Louisville Social Media Management

January 21, 2011

My e-discovery posts take a lot of time and careful construction so I’m not ready for part two of why the INFORMATION MANAGEMENT component of the EDRM is so essential to business processes.

It’s been a busy week of meetings, marketing,and researching. Plans are in development for an educational event on e-discovery with FlexDiscovery Solutions.  I’ve also been honing the explanation of Answer Maven e-discovery solutions so that I can start a conversation with someone who knows nothing about the process and they don’t glaze over after 10 seconds.  Answer Maven believes that information management is a critical component of e-discovery preparedness.

What I want to highlight today is the success our client’s experience when they use our Social Media Management services.  While I market my business, I am not a marketer.  What I am is a content expert.  That expertise is what sets Answer Maven’s Social Media services apart from others.  We are not who you call if you want to gain 5000 followers in a week.

Our belief in the fact that a company or service provider should engage with their customers and their community is the foundation of our service.  We get to know our customer, their business, their values, their  mission and their goals.  We get to know our customer’s customers.  This knowledge allows us to produce quality,usable information that engages a client’s customer base.  We highlight successes, we share stories, we share resources.  We share, on behalf of our customer, their expertise and we are their authentic voice.

 

Businesses should target social media for specific goals.

You may wonder why a customer would use our services.  The easy answer is we manage the social media stream efficiently. A business owner often wants an option that can be outsourced so that they can run their business.   Our product has options that the customer can choose from that meets their business goals.  We help define the strategy, the outlets and we work with the customer on the themes.  This method has two benefits: content stream and content engagement.  This method gives us the information we need to support the customer and allow that customer to get back to business.

 

One customer has been using the services for 6 months.  Their results are so positive that we have extended our contract and set new goals.  When you Google “workshop” the customer is number two. Not bad for a pretty generic term.  Our goals for the next several months are to improve Google results with other specific search terms.

If you want to know how Answer Maven’s Social Media Management can provide authentic content that improves your own web search results give us a call.  Don’t call me for marketing or SEO, that’s not my expertise.  I am a CONTENT Expert.  Are you?

 

Constance Ard

Note: This blog is a marketing outlet for Answer Maven Solutions. Rarely do we write a pure market/sell piece.  This piece has gems of information you can take and use on your own. It’s our Freebie to you.

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Venio Veers Towards Strategy

December 14, 2010

Last week Answer Maven Solutions sat down to a full-scale demo of Venio Systems from one of the co-founders, Chris Jurkiewicz.  Right off the bat, Mr. Jurkiewicz stated that a key difference in Venio and some of the other e-discovery solutions is that it is a software solution that relies on strategic partnerships.

The strategic partners find that they work with a well developed software product that has strong scaling capability that works from a single laptop install to a networked hardware solution, depending upon the size of the job at hand.

A few of the keys that we noted were:

  1. Embedded Objects are handled and things such as logos in email signatures are identified and can be discarded from the processed data.
  2. Strong language capabilities
  3. Ever present navigation allows users to switch from task to task
  4. Strong search and filtering components
  5. GRAHICAL VIEWS
  6. Flexible reporting

There were some things that we asked that had not been built yet. I’m sure Chris is a stand up guy that meant it when he said “We have the capability of building the digital voice data component when the market is ready.”

Answer Maven prefers to be ahead of the curve so that’s why we ask those important questions.  As you search for your own e-discovery solutions preparing for the future is a necessary consideration.

Venio veers towards a solid software strategy and continues to build strong partnerships that drive them forward in the market.

Note: No payment was received for this opinion.

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Clearwell a Clear Choice?

December 1, 2010

As Miller and I continue to expand our knowledge of e-discovery vendors we are exploring the ins and outs of various systems and solutions.  Before the Thanksgiving holiday we sat through a product demo of Clearwell. The bells and whistles seemed easy to ring and blow with this product.

Now, note that a full live drive of this product has not occurred so my comments are based upon my own knowledge and experience and the impressions made during the product demo.

  1. Clearwell offers an easy to use and understand interface.
  2. The ability to search beyond a few keywords seems limited.
  3. Options to narrow the body of material to actually search is sophisticated.

Is Clearwell the clear choice for e-discovery needs?  It depends upon your situation and your needs and your already installed solutions but if you are seeking a product to consider, I would put Clearwell in the inbox.

Constance Ard

 

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E-Discovery Thanks Givings

November 24, 2010

Answer Maven wants to take a moment and reflect on some things that enterprises can be thankful for in the world of e-Discovery.  The spirit of the season has inspired us to think of a few things in the complicated world of e-Discovery for which company’s can be thankful.

