The New Firmex Blog is Live!

Jan 28, 2010 - by Joel Lessem

Welcome to the new and improved Firmex Blog, an online space to discuss about secure document exchange and collaboration, virtual data room technology and its applications, M&A trends and news, secure extranets, and many other related topics.Aside from the new look, new content and features, there are some specific goals we would like to achieve with this blog.

• As one of the leaders in our industry, we want to contribute to the ongoing conversation on topics related to secure document collaboration and virtual data room environments.

• Deliver value added content, articles, news and case studies to corporations, investment banks, law firms  and any organization looking to securely organize and exchange confidential documents online.

• To answer your questions and concerns on secure online information exchange and collaboration.  If you are conducting a due diligence process, reviewing transaction drafts, closing deals, running audits., providing document libraries for clients  or across organizations  as part of a corporate initiative, we want to hear from you.

• We survey 1000s of users every year. We are interested in hearing your comments, questions, inquiries and product ideas as we continuously expand the uses and functions of our technology.

• However, above all, we want to listen to you, our reader. Come and help us shape the industry and deliver even better value to organizations around the world.

Once again, welcome and thanks for dropping by!

What is SaaS?: Understanding the Concepts of Cloud Computing

Feb 9, 2010 - by Nicole Black

Last week we discussed the basic concept of “legal cloud computing”. Now, let’s try to gain a better understanding of the concept by addressing the basic components of “cloud computing.”

The concept of cloud computing arises from the interplay of three concepts: IaaS (Infrastructure as a service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service).

IaaS can be defined as: “a model in which an organization outsources the equipment used to support operations, including storage, hardware, servers and networking components. The service provider owns the equipment and is responsible for housing, running and maintaining it.”  Amazon EC2 and Rackspace are examples of this type of service.

SaaS can be defined as a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet.” The vendor provides daily technical operation, maintenance, and support for the software provided to their client. Examples include the email service Gmail and the virtual data room service offered by Firmex.

Why Is Unlimited Use of Virtual Data Rooms so Beneficial?

Feb 11, 2010 - by Joel Lessem

It has always puzzled me as to why virtual data room providers charge per data room or per page or total number of users.  How can any company running a deal know exactly how many pages of documents they will have? Or how many users are going to access the deal room? 

Therefore, a buyer is unable to predict the final cost of the VDR. If they misjudge the amount of due diligence documentations or users, they can get stuck with a hefty bill. This type of “multi-line item” quoting is not designed with the customer in mind.

The other item I never understood is why the limitation on the number of deal rooms?  It’s not uncommon to have multiple data rooms for a single project.  More so, it’s the ability to start getting “deal ready” and exchanging documents early on in the mandate. Unlimited use also broadens the scope of use.

Data Room Performance Improvements at Firmex: An Overview

Feb 25, 2010 - by Marcel Meyer

Because data room performance is important to our clients, we recently released the first wave of our new software architecture to address the growing demands of our customers.

For the past few years, our customers have primarily used our data rooms for M&A deals which are usually made up of around 300 folders containing 5000 documents. However, as our clients are adopting electronic deal rooms for other uses, such as litigation and clinical studies, we decided to adapt to these new requirements. Some of these virtual data rooms might have over 80,000 folders containing more than 100,000 documents.

We’re excited to roll out our new architecture that supports sub second data retrieval, even on these large scale deals.  These improvements represent considerable time and money savings for our clients working with multiple small to large transactions. The litigation and life sciences verticals will greatly benefit from these data room improvements.

Cloud Computing Industry Reaches New Heights in Design

Mar 11, 2010 - by Robert Wilder

Ad agencies and design firms, as creative shops, have always used the design of their spaces to inspire their employees to creative heights. But, really, it’s in every business owner’s interest, no matter what industry, to build an employee environment that invites creativity and productivity.

Firmex’s software engineers, busily developing hyper-secure code that drives millions of mission-critical documents that are accessed by 10,000s of users every month, should be treated to a space that is as dynamic as their work in the SaaS industry. Also, a large portion of our business as a data room provider is devoted to making our clients happy, with an in-house client services staff working 24/7 to help people with transactions valued in the billions of dollars every month. Happy employees mean happy customers, and a happy employee begins with a great work environment - that’s why I decided to design a new office that was both practical and aesthetically pleasing.

Although I had a brief two months to complete the project with my designer, I knew what I wanted: a simple space, full of natural light, that wouldn’t be overdesigned to the point of distraction.  I wanted the new space to act as a simple canvas for expression. The space itself was inspiring – great views, high ceilings and columns that reminded me of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed SC Johnson building.

Law Practice Management Software: An Overview

Mar 17, 2010 - by Nicole Black

Legal practice management software is a must-have for most law offices. It streamlines the process of handling and managing a case from start to finish. Law case management systems allow busy attorneys to keep track of contacts, documents, and calendaring, among other things, for each case that is added to the system; many offer time tracking and billing features as well.

For most law practices, purchasing practice management software that is well-suited for the size and specific practice areas of the firm is a good investment that saves time and money in the long run.

One decision lawyers must make when choosing legal practice management software is whether to purchase a web-based law practice management system or a traditional desktop system that is installed and housed on the law firm’s server. Once you’ve decided which type of platform you intend to use, you can then narrow down your choices based on the specific features offered by a particular system.