eDiscovery is a complex, critical part of legal cases. With the volume of data growing in every case, it can be costly and timely to manage it. While organizations have long outsourced these workflows, the tide is turning. To gain greater control over the process and costs, many corporations are bringing eDiscovery in-house.
Achieving this is no small feat. It requires diligence, strategy, process improvement, and the right technology. Firms, corporations, government agencies, or organizations may be selective about what areas of the eDiscovery process they want to own. No two success stories look quite the same. However, there are some key steps to take to attain this goal.
Define Your Strengths and Weaknesses Regarding eDiscovery.
The first step is to conduct an internal assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. If you currently handle some portions of eDiscovery now, how are you performing? What are the assets you have — people, platforms, and processes — that will be key to success?
Consider these questions:
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What area of eDiscovery most aligns with the strengths you have internally? It could be early case assessment (ECA), a good starting point, processing, or review.
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What are the current aspects of eDiscovery that are costing you the most?
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What do your clients most need from you regarding eDiscovery?
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How will you manage data? Can you develop data maps to help?
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Do you want clients to have self-service options to upload, manage, and process data?
What Data Challenges May Create Barriers to Success?
Data generation is only getting bigger. The world creates 1.145 trillion megabytes of data every day! Even cases that seem small and simple have gigs and gigs of data.
The biggest reason for this explosion is the many ways we share and communicate information. There’s email, SMS, social media, message apps, and more. Additionally, other mechanisms, such as Internet of Things devices, generate data.
When considering how to transition to in-house eDiscovery, you need a data plan, or you’ll have data challenges. The most crucial aspect is understanding the types of data you collect, process, review, analyze, and present.
The array of software solutions is much greater for those with more traditional data formats, such as Word documents or emails. There are fewer options for more complex data sources and lots of unstructured data. Assessing where your data falls will be vital to in-house success.
The User Experience Is Critical to Adoption.
When bringing eDiscovery into the fold, the technology you use must deliver an excellent user experience. The first thing to inquire about is if it’s a truly unified system or a collection of widgets under an umbrella. The latter offers a poor user experience, which could affect implementation and adoption.
The user interface should be intuitive and provide a means to streamline workflows. If that’s not the case, adopting it could jeopardize your objective to transition to in-house eDiscovery.
What Features Drive Success for Data Processing?
If you’re going to undertake data processing, you’ll need a robust set of features. Most eDiscovery platforms have general features. To understand the details, you’ll want to evaluate:
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Indexing speed, efficiency, and reliability.
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Supported file formats.
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How text and metadata extraction work.
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Throughput thresholds.
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How scalable the solution is.
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Application integration capabilities (i.e., Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc.).
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Near-duplicate identification.
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Job prioritization options.
Access to these functionalities will be vital for a successful in-house discovery ecosystem. If they don’t correlate with your requirements, it’s not the platform for you.
Review and Production: What Do You Need for Success?
The last component of eDiscovery is review and production. They are the most laborious and expensive aspects. If you’re going to manage it in-house, you need a range of capabilities. The most important include batched reviewing, advanced searching, native redaction, technology-assisted review, and continuous active learning.
By using AI-assisted review as part of your eDiscovery solution, you can reduce data review by up to 90%. With these results, you’ll be more productive and reduce costs.
Experience In-House eDiscovery Success With Venio Systems.
If you’re ready to reimagine your eDiscovery process and take back ownership, you’ll need a technology partner. At Venio Systems, we offer both cloud and on-premises options for end-to-end eDiscovery. Schedule your demo today.
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