  1. Cost Containment is Possible.
  2. Records Management, Knowledge Management and IT cooperation protects and prepares enterprises for the inevitable.
  3. In this global economy, technology offers solutions for multi-lingual documents.  This saves some money and can help streamline the process.
  4. Early Case Assessment saving you time and money.
  5. The fact that many e-discovery solutions also help users better manage their content.

So while e-discovery remains complicated and costly, the fact that it is becoming a part of the daily pattern of business puts a silver lining in the cloud.  Working to create internal processes on the front-end will save time, money, and probably help avoid some litigation costs in the long run….and that is something for which to give Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving from Miller and Constance, your Answer Mavens.

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Content Management and E-Discovery – Can get along

November 19, 2010

There is well-known idea throughout the “industry” that the E-Discovery and the Content Management folks just don’t get along. The reasons are pretty simple. The content management folks say if an organization has a proper content management solution in place then there is no need for an e-discovery solution. According to the e-discovery folks many content management solutions are not robust enough or are simply not designed to address e-discovery effectively. These both seem to be good arguments, but in fact the sides are coming closer and closer together. As companies merge and products are bundled more and more content management solutions and for that matter e-mail management systems are incorporating e-discovery solutions in their products (hello, Exchange 2010).

On the other side of the coin it seems that a major advantage of having an e-discovery solution in place is better overall content management. When installing an e-discovery solution organizations may begin to view the issue of “content chaos” in a different light. Instead of a headache that needs to be addressed someday in the future issues such as managing e-mail as a record, over-flowing and unstructured data on shared drives, content classification schemes, and the like are pushed to the forefront.

So it seems to me that these days’ e-discovery and content management solutions share much in common. That is not to say that one or other take care of all your needs. Different businesses will require different solutions and some may require several (enterprise search anyone?). However, it does seem like both side of the CM/ED schism are closer than they may think and both will help users get a better grip on managing “content chaos” and reducing potential liability.

Miller Montague November 17, 2010

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It takes a village to decide on the right e-discovery solution

November 17, 2010

After reading Constance’s last post I starting thinking about all the instances where communication problems can derail e-discovery. There are so many intersections where implementation, process, technology and policy meet that it quickly becomes very clear that careful research and planning is needed before any organization decides on what e-discovery black box, if any, best fits their needs.

The best example of this that comes to mind is who decides on what software solution to purchase. There are many choices out there these days. Many times management will task the evaluation and selection of a software solution to their IT Department. The reasoning for this is simple. IT knows what is already in place, should know where all the data resides, and more basically it has to do with computers and technology so obviously it falls in to the realm of IT.

All these reasons are true but IT should only be one group involved in the decision process and evaluation of any e-discovery solution. Others should include legal, management and HR. You may also want to consider using some outside consulting to help as well. An outside e-discovery consulting firm can help navigate you through many known issues and quickly weed out solutions that are not right for your organization.  As Constance pointed out a consultant can help with getting all parties (Management, IT, legal and HR) communicating with each other. Legal may have concerns that IT just simply does not know about. Management may have goals for the new solution that are not directly related to e-discovery and HR may have policy concerns that will need to be addressed throughout the entire project.

Not to rehash what has already been said but organizations should start the communication between all stake holders early on when deciding on an e-discovery solution. That way before you even start researching solutions you have a good idea what best fits your organization’s needs. Communicating these needs and desires will allow you to select a solution with power.

Miller Montague
http://www.ansermavensolutions.com

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Meeting the Requirements of Finding the Right eDiscovery Solution

November 9, 2010

eDiscovery is a complex process related to complex litigation.  Many folks hope that a simple out-of-the box solution will work and find themselves 18 months (more or less) later disappointed.  It isn’t that vendors don’t always do what they promise it just that sometimes the wrong vendor is selected.

Source: Experience Project

Now, let me take a moment to explain that word wrong.  Wrong means the wrong fit.  I recently went shopping for a new pencil skirt and found THE ONE I wanted but had to concede it was the wrong fit.  Then I found one that fit, but it was the wrong look.  Finally I found one that met my requirements, it fit and it looked good.

Ultimately, the reason I was able to find the right fit was because I knew my requirements going in.  eDiscovery vendors have their areas of expertise. Not everyone can meet all the requirements.  When you are seeking a off-the-rack solution for your eDiscovery needs, know your requirements and specify clearly.

It is all too easy for someone to say “Sure, we do that!” when the reality is that the company is committed to forensics as opposed to risk management.   eDiscovery is too important for you to ignore the type of solution you really need and the capabilities of your possible solution providers.

Defining the requirements is a necessary first step.  You can get help in that process from The Sedona Conference.  The myriad of considerations range from due diligence on the company, security matters and conflicts checking.  When you take the time on the front end to define those specifics you will find the right eDiscovery solution.

