Is Your eDiscovery Vendor Part of the Solution? (Cartoon and Clip)

The Cartoon and Clip of the Week for January 14, 2015

As we move closer to LegalTech New York 2015, the largest legal technology event of the year, eDiscovery practitioners and consumers will read, see and hear more and more about how specific vendors can help them solve discovery and review challenges. This week’s cartoon and clip highlights one important vendor qualification question (cartoon) and provides an alphabetical listing of some of the leading eDiscovery providers in the market today (clip).

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A Short List of Leading eDiscovery Providers

Based on a compilation of research from analyst firms and industry expert reports in the electronic discovery arena, the following list (click here) provides a short listing that may be useful in the consideration of electronic discovery providers.

This listing is taken primarily from eDiscovery provider mentions in selected key formal industry reports and surveys published between August 2011 and today. Where appropriate, the list has been adjusted for industry mergers and acquisitions, with the primary company listed as the recognized eDiscovery provider.

Click here to access a short list of over 150 leading eDiscovery providers.

eDiscovery Challenges: Challenges Faces By Corporate Counsel

Lexbe provides eDiscovery software and services for legal professionals at law firms, corporations, and government agencies.  

Corporate legal and IT departments have an increasing need for cost-efficient eDiscovery/document management software and litigation support services to handle exponentially larger discovery collections and document reviews. It is critically important for corporate counsel to maintain control over and access to sensitive case documents with an internal software solution that won’t break the bank. All too often, outside counsel is less sensitive to security and billing issues than internal litigation staff, and unexpected discovery cost overruns can create serious disagreements and permanant changes to the dynamics of a case. Sometimes, a temporary ‘neutral territory’ is also needed to conduct reviews. Existing internal solutions may not avail themselves to the kind inter-office collaboration that may be required when working with outside counsel.

The Lexbe eDiscovery Platform has been designed to minimize eDiscovery processing, review, and production costs while maintaining industry leading feature performance and functionality. With no user fees, case fees, or hidden costs, Lexbe eDiscovery Platform provides a litigation document management solution that allows corporate counsel to maintain control over discovery collections at a low and predictable monthly cost. Our web-based system can be accessed from any browser and across both PC and MAC operating systems to allow for fast, real-time collaboration between internal legal staff and outside counsel.

Click here to learn more about the Lexbe eDiscovery Platform for Corporate Counsel.

Click here for a demonstration of Lexbe eDiscovery Platform features, a 15 day trial, or for any additional information.

To learn more about Lexbe, visit Lexbe.com

InfoGov Challenge: Zombie Apocalypse Devices & File Shares

One significant ongoing information governance challenge is how to deal with the “Zombie” devices and file shares that remain after employees depart for one reason or another, or that are uncovered during merger & acquisition activities. Zombie devices and data can include laptops or other personal computing devices, and previously assigned file share space. The devices and file shares aren’t live in the sense that people are actively using them, but they’re not sufficiently dead as to permit decent burial or disposition. Like in the horror shows, zombie devices and data can cause considerable disruption if they just keep […]

Read the complete article at: InfoGov Challenge: Zombie Apocalypse Devices & File Shares

Investing in the Business of eDiscovery? (Cartoon and Clip)

Daily we read, see and hear more and more about the many cutting edge technologies and business models associated with the delivery of eDiscovery solutions. This week’s cartoon and clip highlights one historical example of an aggressive investment approach to technology (cartoon) and provides a chronological listing of some of the major merger, acquisition and investment events surrounding eDiscovery related companies between 2001 and today (clip).

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An Overview of Merger, Acquisition and Investment Activities in eDiscovery

Click here to follow chronologically some of the most interesting merger, acquisition and investment events in eDiscovery since 2001.

Text Analysis 101 – A Basic Understanding for Business Users: Document Classification

From the Aylien Text Analysis Blog

The automatic classification of documents is an example of how Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be leveraged to enable machines to better understand human language. By classifying text, we are aiming to assign one or more classes or categories to a document or piece of text, making it easier to manage and sort the documents. Manually categorizing and grouping text sources can be extremely laborious and time-consuming, especially for publishers, news sites, blogs or anyone who deals with a lot of content. Broadly speaking, there are two classes of ML techniques: supervised and unsupervised. […]

Read the complete article at: Text Analysis 101; A Basic Understanding for Business Users: Document Classification

January 2015: A Quick Merger, Acquisition and Investment Update

Provided as a non-comprehensive overview of over 100 key and publicly announced eDiscovery related mergers, acquisitions and investments since 2001, the following listing (click here) highlights key industry activities through the lens of announcement date, acquired company, acquiring or investingcompany and acquisition amount (if known).

Based on an informal and non-all inclusive tracking of mergers, acquisitions and investments in and around the eDiscovery market there have been over 200 events (merger, acquisition or investment) since 2001. If one simply looks at events on a year to year basis, it does appear that the pulse rate of events has strongly mirrored the market as a whole.

Events were strong in 2014 (just over 30 events in 2014) up from 21 in 2013 and down from the 14 year peak of almost 50 events in 2012.

• 2015 – 2 Events
• 2014 – 33 Events
• 2013 – 21 Events
• 2012 – 47 Events
• 2011 – 22 Events
• 2010 – 19 Events
• 2009 – 12 Events
• 2008 – 10 Events
• 2007 – 8 Events
• 2006 – 17 Events
• 2005 – 5 Events
• 2004 – 4 Events
• 2003 – 1 Event
• 2002 – 1 Event
• 2001 – 1 Event

From an observer’s point of view, it appears that three key areas driving investments:

1. The need to increase technology/service capability through the purchase of new/ complementary technology.
2. The need to increase revenue by increasing sales and support infrastructure.
3. The need to increase revenue by buying access to clients.

Some of the most notable events of the last several years include:

• Microsoft Letter of Intent to Purchase Equivio (2014) $200M
• UBIQ IPO (2013) $104.5M
• Symantec Acquisition of Clearwell Systems (2011) $390M • HP Purchase of Autonomy (2011) $11.7B

It does appear the the pulse rate of events will continue to accelerate, especially in light of the fact that many current providers have passed or are reaching the point where they need to either upgrade or replace core technologies with newer, more efficient capability.

See the complete listing of  mergers, acquisitions and investments.

Big Data Speaks Loudly and Carries a Big Stick

By Katherine Spelman and Holly Towie

“Speak softly and carry a big stick” connotes a policy of beginning gently but holding a decisive weapon in reserve.  Big Data doesn’t do that.  When Big Data ‘speaks,’ it tends to blurt out its conclusion and can have an immediate impact, deserved or undeserved, because Big Data is not based on careful statistical sampling and is not aimed at determining causation.  Big Data correlates masses of good, bad and indifferent data, ie , it can be ‘messy’ and its correlations are not necessarily accurate relative to a desired question.  So what will happen when ‘the data’ indicates an […]

Read the complete article at: Big Data Speaks Loudly and Carries a Big Stick