Ultimate Deal Security Part 3: Human error on the sell-side

Virtual Data Rooms began by mimicking the sharing of documents in a way similar to the physical rooms they replaced. Only later did they tackle the question of Q&A - and they didn’t tackle it well.

The challenge frankly is that Q&A systems are often so cumbersome and frustrating that advisors run Q&A outside the Data Room and take on all the risk that entails.
Ansarada was the first VDR to create a rich Q&A experience, and we’ve extended that repeatedly so that you are more productive and stay secure. People who use Ansarada’s Q&A use it again and again.

Here are some great features that encourage you to stay out of email and in the Data Room’s Q&A environment - features that enhance your security as you stay there:

• Workflow approval of who can write, review and release answers on the sell-side. Be confident that the right person is giving the final OK on the answers provided.
• Email integration of Q&A. This means you are not emailing people, but rather replying via email to the Ansarada system; it then records everything in the system and emails the right people. You can operate in email but you are not choosing a person to email; you are protected from human error. This gives you a middle ground position if you really want to use email, but also want to avoid this risk.
• Efficiencies that make you stay in Q&A and not head out to manual systems! Got hundreds of similar questions from different buy-side groups? Think you’ve answered that question before? You probably have, and Ansarada’s system is going to use AI to find a similar question so you can re-use the answer if you want.

Whilst Q&A is probably the most common area for human mistakes outside the Data Room, the most common mistake within VDRs is the setting up and adjusting of security in the document index. Why is that?

VDRs necessarily give granular and sophisticated options for who can see what. But the system also needs to make it obvious to the newest analyst what the implications are of all this configuration:

• What does this mean? Who can see what? Is this set up the way I think I’ve set it up?

Users set up security against folders and documents and for groups of users but often, based on misunderstanding, they share the wrong information with the wrong people - especially under time pressure. Even experienced advisors can feel anxious.

How does Ansarada respond? Well, in many ways, including these:

Intuitive design:

• As this article notes, “human errors suggest more intuitive systems are needed,” and that, “these errors suggest better software is needed that incorporates a more human-centred design approach…”
• Ansarada invests a lot in clear, consistent, clean, simple design. This isn’t just to look slick. It’s to make it easier to do the right thing when you’ve been going 14 hours and the caffeine is running out.

 

Clear previewing of implications:

• An advisor can preview ‘what would a buy-side see if they logged in as x’; they can see the clear implications of their security settings on that user or buy-side group.

24x7 help:

• We are here 24x7 and our Customer Success team answer within 3 rings. Advisors can (and do) check anything about their set up.

There is so much more to say than this. Read more about deal click anxiety or call us and we can demo the capabilities to you.

So far in this series we’ve covered sell-side mistakes that affect security. In the next part of this blog, we turn to the buy side - how do we prevent them from leaking information?