Constance Ard November 8, 2010

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Is the Shininess of E-Discovery dulling?

November 2, 2010

E-discovery has been the hot topic in litigation and law firm expansion for a few years now.  When reading this article last week I thought that perhaps the wow factor was fading from e-discovery and that the next big thing was around the corner.

I don’t think that the power of e-discovery is waning I just think that as the Legal Project Management article by Mr. Easton points out, it is a matter of standard business. Standard business is however, not always able to handle the complexities of e-discovery.  The business model must adjust and experts outside of the firm may be needed on occasion.

Think about electronically stored information.  Where is it, how is it accessed and how well are the standards of records management policies handling the diversity of storage and access methods?

Let’s take cloud computing as an example.  Policies put in place for a traditional workplace where the employee creates, accesses and stores information within the company network are, in all likelihood, sufficient to protect the employer from adverse e-discovery management risks.  However, workers do not always work within those constraints.  In fact there’s a new book out talking about how to overcome the employer bureaucracy in order to increase work efficiency. (Author’s note: I’ve only read a review of the book, not the  actual book so no affirmation of content beyond the review is presumed.)

Workers share files through cloud options such as Dropbox, or other similar services, they access materials for work purposes through personal mobile computing devices.  They do work such as  responding to emails, research and document drafting on their personal computing machines and then place that information in the cloud for easy access from work, home or play.

Add in factors such as companies using more cloud computing for storage and content backup  and the world of e-discovery is given another layer of consideration.  Time limits, storage limits and security are all issues related to cloud computing that impact e-discovery.

 

Peeling the Layers of e-Discovery

 

So while I think e-discovery is becoming a normal part of the business model for law firms, the related complexity is not completely understood.  The shininess may be dulling but the onion like layers underneath the sheen of proper protection and preparation for an e-discovery request are seemingly endless.  You might be able to cut it all up and dissect it but you can still peel a layer back for yet another issue.

Constance Ard

 

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For the record your social media content maybe a record

October 11, 2010

Social media is booming and companies are hurrying to get on board the social media train.  However, many companies and organizations are not real sure how to use these new forms of communication and are not sure really how to handle to the content created for these outlets.

Does your business have a Facebook page, does it use Twitter to keep their customers updated or does it have a LinkedIn page?  If it does what type of content is being created and sent out for mass consumption? Should any of that content be saved or archived for future reference or could you produce it if needed?

There are several third party products and websites out there that can help out with this. I am not push anyone solution (but examples are the Fire Fox add-on for FB and the Outlook plugin called TwInbox).

This is not to say that your social media content is worthy of saving. However, you may want to look at what is being posted and see if the content does rise to the level of a record and needs to be saved.

Miller Montague

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Two Years & Answer Maven Business is Good

July 7, 2010

Answer Maven has been busy this summer.

  • Duty as Chair of SLA Legal Division complete after the end of the Annual Conference in mid-June
  • Working with a great team on the planning for  the Lucene Revolution User Conference to be held October 7-8, 2010.
  • Finalizing the second custom taxonomy for two different clients
  • Content Management and e-Discovery business development underway with Miller Montague

In the meantime, Miller and I are working out lots of details.  We are excited about the work we will be doing in the e-discovery arena.  He is  all set for a certification course next week.  I continue to bone up the industry at large.

So Answer Maven has a lot going on, which is great news.

Today, I want to take a moment to share just a couple of observations that I have made during the last few weeks of work.

  • Quality is important. If the semi-colons and date formats are the major topic of discussion about a deliverable  that’s a great thing.

You may wonder why I say that, the truth is that if that type of detail is the focus of attention the content is where it needs to be.  Delivering the highest quality of content to a client is success.

  • Open Source Search must not be ignored.

The opportunities in this arena are boundless because the community drives improvement.

  • All the old stuff offers new opportunities

Businesses that deliver the same-old same-old underestimate the shifting factors in both client expectations, technical abilities and dreamed of opportunities.  Transitioning business models is a difficult but necessary undertaking.  I understand that it is more difficult for large companies to shift quickly but the out-and-out refusal of a company to transition to new models can be the death toll.

I love having the opportunity to talk with my clients about their transition opportunities.  One recent transition idea was so simple in concept that I was sceptical at first.  As we discussed use scenarios the possibilities seemed like real opportunities.

Much in Answer Maven’s consulting work needs to be transitioned and that work is underway.  Are you busy with the daily grind or have you thought about your transition opportunities?  What is old that you need to make new again?  If you can find those gems and execute the innovations business is good.

Constance Ard July 7, 2010

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