The global M&A market hit new quarterly record highs in September ($4.33 trillion of deals occurred in the first nine months of 2021, surpassing a record in 2007).
Last year, 53% of business leaders told PwC they would allocate more resources to M&A to achieve their strategic priorities. And experts estimate that M&A activity will remain high throughout 2022.
As such, we recognize the need for a better way for organizations to respond to and capitalize on today’s hectic landscape.
Taking advantage of M&A begins with the ability to efficiently run research, models, and due diligence across one or many organizations. Highly sensitive information must be reviewed — and even shared — with select business leaders and designated outside parties, such as legal or accounting firms.
As public health concerns push more M&A dealmaking online, organizations are turning to virtual data rooms (VDRs). But a lack of innovation in the VDR space has left the technology stale, unable to meet evolving needs, and unable to keep pace with the dynamic, cloud-based collaboration technology users have come to expect.
Our Virtual Data Room Is Scalable and Purpose-Built
This is why AvePoint is proud to announce Confide, a modern VDR solution designed to work on an existing Microsoft 365 tenant — and created with various needs in mind.
- Business leaders and deal teams love Confide because it gives them the modern collaborative tools to easily spin up deal rooms and manage internal and external access with confidence that their most sensitive projects are kept secure.
- IT teams love Confide because we take advantage of existing cloud infrastructure — so there’s no management overhead for yet another SaaS application.
- Security teams love that we provide this secure workspace without the need to introduce “external users” directly into your M365 tenant, that all actions are fully auditable, and that data is secure.
WATCH THE WEBINAR: Protect Your Data During the M&A Process
with AvePoint’s New Confide Solution
Consider a 2021 Deloitte survey of M&A professionals, which found that 87% of their organizations effectively managed a deal in a purely virtual environment despite 1 in 2 respondents citing cybersecurity as their greatest concern.
We know your next VDR must deliver peace of mind.
Confide can reduce the work (and worry) by providing a safe place to separate sensitive files from the rest of your company’s assets — and to collaborate with internal and external users. This setup is key during a merger, audit, IPO, and other big transactions. Built on Microsoft 365 and backed by AvePoint’s Confidence Platform, Confide delivers purpose-built security at scale.
Want to know more about what sets our VDR solution apart? Here’s how Confide can lock it down:
1. Confide VDR Works With Your Microsoft 365 Tenant
AvePoint’s Confide is the only VDR fully integrated with Microsoft 365 and hosted locally, providing optimal security and easy setup. Your most sensitive data and projects will sit within a walled-off section of your own Microsoft 365 tenant.
Our solution removes the hassle of tasking IT teams with building (or searching for and then deploying) a new secure workspace, which can slow down business-critical decisions for stakeholders.
Once Confide is authorized to work with your M365 tenant, deal teams and business leaders can simply log in and begin. It takes just a few clicks to start streamlining deal flow and simplifying collaboration on your most sensitive files, deals, and projects.
All data uploaded via Confide is securely stored within the organization’s Microsoft 365 tenant, so there’s no need to worry about learning another SaaS platform.
Confide does not require your IT department to enable external M365 access, making it easy for guest users to work around IT and security restrictions that prevent it. We provide guest user access in a secure way that still meets your strict security controls.
This seamless integration delivers a familiar experience for users. As a result, your IT teams have more time to focus on other tasks.
The time savings can pay off: High valuations and low interest rates are prompting many M&A deals to take shape more quickly. With Confide at the ready, your deal teams can get right to work.
2. Confide VDR Gives Business End-Users (and No One Else) Control
Business leaders must be in full control of their data for highly sensitive projects.
Confide is designed to intentionally restrict IT admin access and to only admit organizational leaders handling sensitive information. This structure is different from the design of other types of private channels that exist within (where permissions are more complex and difficult to manage), as well as Slack and Google Workspace.
Nobody plans to fall victim to an employee data breach, ransomware, or other incident. But a 2019 survey by Forescout Technologies found that 53% of respondents said their organization faced a major cybersecurity issue during an M&A deal that put the deal into jeopardy.
Confide’s secure, in-line communication and task management can be used to restrict all discussions and data to be housed within the project.
You don’t want highly confidential M&A discussions or documents showing up in employees’ e-mail or external chat platforms, after all (which is not only a security risk, but can leave your document versioning and permissions in chaos).
3. Confide’s Dashboard Reporting Keeps Users and Tasks on Track
Even smaller M&A deals are highly complex, so it’s critical to keep close tabs on all the moving pieces — including issues of access and assigned tasks.
With Confide, project or deal team leaders have access to dashboards that show high-level information and insights such as newly added files, recently accessed documents, file review status, project engagement, file consumption, and more.
Users can take advantage of these real-time insights to optimize project workflows and inform strategic decisions by applying (and controlling) granular, project-specific permissions across the project lifecycle. You might want to give some team members limited access to certain files, for example, or restrict downloading or sharing privileges for others.
Intuitive, wizard-style workflows and drag-and-drop functionality make it easy to set up and manage projects. As needs change, you can quickly downgrade, change, or remove users so only the right people are in the mix. Consider it the ever-evolving “VIP list” for your VDR.
Complete Your Deal Lifecycle With AvePoint Migration and SAAS Management Solutions
AvePoint is proud to be a holistic partner for organizations throughout their M&A journey — even after a deal is complete.
Our suite of migration, backup, and security solutions can accelerate your transformation as soon as the deal is closed. We know you have a short time to achieve cost savings and system consolidations, and we can help. Our services and capabilities include:
- Cloud services consolidation: Merging companies may lead to business being conducted across multiple SaaS platforms. Migrate cloud or on-premises systems into a consolidated platform.
- Surveying for risks: Uncover the number and types of Microsoft 365 licenses in your newly-merged organization, as well as the prevalence of anonymous links and improper permissions. We’ll make sure your NewCo users have the tools and permissions they need to collaborate, then innovate.
- Simplified collaboration: Provide better ways to create and manage M365 workspaces together with guiderails for self-service provisioning, external collaboration, and lifecycle management.
- Data backup: Data loss can be devastating for a business. Protect your new investment, people, and reputation with robust backup and recovery.
