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The data room is designed to organize the distributed work of users with contracts, automate the negotiation of the terms of business deals, and operational work with them. This article is a comprehensive review of Firmex data room.

Firmex data room in the IT market

Modern competitive conditions require most companies to use information technology to improve the manageability of business processes. The creation of an automated system for accounting and managing contracts makes it possible to systematize a single database of company contracts, quickly track the terms of contract execution, closing, and prolongation of contracts. In this case, the Firmex data room is a perfect variant for a secure digital repository and well-organized collaboration.

In terms of document flow, all processes of working with contracts are systematized and simplified: preparation of contracts, approval, execution, and storage. Advanced analytics and tracking of key processes allow you to control and analyze contractual activities in all their aspects, avoiding the costs associated with non-systematic work with contracts, disparate storage of documents, and lack of up-to-date information. Firmex makes it possible to plan, control and analyze contractual activities in an interconnected manner, records all changes in the statuses and parameters of contracts, provides complete, up-to-date, and structured information.

The Firmex VDR consists of several functional blocks, each of which solves a certain range of tasks:

• Storing and viewing contracts. The system of navigation through the repository of contracts is organized in such a way that you can instantly find the desired contract or group of contracts and get the necessary information on them.
• Preparation and approval of contracts. Convenient tools for optimizing the preparation of contracts: directories, templates, default property settings.
• Event Tracking Schedule of required contractual actions using event management tools. Reporting Information on current indicators of contractual and financial activities. Evaluation of performance.
• Formalization of business processes for the processing and execution of documents, the formation of standard technological schemes for the implementation of these processes.
• Document status control. VDR allows you to easily control the status of the document (delivered, signed, refusal to sign).

The functionality of the software allows companies to organize the creation, signing of an EDS, storage, and exchange of primary documents with counterparties in electronic form. At the same time, documents are supported in a structured form and an arbitrary unstructured format.

Firmex VDR

Firmex VDR solution has many benefits in comparison to other digital solutions:

• Automation of all processes of work with contracts. Firmex data room, unlike other accounting and management systems, provides not only for the registration and storage of contracts but also for managing the processes of their preparation, approval, and execution.
• Comfort while working with contracts is ensured by a convenient user interface. All data is divided into logical groups. Finding the right contract, its properties, or economic indicator is not difficult. Each user receives only the information they need.
• Ease of use. To work with the system, you do not need to obtain specific knowledge, it is enough to have the skills to work with a personal computer and read the user manual. The help system of the program is written in a simple and understandable language.
• The program can be used both in small and large enterprises without any restrictions on industry specifics. The customer organization, depending on its needs and size, has the opportunity to choose the appropriate version of the program, which will provide optimal cost and functionality of the program.
• Service support. Firmex is constantly improving its product to expand the range of tasks solved with it, to ensure the highest reliability and comfort.

Modern companies understand the importance of rethinking business processes and transforming them to maintain market leadership. In this article, we will analyze the Microsoft mergers and acquisitions processes to keep its market position.

Microsoft in M&A global market

Under the pressure of growing global competition, the vulnerability of global economic development to the drivers that determine the frequency and depth of crises, there has recently been an increase in the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) worldwide. The need to form a progressive competitive strategy of the organization through the expansion of market share is often the driving force of the decision on such deals in international business. In addition, M&As enable organizations to penetrate new geographic markets, promote growth through capitalization in various fields and synergies of economies of scale. Thus, Microsoft company chose M&A deals as a priority area to strengthen its position on the global market.

Today there is a trend for agreements in the field of IT Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft have chosen a strategy to acquire promising startups to acquire new unique technologies and direct hire employees of companies that have been acquired. Widespread in mobile gadgets, and thanks to this, have become face recognition and voice control technologies, which were originally only small businesses built to sell certain technology.

Currently, there is a trend in the IT environment to create a small innovative business (startups) and sell it quickly to Internet giants, which generates statistics on small acquisitions. For example, the Microsoft holding company with a capitalization as of the end of August 2019 has acquired 230 companies.

