Since joining Firmex at the beginning of February of this year, I have had a number of conversations with friends, colleagues and old connections about my new role and what exactly Firmex does. To provide a little bit of background, Firmex has operated as a software as a service (SaaS) virtual data room provider to investment banks, private equity, biotech, pharmaceutical and energy companies across the globe since 2006. But in the quickly evolving world of SaaS it can be difficult to describe what your company’s piece of software does and how you fit into not only the expanding world of technology, but the world as a whole. In Firmex’s case, we are much easier to describe.
Firmex’s virtual data rooms and they are a pretty easy product to comprehend. The name of this product was derived from the old processes that M&A professionals had to go through whereby they had to literally enter a physical room full of data to perform their due diligence, has now become a process that is virtual. In other words, we allow our clients to upload information into a secure, online location where other parties can then view documents and folders.
Describing it this way, however, has led nearly every person to respond with something along the lines of “Oh, so you’re like Dropbox,” which I can understand as an immediate response. But the way that we fit into the world of virtual data rooms (or VDRs) is actually more complex than that. With the number of ways our technology is put to use and the actual size of the market, the world of data room providers is much larger than most people realize.
Where Dropbox is great for consumer level use, it often falls short on security and functionality that is not only required but expected by professionals that are managing confidential transactions or sensitive projects. I mentioned that Firmex was originally used by investment banks in M&A transactions but because of our reputation as a high level service with fair pricing we have also begun to help large corporations manage projects where multiple offices are involved, RFP processes, and other instances where information is shared with external parties.
I believe that Firmex has been successful over the last decade and continues to be successful today because we don’t see data room software as just a commodity and a means to an end. It can be a tool that adds to the experience of everyone involved in a project and that is why we continue to improve and invest in our customers, our people and our platform. If you are working in a professional role and have an upcoming project then I encourage you to consider using our technology to help you accomplish your goals. You might be surprised to learn what is available.
