Technology has revolutionized the way we approach tasks across all industries, and the creation of the virtual data room (VDR) in the M&A space is no exception. VDRs have transformed the way due diligence is conducted, exponentially advancing the security, efficiency and velocity of the process from the era of the physical data room.
However, even with the advent of VDRs, dealmakers today still have large swaths of data to sift through, as the increased scope of due diligence runs the gamut from regulatory and compliance issues, to intellectual property concerns. Merrill Corporation’s data shows that the average number of pages uploaded to VDRs grew by 40 percent between 2017 and 2018, and is continuing to grow. This is the reality dealmakers are up against, and why so many are excited about using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to enhance the accuracy and speed of document upload, indexing, and review processes, some of which are already being researched and tested today.
