Tips on Slashing E-Discovery Costs
Gone are the days when the amount of data created and stored by enterprises and organizations was measured in megabytes or gigabytes. Today file sizes run into terabytes and petabytes. And very soon, they will move into the realm of exabytes. But this is not a cause for concern for enterprises and organizations who know that as long as technology is advancing, they will be able to easily keep pace with the enormous growth of electronically stored information. What is tormenting to enterprises and organizations, though – both mid-sized and large- are the alarming costs involved in the storing, gathering, processing and reviewing of electronically stored information when required by litigation, internal investigations, or regulatory inqueries.
Companies today have to almost spend a fortune to manage and preserve massive amounts of electronic data, which is nothing compared to the costs required for processing and reviewing it. With many organizations reeling under the effects of the economic recession, trimming the e discovery companies budget may seem like a suitable decision. However, doing so as could prove very costly. Courts are now very strict about e discovery and have enacted laws for the preservation and disclosure of electronically stored information. Enterprises and organizations are expected to abide by these laws, and non-compliance with e discovery requests, intentional or unintentional, are dealt with seriously. The famous Morgan Stanley e-discovery case is enough to demonstrate the harsh repercussions that companies could face if they scale back on the managing, preservation and processing of electronically stored information. So, instead of trimming the e-discovery budget, plan strategies to cut down costs in ways that still achieve your targets but without affecting the quality, being non compliant or defying e-discovery laws.
How to Slash E-Discovery Costs
Today litigation seems unavoidable, and therefore enterprises and organizations cannot afford to have a complacent attitude towards electronic data retention. Instead of being intimidated by the heavy expenses the e-discovery process brings, put an effective system into place that does not drain money excessively. The following are some pointers for slashing e-discovery costs:
· Be an Active Participant
Instead of blindly accepting the decisions of law firms, try to become more involved in the e-discovery process. Get to know the new technologies and processes that can help mitigate costs.
· Avoid Data Deluge
The astonishing amount of e-data to be processed is an important causative factor for e-discovery costs to go sky high. Therefore, companies must implement an effective data retention policy that gets rid of unwanted and insignificant data after a certain period of time. But companies must be very careful when culling data. If data is under-collected, second and even third rounds of collection may need to be performed, which causes costs to shoot up. So, learning to strike a balance between under- and over-collection is important.
· Adopt a Proactive Approach
Most companies wait until they get a request to start the e-discovery process. But under time constraints it is impossible to implement a cost-effective approach. Therefore, the most sensible thing to do is adopt a proactive approach, and start preparation for cost controls early enough to bring down e-discovery costs considerably.
· Implement Cost-Effective Methods and Techniques
There are several traditional and non-traditional methods and techniques to reduce e-discovery costs. For instance, processing and reviewing in native or near native formats or automated filtering are some means by which companies can trim e-discovery costs.
· Go In-House
In-house e-discovery is far more cost effective than depending on external law firms because investing in e discovery software is far less expensive than paying ever-increasing service costs.
In today’s scenario, where the volume of litigation software and electronically stored information is increasing at an astonishing rate, enterprises and organizations have no other option but to implement effective cost cutting measures.
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