eDiscovery implemented to reduce expenses, improve process

Contributed by Roumiana Deltcheva (Wednesday, July 14, 2010) | Category : eDiscovery

Companies looking to implement an eDiscovery solution rightfully take a critical approach when deciding upon a vendor as most offer different packages and prices. To prevent entering a partnership that does not adequately solve their problems, law firms and corporate legal departments must devise a plan for the solution to identify their needs.

Lowering evidence discovery costs is often the primary aim of organizations planning for a new eDiscovery solution. However, this can only be achieved if the process is carefully planned for. In fact, primary to implementing a new eDiscovery solution, researching email archiving to ensure that process is as efficient and inexpensive as possible will likely keep eDiscovery costs as low as possible. As the primary goal of eDiscovery is to find relevant information as quickly and cheaply as possible, it will only happen if other processes are equally efficient.

Companies failing to design a plan for eDiscovery are likely to listen to the advice of other organizations. While those companies may have experienced positive results, it's unlikely the same system will yield the same savings and efficiency improvements for another organization.

"As usual, organizations must focus on separating marketing hype from actual functionality, especially in the area of end-to-end process capabilities. While integrated advances can provide concrete benefits and help rationalize application infrastructure, it’s important to look at these in the context of a broader eDiscovery strategy," Bill Ives wrote on his blog, FastForwardBlog.com.

It isn't enough, however, to view eDiscovery as a method of cost reduction. Software solutions of all kinds must be viewed as a method of improving the processes they're designed for. Along with the potential financial savings offered by an eDiscovery solution, if a solution is unlikely to save employees time in evidence collection, then it is probably not the best system.

The benefits of eDiscovery have been well received by many law firms and corporate legal departments throughout the U.S. In fact, a recent study from CompTIA reported 15 percent of U.S. law firms are planning to further their investment in eDiscovery and 14 percent will spend on boosting their case management litigation support capability. Similarly, a number of companies have appeared with the stated goal of improving the eDiscovery capability for law firms through consulting and litigation support services.