This hard to read post by Greg Bell caused a bit of food for thought. In some of my past projects I’ve compared and contrasted the offerings of e-discovery vendors and discovered that one step in the EDRM truly is the cost step, the processing step.
E-Discovery vendors say that they are working to improve the processing portion of the e-discovery continuum but the reality is that is where the money is to be made. While, I believe that improvements will continue, I also believe that complexity will grow. As Mr. Bell points out, global issues will continue to impact cases, even when there does not appear to be a global issue at hand.
So cost for processing will improve but there will remain the continual growth of ESI because that is how information is created and as business continues to operate globally, language and cultural nuances will add to the review and analysis work for e-discovery processing.
ESI and e-discovery are now a part of doing business even for small companies. Preparing information management policies and standards of procedure is your best bet on avoiding out-of-control costs related to these new business realities.
Are you thinking about the global impact of your product distribution, workforce make-up and the ultimate reach of those daily practices that may end up in the courtroom? Do you have information handling procedures in place to protect your product, your people, your bottom-line?
Thinking in terms of policy could provide valuable safeguards and lessen the cost of the process step for any future e-discovery that may occur.
This goes beyond those records retention policies that may have been put in place 20 years ago. If you have not reviewed and renewed your information and record management policies in a while, it might be time to put that on the high priority list.
I’ll follow this post up in the near future with a few ideas about things to consider as you update those policies. Until then, happy Monday.
Constance Ard February 9, 2009
