The Electronic Discovery Reference Mode (EDRM) helps you break down the eDiscovery process to identify opportunities for improvements:

Most organizations face issues with collection, preservation and processing activities. This is where many organizations spend a lot of time and money during the eDiscovery process.

Average Discovery cost per case based on assessment of leading organizations of more than 10k users:

If work happens increasingly in Microsoft Office 365 (M365), then you should try to leverage the Office 365 compliance features to improve the eDiscovery process for emails, chats, files, etc. Implementing M365 Information Governance will also help you reduce the amount of information to be processed, e.g. automatic deletion of emails after 90 days, automatic deletion of files that have not been modified in 3 years.

M365 with the E3 license includes core eDiscovery features that include case management, content search, legal hold, export results, etc. that will help you automate preservation and collection. The E5 license includes advanced eDiscovery features to help you process, review, and analyze the content.

On average customers have saved circa $6m per year by transitioning to M365 automated discovery, increased use of internal staff and only bringing eDiscovery experts to add efficiency value.

Our recommendations:

• Quantify current eDiscovery approach using appropriate and agreed metrics and identify ‘pain points’ as a means of prioritizing actions

• Identify risks and costs associated with the current processes. Review efficient use of technology scripts, workflows, clusters, definitions and policy, particularly in high cost areas.

• Target investment on pain points where significant improvement is achievable especially where transitioning to modern IT automation, leveraging existing work product, better training can address current issues and costs

• If work happens in Microsoft 365, leverage Microsoft eDiscovery tools to automate identification, preservation, and collection process. This will significantly reduce your costs and make process reliable and efficient

• Leverage internal staff for review, but partner with eDiscovery technology experts to accelerate your process and manage average costs per discovery case

Please contact us if you want to schedule a call to discuss this in more detail.