Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Barry Murphy. Published: 2012-12-10 04:00:18Format, images and links may no longer function correctly. The eDJ Group has released a new research report about 2013 eDiscovery trends. Below is a quick summary of the document which is available on our research site, eDiscoveryMatrix.com, as premium content for our Platinum subscribers. We are interested in hearing your thoughts, so please comment below.
In 2013, expect to see the eDiscovery market at a crossroads. eDiscovery is no longer in its infancy, but it is not yet mature either. That will not stop those that look ahead to aggressive information governance (IG) projects as the solution to corporate eDiscovery problems. Rather, 2013 will see eDiscovery as an awkward, gangly teenager – starting to find its way and gaining some confidence, but perhaps trying too hard to be an adult.
IG projects will begin to take hold in 2013, especially in corporations. Most projects will be tactical in nature (e.g. shared drive cleanup and remediation) as companies first crawl and walk before learning to run. Think of 2013 as a bridge year between eDiscovery and IG. A small percentage of companies may even try to apply predictive coding methodologies to information classification, but do not expect that to become the norm.
We believe that technology-assisted review (TAR), specifically predictive coding, will continue to be a hot topic. What will not happen in 2013 is adoption, en masse, of predictive coding, but rather more experimentation at corporations and law firms alike. Before 2013 is out, expect that the comfort level with predictive coding in the legal community will have grown significantly. Look for the bulk of the noise around TAR and predictive coding to come from solution providers, who will jockey for having the best and most defensible approach.
The other thing to watch for with TAR and predictive coding is the race to build up the most human resources expertise. This will be especially important for managed services providers, who will differentiate on the level of human experience with predictive coding as well as the portfolio of technologies used.
The need to collect and preserve diverse information types will increase significantly in 2013. Most companies are used to collecting email and file share content; it may not yet be easy, but preserving these information types is much more straightforward now. Hopefully, no one will get complacent and rest on the laurels of experience with email and file share content. Instead, eDiscovery will remain challenging as more social media, web content, mobile device content, and structured data become a part of eDiscovery.
This is an exciting time for eDiscovery professionals and the eDJ Group will be tracking these trends as well as other developments in 2013. The eDiscoveryMatrix site, currently in beta, will be an excellent resource for eDiscovery professional to track technology and service providers. We recently put together an opportunity with ARMA and Women in eDiscovery to provide their members with Platinum memberships at no charge through March 31, 2013…so let us know if you’re members of those organizations and we’ll get you the details.
Access the full eDiscovery 2013 Trends report here.
eDiscoveryJournal Contributor and eDJ Group Lead Analyst – Barry Murphy