Firmex

What are Firmex virtual data rooms?

Firmex is a virtual data room service company founded in 2006 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada. This global provider offers simplified document sharing within user-friendly and secure data rooms. Thus, the solution has earned trust as one of the most reliable for corporate transactions, litigation, M&A deals, diligence and compliance.

State-of-the-art Firmex features and excellent customer service have made the product popular in 110 countries worldwide. Some Firmex data room clients are the Government of Canada, KPMG, PwC, Otis, Sanofi, Roche, Pandora, and more. The listed corporations belong to different industries, which demonstrates high product functionality and multitasking.

Firmex data room review

Firmex global provider offers world-class security virtual data rooms for reasonable prices. Available pricing models include such options as the one-off model for a single deal or annual unlimited access for multiple projects and the users do not have to worry about hidden fees or changes in payment. The pricing policy brings Firmex popularity and makes it competitive on the market as disregarding the chosen model, clients get the full package of services and qualified award-winning support team 24/7.
Documents easily uploaded to the room (even via email on-the-go) are protected with data encryption, two-step user verification system, with dynamic watermarks. The solid and complex security system makes Firmex data room provider attractive for representatives of various industries – legal and energy sectors, pharmaceutical companies, investment banking, funds, private equity, mergers and acquisitions advisory, etc. 

The multilingual interface facilitates cross-national deals and simplifies data exchange with current or potential partners, investors, employees, and external third parties. Regular audit reports help the room administrator to monitor the activity of all the authorized users and to identify the most active and interested visitors.
To avoid opening multiple virtual data rooms for a few projects the administrator can set multiple group access restrictions to prevent the situation when the user accidentally browses documents considering an irrelevant project or containing excessive confidential information. Project consultations allow Firmex to get acquainted with the client’s demands and allow the client to get in-depth insight into the offered services so that a VDR perfectly matches with the project can be set up.

Firmex virtual data room for document-sharing

During transactions, a project team must ensure critical document sharing is secure so as not to expose data to threats. With Firmex access controls, companies can remain confident in giving guests users access to tax, litigation, and intellectual property information. For this, the data room enables you to:

• disable saving so that users can view diligence files with Firmex Viewer but cannot download them
• disable printing from Firmex Viewer and printing downloaded Office or PDF documents
• lock due diligence files to your computer, making it impossible to open them on any other devices
• set an expiration date after which users cannot access data
• apply watermark to files in Firmex Viewer, Office, PDF
• revoke access to critical documents instantly at any time

So, Firmex differs from other providers by comprehensively protecting sensitive content, covering permissions to open, print, save, and view.

Firmex data room security features

In addition to being an essential service for exchanging confidential documents, Firmex also guarantees storage protection against third parties.

Backups

Firmex virtual data room redundantly replicates user data across multiple sites in an Amazon Simple Storage Service region.

Penetration checks

Independent third parties annually test the Firmex security practices responsible for data protection.

Vulnerability scanning

The platform includes automatic scanning to detect and eliminate threats. Moreover, the mechanism is updated non-stop with threat definitions to be able to identify potentially vulnerable services and systems.

Encryption

The implementation of TLS 1.2 protocols ensures content integrity and confidentiality in the course of document sharing. For data at rest, in turn, AWS-KMS managed keys work.

Reasons to choose Firmex

The following reasons for choosing Firmex DVR are based on positive feedback from customers who have used Firmex multiple times.

1. Simple integration with current workflow management

Firmex virtual data room integration is usually a quick and smooth process. Regardless of the specifics of the organization’s work, the platform integrates into the current work flow smoothly. As a result, teams can start securely storing, sharing, and managing confidential documents right away.

2. Exceptional customer service

Firmex clients report rapid customer response, which is one of the biggest competitive advantages of the company. Moreover, the team is multilingual, speaking English, German, French, and Spanish. Also, since more deals, diligence, and compliance occur through the Firmex virtual data rooms, the support team is available 24/7/365.

3. Firmex knowledge base

Firmex Knowledge Base is an extensive library of insights, including educational FAQs, how-to videos, helpful articles, and more. All this is an excellent addition to the fantastic support team. That is, it is unlikely that the user of virtual data rooms may have some questions left unanswered having a customer success manager within reach.

