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Ever tried to copy data from a table, found the table was a jpeg, and, well, kicked the table over? Have you been on the lookout for a deal opportunity, but missed out because key info was buried in your Outlook inbox? Ever felt that you needed a checklist just to keep track of all your checklists? Thumped your computer when hunting for deal comps? Or just been scared to leave the office until you receive crucial documents – which you end up filing till midnight?

That’s just a glimpse of the headaches you face at the front line of M&A. But our best heads at Datasite are always seeking the cures. Datasite technology leads the field because it’s directly driven by you, and the questions you bring us. So you can skip the queue and come to the Front of the Line, to see our innovations fresh off the production line.

Here’s what’s creating the biggest buzz right now.

Turning the tables

Turning them into usable data, that is. There’s nothing like a table for a simple analysis – and an image file is, sadly, nothing like a table. Don’t hate the seller – they might have had to beg on their knees to get that grainy scan. Faced with an image, you have three options. One: copy all those figures manually into a spreadsheet. Two: Scream. Or three: use Datasite to export that table data to Excel. Because Datasite uses optical character recognition (OCR), to spot tables as easily as you can – and copy them way faster (and perfectly).

Since you’ve already saved around six hours – what’s next?

Pipeline hotline

What’s next is, of course, your next deal. Did you know, three in four dealmakers manage their deal pipelines on the backs of envelopes? This is in fact a fib – they use a mixture of emails and spreadsheets. See, it might as well be true. The outcome either way is organized chaos. Work is duplicated. Contacts get lost. Paper trails become labyrinths. Version control? Ha! It’s not just lost time and opportunity. It’s added risk.

If you’ve ever thought, ‘Surely there’s a better way to do this,’ – you’re right. Datasite Pipeline is an application that captures and manages all your buy-side opportunities in one place. Everything – contacts, documents, touchpoints, activity logs, target data, and reminders – is where you can find it in seconds. Everyone involved has exactly what they need, seamlessly, without an email or Excel in sight. And for those not involved, it’s basically Fort Knox. No-one’s thieving your hot leads.

But good stuff is still going to arrive by email – so we made an Outlook add-in that lets you export it from your inbox directly to your secure Pipeline project. So you miss absolutely nothing.

Self-tracking trackers

First, there were checklists. Multiple spreadsheets in multiple versions sent to multiple email inboxes – invariably picking up multiple errors en route to due diligence. Then came Datasite’s trackers. One central list of tasks, linked directly to the data room index, updating automatically. Whole weeks were saved. It seemed like it couldn’t be improved.

So we improved it anyway. Now project admins can monitor all recent changes, who made them, and when. See before-and-after values, highlight recently changed rows, and filter by date, column, and user. Or expand any row to see its full change history. What can we say – we just love tracking. Oh, and now you can also upload content directly from the Trackers tab, making things extra smooth.

Genuine intelligence

Does artificial intelligence already feel a bit passé? Whether it’s six-fingered hands or ten clichés per paragraph, too much of it is more ‘artificial’ than truly smart. And then there’s AI that’ll genuinely leave your jaw on the floor – and a prime example is Datasite Intelligence.

In a nutshell, it’s a search engine for your future deals. A vastly quicker way to identify deal comps and precedents, find potential investors, aid buyer scoring, and map new or unfamiliar markets. It helps you cut through industry noise, sharpen your targeting focus, and build stronger pitches – while saving weeks of detective work.

Datasite Intelligence is trained on historical transaction data, including unannounced deals, and uses real-time signals from the market to inform its results. Meaning the more you use it, the cleverer it gets. Now you can see what you’re missing – instead of missing what you’re seeing.

Carry the deal

Keep the deal in your pocket – or your bag – using the Datasite mobile app. As handy as a laptop may be, there’s something about an app that makes tasks hardly feel like work. This one’s every bit as secure as desktop Datasite, but you’re in within moments thanks to biometric login. Then your data room is at your fingertips – you’re moving and sorting content, publishing documents, setting permissions, checking those famous trackers, and answering buyer questions as easily as sending a text. You can even monitor analytics to see which buyers are most engaged.

Now you always know where the deal’s at – wherever you are.

All in a fresh new look

When you’re using your industry’s most advanced tech, you want it to feel that way. Our sleek new platform is built around the Launchpad, your mission control for commencing any kind of project. You’ll find the wider workspace is now smoother and more intuitive, with customizable columns, faster navigation, and a redesigned Documents tab to streamline your due diligence process. A great as it looks, it’s much more than a pretty face – it’s the only deal space you’ll ever need.

So next time you hit a snag on the rocky M&A road, be sure to let us know asap. You may well find a technological solution very soon – right here, at the Front of the Line.