The new Dillien in practice: more efficient due diligence for everyone involved
In our previous article, CTO Elin Schanke Funnemark explained what has changed under the hood in the new Dillien — from enhanced search capabilities, cross-references and a more flexible structure to the foundation for AI-assisted review.
But what do those changes mean in practice?
We sat down with CCO Håkon Hultman Tømte to discuss what the new version means for the people who use a data room every day: lawyers, commercial real estate brokers, financial and technical advisers, transaction teams, and the asset owners themselves.
Where does due diligence typically lose time?
A significant share of the time spent on a due diligence process goes to administration surrounding the substantive work, whether the review is legal, financial, technical, or commercial.
That is something we hear constantly, and it was also something that frustrated me during my years as a transaction lawyer: request lists sitting outside the VDR, manual project tracking, scattered task lists, and responsibility being managed in systems disconnected from the VDR and the documents themselves.
A lot of time also goes to simply locating information — a specific provision, for example, or everything relating to a particular supplier, customer, or employee scattered across hundreds of files.
That is not value-adding work. It is administration surrounding the actual assessment, and it adds hours without adding value for the client. Ultimately, it slows down the process for everyone involved.
How does global search change the way users work in the VDR?
With the launch of the new version, we introduced global search across the contents of the VDR rather than limiting search to file names.
It covers the document formats most commonly found in a transaction, with additional formats being added over time.
When you get a hit, Dillien takes you directly to the relevant place in the document, automatically scrolled into view and highlighted.
The next step is search based on meaning rather than exact wording. A search for “termination”, for example, could also surface a provision stating that an agreement “may be brought to an end by either party”, even though the word “termination” does not appear.
The point is simple: users should not have to know the precise wording used in a document before they can find what they are looking for.
Why do references need to follow documents when the VDR changes?
Search solves the problem of finding something once. The harder part is what happens afterwards, particularly when the room changes shape.
In many processes, it is common for the VDR structure to be reorganised as the project develops. This may happen during a long-running roll-up project, a transaction with substantial preparation time, or an active due diligence process in which new material is continuously added and reorganised.
Previously, a reference to a document in a question, task, or comment could become outdated when the document was moved. The user would then have to locate it again and rebuild the reference manually.
In Dillien, the reference follows the file or item and updates automatically wherever it moves.
This also changes how questions can be answered inside the room. Instead of describing where something can be found, you can point directly to it:
“Confirmed — the relevant clause is set out in @2.4.1 Supplier Agreement.”
The reference remains live throughout the process. That removes the cumbersome work of repeatedly updating references across questions, comments, and tasks as the room evolves.
Why connect the information request list directly to the VDR?
The information request list, or IRL, has traditionally been maintained in a spreadsheet or Word document without any direct connection to the documents in the data room.
In practice, the request list sits on one screen and the VDR on another, and the user has to keep track of the relationship between them manually.
The core idea behind Dillien has always been to connect the request list directly to the data room structure and the underlying material.
Instead of maintaining two parallel versions of the process, the requests and documents become part of the same workflow. This makes the process considerably more efficient and provides the structured foundation needed for greater automation and AI-assisted due diligence.
Why bring task management into the data room itself?
Because tasks and responsibility should be visible where the work actually happens.
Transaction-related tasks have traditionally lived in a separate project-management tool — or, more commonly, in a spreadsheet — disconnected from the document, request, or person the task relates to.
That creates another system for the team to maintain and another place where information can become outdated.
Task-management functionality now sits on both sides of the VDR. On the sell side, responsibility can be assigned for answering each request. On the buy side, responsibility can be assigned for reviewing it.
The point is not to add another project-management layer. It is to make ownership clear from the outset. Deadlines, progress, and reminders sit alongside the underlying request rather than in a separate system, giving the team a single source of truth and a clearer view of the process.
Why integrate with other technology rather than build everything in-house?
There is a broader principle behind this.
We do not think the data room should become a closed system that tries to replace every tool around it. Many law firms and other advisers have already made substantial investments in specialised AI tools, and they should be able to use those tools directly against the transaction material in Dillien.
That is why we are working on integrations with both established legal AI platforms and more focused due diligence specialists.
At the same time, we are developing capabilities within Dillien itself, making assisted review available to users who do not have specialised tooling or a proprietary technology stack.
Our role is to support both models: allowing teams to work with the technology they have already selected and the best-of-breed products suited to their needs, while also making useful capabilities available directly within the VDR.
The same thinking extends beyond AI providers. We are working on integrations that will allow relevant structured information — such as corporate information and real estate documentation from public registers and other authoritative sources — to flow directly into the room rather than being collected and uploaded manually. We expect the first of these integrations to become available this autumn.
The common thread is straightforward: less time spent maintaining the process around the transaction, and more time spent on the transaction and the due diligence work itself.
Want to see the new Dillien in action? Book a demo.
