Taking eDiscovery Technology to New Use-Cases

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Barry Murphy. Published: 2010-08-10 15:39:31  It’s always great to hear about interesting use-cases for eDiscovery technology, especially when those use-cases prove out benefits that go beyond just eDiscovery.  During a recent briefing with Index Engines, the company told me that many customers are using the product for tape remediation initiatives.  Essentially, these customers know that there is a ton of information sitting on backup tapes somewhere.  This information is both costly to store (the tapes have to live somewhere) and risky – there is the risk that the tapes will have to be restored for eDiscovery (also not necessarily cheap).The customers are using Index Engines to determine what kind of information is on the tapes without having to do complete restoration.  Information that is valuable or potentially related to a litigation hold can then be selectively restored and moved to a preservation repository.  The tapes can then be destroyed or repurposed.This use-case goes beyond eDiscovery, though.  Take an example of a merged company.  There is often an effort to migrate information to a single system, for example, moving all email information to a consolidated archive.  The two companies will likely have email information stored in a variety of backup formats on tapes.  The project can leverage the capabilities of an Index Engines type solution to read the various backup formats, determine what data is to be restored, consolidate that information, and then migrate it to an archive.Such a solution cuts costs, reduces risks, and brings efficiency to migration projects that tend to be nightmarish.  What I like about projects like this is that they prove out that technology typically purchased for eDiscovery really can provide broader benefits across the enterprise.  I only wish more organizations would go public with the ROI achieved from such projects.  I know many clients of mine are constantly searching for more ways to justify budgets for technology beyond simply cutting eDiscovery costs.  If anyone has examples to share, please comment.