Microsoft culture change in M&A deals

The list of the largest Microsoft M&A deals contains the following transactions:

• In January 2018, Microsoft announced the acquisition of PlayFab, a backend service provider for creating and launching cloud-based games. More than 3 thousand studios use the company’s services, it can be found in more than 1.2 thousand active games with a coverage of about 700 million people. Notable clients: Disney, Rovio, and Atari. Notable projects: Idle Miner Tycoon, Angry Birds Seasons, and Roller Coaster Tycoon Touch. In the same year, Microsoft bought GitHub for $7.5 billion, the largest service for hosting software source codes and collaborative development.
• In 2022, Microsoft unexpectedly announced the purchase of the gaming holding Activision Blizzard. The deal is valued at $68.7 billion, which is 2.5 times the previous record purchase of Microsoft ($26 billion for LinkedIn in 2016). The agreement will be the largest merger in the history of the gaming industry.
• In 2013, the Microsoft team decided to take over the popular Finnish mobile phone company Nokia, which later turned out to be one of the biggest failures in the company’s history. As part of the acquisition, around 32,000 former Nokia employees will move to Microsoft, 4,700 of them in Finland and 18,300 at the various production sites around the world. The essence of the purchase was to improve and promote its own brand of budget smartphones Windows Phone. But, unfortunately, even after the forcible transfer of Nokia devices to the Windows operating system – in their price segment, these smartphones were uncompetitive in the market.

Besides, Microsoft regularly buys global communications and IT companies for tens of billions of dollars. But not all of these purchases are profitable. Microsoft’s M&A record is marked by growing desperation. The software giant paid $1.2 billion for the loss-making Fast Search & Transfer. That’s a premium of 42 percent.

The cyber threat landscape is ever-changing, with companies of all sizes and industries ranging from targeted to random attacks. Thus, the evaluation of these risks in business transactions is a necessary procedure. So, what is cyber due diligence? Here is more about it.

The concept of cyber due diligence

Increasingly, large clients when deciding to cooperate require their partners to have a cyber risk insurance policy, realizing that their data is constantly under threat and needs to be protected. And it is no coincidence that companies today are more exposed to threats to network security and privacy than ever.

In today’s economy, information is your organization’s most valuable asset. However, due to the development of mobile technologies, cloud computing, and the rapidly growing volumes of digital information, the secure storage of such data is becoming one of the most difficult problems.

Cyber risk is no longer a technological issue. Today, cyber risk is a constantly changing and systematic phenomenon in organizations and communities that requires active control. With a surge in remote work, supply chain interconnectedness, digitalization, and vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, organizations are becoming more vulnerable than ever. To be successful, organizations must not only maintain protection but also develop their resilience.

Many organizations view cybersecurity as an operational or technology issue and spend more and more every year looking for solutions to ensure it. However, the scale, frequency, and economic impact of cybercrime, whether it be ransomware, attacks on supply chains, or business disruption, continues to grow.

A detailed understanding of risk is fundamental to any organization, and a thorough risk assessment is critical. With the constant threat of cyberattacks, board members simply need to be interested in this area. At first glance, assessing cyber threats and preparing appropriate documentation is a simple matter. However, it often results in prohibitive costs, especially when it comes to penetration tests and other technically complex activities. Cyber risks are generally classified as highly complex IT risks that require costly specialized resources to manage. Cybersecurity, like IT, is largely defined by business and operational processes, so cyber due diligence can be an ideal starting point for effective cyber risk management. Such an assessment will identify risks for all departments and rank them by priority, and its results will serve as the basis not only for further work but also for the creation of a reporting system.

Cyber risks evaluation as a part of due diligence

Small and medium-sized businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on information systems, making them vulnerable to cyber risks: data leakage due to cyber-attacks and computer viruses, data loss due to human factors, or media failures.

Cyber risk management is becoming a strategic imperative that has profound implications and implications for the overall productivity of small and medium-sized businesses. Cyber risk management focuses on assessing the threats, potential impacts, and vulnerabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Among the most common cyber risks there are:

• hacker attacks on information systems,
• theft of personal data,
• unauthorized transactions,
• crypto viruses,
• DDoS attacks on DNS servers.

It should be noted that cyber risks pose a significant threat to the activities of financial institutions and other entities. These are the loss of competitive position in the market, damage to reputation and brand, the outflow of potential customers, loss of trust in the partner, and more. The complexity of cyber risks will only increase in the future. Therefore, managing cyber risk, avoiding or mitigating its impact through insurance is becoming strategically important.