Merrill is one of the longest active players in the virtual data room market. They tend to work with Fortune 100 companies and include features that will allow you to conduct even the most complex deals. However, all of this comes at a cost. The prices that they charge are higher than average and their data room is best used in complement with their data management service, which will also increase the price. Still, if you are working on an overly complex deal, perhaps you will find some of the features Merrill offers very useful.
Merrill DatasiteOne Review
Interestingly enough, even though Merrill has a very extensive history, they do not appear to be in step with the times since they do not offer a free trial period. This is very important because the only way to truly understand if a data room is right for you is by inputting your own data and trying it out for yourself. Otherwise, you have to take the provider at their word that their data room is easy to use. However, given that Merrill’s prices are higher than average, it could be too risky to buy an unknown product and then be stuck with it if you guess wrong.
The level of customization is surprisingly low. There is no custom domain, active directory integration, single sign-on, API integration and many other features that could be found in less expensive data rooms. While this may not seem like a big deal, these features end up saving a lot of time. For example, if you have a single sign-on, you can access all of your projects without having to memorize a password for each one. API integration will allow you to sync your CRM, email or any other system with the data room so that you do not have to reload documents or reenter information.
As far as security is concerned, Merrill does a pretty good job. While it has the typical security features such as watermarks, two-factor authentication, and data encryption, it seems to be forgetting about a very simple threat: camera-based attacks. Someone can simply take a picture of the computer screen and you will never know about it. There are data rooms that have “Fence View” which serves as a physical barrier between the user and the document to defend against such risks.
Overall, Merrill appears to be a good data room, but nothing spectacular. There is nothing innovative that will allow it to stand out from the competition. For example, the granular access permissions are pretty standard in that they let you determine who can see which information. There are innovative features out there such as secure spreadsheet viewing that allows you to achieve a finer level of granularity. For example, if you would like to upload an Excel spreadsheet into the data room, but you do not want certain people to see the formulas that were involved in the calculation, you can restrict such information even though it is within the spreadsheet itself.