I restart Outlook and all is well again

Incentivized

Typically the support is very knowledgeable and interested in following an issue until it is fully resolved. I have not had any issues working with their staff as they are all polite and easy to communicate with. If the first or second level tech does not fix the concern then it is escalated until we get to someone who can close the case.

Incentivized

Good documentation for the API. With a little help from RS tech staff, any competent programmer should be able to integrate RightSignature with an existing system in a week or three. That help is easy to get as well

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.

Incentivized

ShareFile offers more professional level services, and doesn't constantly "run out" of space, forcing you to upgrade to continue. When doing a cost comparison, the competitors may seem cheaper at first, but by the time you add on the features to make it comparable, the pricing is as much, if not more, than what we're paying for ShareFile. The access control level is better with ShareFile, so we chose to stay with them.

I am a one person office. I have no idea how this software would scale to a larger office.

Incentivized

• Positive impact on conducting due diligence efficiently.
• Positive impact on being responsive to fast-moving transactions because of the e-mail updates when new documents get uploaded.

Incentivized

• All of our clients and consulting engineers find ShareFile easy to use, thus complementing our business.
• Our staff also find ShareFile intuitive, accessible, and easy to use, making it an ideal, everyday indispensable desktop tool for everyone in our company.
• ShareFile can be linked to our firm's primary website as a placed for private use. We haven't found need for this yet, but might in the future.

Incentivized