A Perfect Storm Brewing in eDiscovery

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Barry Murphy. Published: 2010-04-13 21:34:44  Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I simply can’t avoid using hyperbole to describe conditions in the eDiscovery market.  I will ask forgiveness in advance, but I have to say that a perfect storm is brewing yet again.  First, as the economy begins a slow recovery, organizations are finally beginning to spend money on information governance programs (and it’s about time – the Amendments to the FRCPs took effect almost five years ago).  Second, as organizations roll out these projects, more and more challenges come up, such as the difficulties of collecting from dynamic content management systems like SharePoint and other web collaboration programs.  Finally, the newswires are atwitter with stories about social networking sites and their roles in eDiscovery: the bullying case in Massachusetts where FaceBook postings will most certainly play a role in proving charges against several teens and a case with LinkedIn evidence appearing in a lawsuit.Does this mean that organizations will finally solve the eDiscovery problem?  Sadly, no, because there are simply too many of them that put their heads in the sand and pray that the problem goes away.  But, the percentage of organizations that begin projects like archiving, legal hold, and early case assessment (ECA) will increase.  This is good news for the market – software and service providers will see increased revenues, more venture capital and private equity will flow to solution providers, and a flurry of consolidation will begin.  For end-users, this means access to better tools and services.  It means that large, strategic software vendors will partner more aggressively with innovative start-ups in the market to resell their tools (and potentially acquire them down the road).  As a result, end-users can source these tools as part of broader infrastructure buys and have solutions that are easier to integrate with existing tools in organizational environments.This is all part of the logical move up the maturity curve.  Enough has happened – FRCP Amendments, precedents, scandals – for organizations to understand that it’s time to act.  Tools are evolving to provide real, actual value (despite the fact they still have developmental challenges).  And, with an economic recovery, there will be money to spend on addressing the challenges.  I’m excited to see how the market evolves…and researching how best to approach information governance projects.  Look for reports on forensic collection, legal hold, and ECA in the coming months.