A virtual dataroom enables users to access documents from anywhere they have internet access. They can eliminate the need for dealmakers to travel and spend hours examining piles of documents in a physical environment. Instead, they can access the documents from a remote location. This cuts down on the costs of due diligence and speeds up the entire process.

Due diligence in M&A transactions is one of the most common applications for VDRs. VDRs are ideal to share documents between the buy-side and sell-side of these transactions.

Investment bankers are yet another common group of users of VDRs. They assist their clients with IPOs as well as capital raises and M&A transactions that often require a significant amount of document sharing. They also need to be vigilant about protecting confidential information while allowing clients to access documents.

Virtual data rooms are well-liked by life science companies. They usually work with accountants, consultants and lawyers to create and maintain their sensitive documents. These parties must be in a position to access the data without risking the privacy of any individual or causing a compliance issue.

Modern VDRs come with granular permissions which allows the administrator to control who can view the folders and documents in the data room. They can also limit access depending on the number data room instances that a particular document has been seen. They can also limit access based on the time or IP address in order to stop hackers from gaining illegal access. Other security features include customizable watersmarks and encryption in transit and at rest and remote shredding.