Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Greg Buckles. Published: 2015-01-11 19:00:00Format, images and links may no longer function correctly.
Are you ready to brave the NY weather and traffic in three weeks? I am certainly not ready. As an analyst firm, eDJ started booking LTNY briefings as early as November. This year I am just now nailing down our consulting client’s priority providers for meetings and looking forward to escorting them through the exhibit hall and social events. As I reviewed this year’s sessions, exhibitors and sponsors, it quickly became apparent that eDJ Group was not the only one adapting to the changing market. I have written a lot about the provider consolidation trend as we track M&A announcements large and small. The chart of published 2008-2015 LTNY Exhibitor counts below shows a steady 10% decline since the 2013 peak. ALM will be the first to tell you that the website exhibitor list is never complete, but it is a consistent indicator of the number of providers who committed the $8,000+ for a booth. Yep, our beloved, bloated, frozen eDiscovery job faire is changing. Just look at the Tuesday session tracks below and realize that only 2 of 8 tracks directly address eDiscovery. Information Governance is slowly taking a dominant role in the sales cycle, which is reflected by the themes, topics and speakers that providers select for the sessions that they fund.
This shift actually aligns with the fact that some of my clients are sending stakeholders from records and IT to check out the latest releases. This contrasts to the first year that I played LTNY escort for AGCs, senior partners and VC investors (LTNY 2008). As corporations and firms have matured, they have created real eDiscovery teams instead of just executive stakeholders trying to formulate an approach to tackle a non-existent discovery lifecycle.
So I hope that you are already thinking about your conference goals and making plans. Although I am not speaking on any panels this year, I plan to hit as many of the social events as possible with my clients and peers. LTNY is still THE place to network and talk freely with your peers, so take advantage of the opportunity and don’t get stuck in the CLE game. Come out and please flag me down if you see me.
Greg Buckles can be reached at Greg@eDJGroupInc.com for offline comment, questions or consulting. His active research topics include analytics, mobile device discovery, the discovery impact of the cloud, Microsoft’s 2013 eDiscovery Center and multi-matter discovery. Recent consulting engagements include managing preservation during enterprise migrations, legacy tape eliminations, retention enablement and many more. Blog market perspectives are personal opinions and should not be interpreted as a professional judgment.