4. First-time user-intuitive workspaces

Virtual data rooms are so user-friendly that even beginners can work without slowdowns. According to reviews, very few users ask for help accessing documents or managing features. So this is another advantage of this global provider since data rooms requiring training usually take some time to adapt. Unlike others, this solution has an intuitive folder structure, user-friendly reporting functionality, and easily accessible analytics.

5. Firmex’s versioning feature

Embedded version control option is a unique tool built into the virtual data room. With it, teams get access to the version history, and guests can only see the latest version of the file. 

In addition, the system can detect new versions of a document based on the file’s contents. Finally, data rooms support the document status options of folders and files. This content status serves as a way to indicate whether items are final versions or awaiting review. Besides, it coincides with tag systems and document comment mechanisms.

6. Affordable cost

Firmex virtual data room is cost-effective relative to its alternatives. While the official website doesn’t have information about plans, there are a few facts about the price:

• Suppose an organization opens more than two virtual data rooms per year. In that case, the unlimited usage plan saves 25% compared to pay-as-you-go subscriptions.
• The number of internal users with access and the amount of storage affects the subscription cost.
• The Firmex team helps users determine the need for storage to set the price as accurately as possible and eliminate extra charges in the future.
• The provider only charges for storage and never for bandwidth. 

Firmex data rooms pros and cons

Having analyzed many user reviews about their overall experience with the Firmex virtual data room, we are ready to present information we’ve compiled on the data room’s strengths and weaknesses from customer review sites.

Pros

• User-friendliness and ease of setup
• Excellent customer service
• Cost-effective pricing as compared to the competition
• A good fit for mid-market M&A
• Easy document-sharing 
• Compliance with international security standards

Cons

• No function to replicate the same file in multiple folders
• Boring and outdated UX
• Limited tracking since documents aren’t tethered after bulk downloading
• Inability to delete or archive other data rooms

Firmex virtual data room’s integration

The Firmex API allows developers to integrate virtual data rooms with third-party enterprise programs. As a result, businesses benefit more from Firmex’s functionality.

First, tedious and redundant processes are quicker and smoother because working with multiple applications reduces or eliminates manual labor. After all, automating workflows increases efficiency when connected to the Firmex API. This enables IT teams and internal developers to synchronize company applications with data rooms.

Secondly, the Firmex API delivers essential service as instant access to files in several applications. Thus, file synchronization across data rooms and other third-party programs minimizes the turnaround time for data exchange with interested parties.

And thirdly, Firmex API complies with international security protocols to  guarantee that each client’s data remains confidential and secure.

Firmex data centers

In addition to excellent customer service and the necessary functionality for smooth document management, the Firmex virtual data room provides companies with superior security. And even if we compare this product with industry alternatives, we can safely say that Firmex is more reliable than some other software vendors.

For example, to ensure the security of confidential data, the provider stores documents and adheres to the following international standards:

• SOC 2 Type 2

This compliance indicates that the provider has chosen the most secure practices for data processing in the organization. Specifically, SOC 2 requires protection from unauthorized access and use, but at the same time, the software should be readily available for use as agreed or committed. 

• GDPR

Firmex virtual data room clients decide on a location to store their data. Their options include Canada, the USA, or Germany. It is worth noting that the European Commission has recognized Canada as a safe location for storing confidential information. However, data is not transferred to the United States unless the company chooses to store its documents there. 

In turn, data centers in the United States comply with the EU-US Privacy Shield standards.

• HIPAA

HIPAA compliance indicates that vendors adhere to strict physical, technical, and administrative security measures. In addition, the Firmex platform is tested to ensure high levels of security, privacy, and breach assessments.

Firmex data room pricing plans

Although the provider doesn’t disclose its service costs, potential clients can get details by contacting a sales representative.

What would Firmex users improve?

As mentioned before, companies use Firmex data room for mid-market mergers and acquisitions advisory, private equity, investment banking, fundraising, and other use cases. However, despite the versatility and many positive reviews, there is still room for improvement.

For example, while a provider promises market-leading customer assistance, some claim limited customer support. 

Other shortcomings from reviews are limited user analytics and functionality. In addition, if you do not organize the file structure correctly, it is difficult to set multiple group access restrictions.