Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Greg Buckles. Published: 2015-01-13 19:00:00Format, images and links may no longer function correctly.
In this pre-LTNY season, we expect every software developer in the eDiscovery market to launch their major product releases for the year. LTNY long ago set the product release schedule for maximum customer awareness and impact. LexisNexis launched version 11 of CaseMap today, touting a familiar, modern user interface modeled on Microsoft® Office 2013 and a customizable user ribbon. It is 2015 folks. CaseMap first hit the market in 1998. Are basic usability features like new tool tips, customized user ribbon and report menu really worthy of a major product version release? LexisNexis has acquired some decent products over the years and this made me curious about what has happened with them after their acquisition. It takes quite a bit of digging to figure out some trends. My interpretation is that some products come in to LexisNexis with a strong development team and keep their momentum. Other eDiscovery products coast without significant investment. This CaseMap presentation is probably the best indicator of consistent product management that is able to produce a major version every 1-2 years. The rest of the product line seems to be on a much slower cycle.
- 1998 – CaseMap initial release
- 2/21/2010 – CaseMap 10 got full-text search with OCR – Yep, the last major release was almost three years ago and they missed the LTNY deadline.
- 6/4/2012 – Sanction Solutions acquired
- 10/31/2012 – Sanction 2.9 released, pretty fast release cycle
- 8/15/2014 – Sanction 3.6 released
- 7/6/2011 – Concordance Evolution launched – complete platform rework of venerable Concordance.
- 8/13/2013 – Hosted Concordance Evolution (2.0?) released – given that LexisNexis is a SaaS provider at heart, why even release a server based product?
- 7/15/2014 – Concordance Evolution 3.0 – integration with LAW PreDiscovery
- 7/5/2006 – LexisNexis acquires Dataflight and Concordance version 8
- 4/30/2009 – Concordance v. 10 released
- 2007 – LAW PreDiscovery 5.0 acquired
- 8/30/2011 – LAW PreDiscovery 6.0 released
- 11/13/2012 – LAW PreDiscovery 6.2 released
- 11/21/2014 – LAW PreDiscovery 6.7 – latest release
Why should you care? Because products and companies either innovate or die. Smart consumers invest their money and time into products with a viable future.
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.