TransPerfect, a language and technology solutions provider, and distributed ledger firm True Digital Dossier (TDD) are partnering to integrate the latter’s new blockchain technology with TransPerfect’s Virtual Data Room (VDR) tool, TransCEND. This will be relevant for the mortgage, art, energy, regulatory and supply chain sectors.
According to Rob Chepak, CEO at True Digital Dossier: “By combining TDD with TransCEND, we can create long-term trust in business and the world. Data rooms are brilliant for document sharing but mainly reserved for corporate finance.
“Distributed ledgers help networks of people secure information. Put them together, and we see game-changing applications that can benefit due diligence professionals in many markets.”
What is a VDR?
While the specific features of a VDR will vary by vendor, on a fundamental level VDRs serve to streamline the due diligence process by making all of the relevant documentation available in a centralised repository on the web. Having set up a VDR, all relevant stakeholders and potential investors receive unique login credentials. These allow them to securely access and review documentation – from anywhere in the world.
By eliminating the time and costs associated with copying paper documentation and mailing it all over the world or with hosting physical data rooms in multiple locations, most VDRs pay for themselves by default. However, more advanced VDRs offer additional features – for example, managing, searching for and organising documentation – which further enhance productivity.
The TransPerfect and TDD partnership
The partnership claims to be the first integration of blockchain technology with VDRs on a global scale. Branded under the TDD “Digital Dossier” name, the service aims to help professionals prevent lost revenue from poor due diligence and poor record keeping. It will address specific markets where the value of assets – such as mortgages or works of art – tie to the quality of their information packages.
In this case VDRs will be online document platforms which reduce the time needed to complete transactions by enabling concurrent document review by parties who may not know each other. This enables those parties to manage, read, write, execute, search, audit and access documents in a secure, collaborative environment.
The integration of blockchain technology means owners can now embed a ‘digital fingerprint’ in documents which:
- establishes a long-term tracking system for each asset and it’s paper trail
- ensures protection from data tampering.
Phil Shawe, TransPerfect President and CEO, remarked, “Security and tracking are key elements of both VDRs and blockchain technology. They are a natural pairing that will promote more secure, reliable, and trusted transactions between parties.”
Enterprise Times: what does this mean
TransPerfect offers services in 170+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 5,000 global organisations uses its services to simplify management of multilingual content.
TransCEND is its VDR, which (if Enterprise Times understands correctly) aims at assisting M&A activity – where eliminating the time and costs associated with multiple participants (principles, lawyers, accountants, investment banks and many others) copy paper documentation and send it all over the world.
Herein lies the common (with supply chain or food safety or clinical trials) benefit of blockchain. Multiple participants in multiple organisations can add and see information. The blockchain assures that this remains tamper proof – and has the ability for any participant to go back through the ‘paperchain’ if any participant raises a doubt.
