This tool enables all deal participants to reduce time spent on the due diligence process, compressing deal timelines.

IntraLinks built its question and answer (Q&A) features directly into its virtual dataroom interface, transforming Q&A into a seamless part of the widely adopted online due diligence process. From a single elegant interface, bankers and their clients on both sides of the deal can manage and exchange questions and answers more quickly and easily than ever before.

In a recent survey of more than 300 M&A professionals across Europe[1] , IntraLinks found that almost three-quarters of respondents describe the Q&A process during a deal as time-consuming, while nearly one-third describe it as painful. Only 7% describe the process as straightforward. IntraLinks' improved Q&A functionality reduces the burden on deal coordinators by automating and streamlining the Q&A process.

Andrew Pearson, managing director of IntraLinks EMEA, commented: "No matter what your role in a deal, it is crucial to provide information as quickly as possible so that intelligent business decisions can be made. In the current economic environment, it is especially important that you remove barriers to the potential success of a deal."

Initial feedback for IntraLinks' Q&A tool has been positive. "Everyone involved in M&A deals needs to reduce the amount of time they spend on administrative work and increase the amount of time they spend on higher value tasks," said Pearson. "IntraLinks' Q&A functionality helps take the pain out of the process and offers a complete, auditable activity trail for compliance purposes, which has generated a high level of interest from our clients."

[1] IntraLinks' Autumn M&A Monitor.