IT research and consulting firm, Osterman Research, has published a new report entitled, "Key Issues for e-Discovery and Legal Compliance" (March 2017).
The report presents an overview of key e-discovery issues, and highlights the results from an in-depth survey of decision makers and influencers at mid-sized and large organizations, primarily in North America.
The paper also offers a number a best practices that decision makers can implement to enable their organizations to be adequately prepared to satisfy the growing number of e-discovery requests, and in doing so reduce/eliminate corporate burden and the significant risk of fines, sanctions, penalties, lost revenue, and/or increased legal expenses.
E-discovery and legal compliance have become top-of-mind issues for business and IT decision makers for two simple reasons: organizations are increasingly engaged in litigation either as defendants or third parties due to today's competitive and litigious business economy; and while business and IT decision makers are worried about the potential of being sued, they are likewise concerned about their ability to comply with court mandated e-discovery orders.
The white paper shows that the organizations surveyed received a mean of 75 e-discovery requests during the past 12 months, and more than three-in-five decision makers remain worried about their organization's potential for being sued. Further, the paper describes how to view the overall process of discovery, and defines what falls under it - i.e., any and all electronically stored information (ESI) including but not limited to: CRM data, presentations, social media posts, voicemails, word processing files/documents, spreadsheets, etc... Literally, every single bit of current and historical ESI.
The paper explains that e-discovery can be demanded across any platform where ESI is stored, including: desktop computers, laptops, handheld devices, file servers, backup disk and tape, public cloud data and even employees' home computers. The paper continues to explain the common mistakes made during the e-discovery process (i.e., worst practices) and offers instead, prevailing best practices.
"There is a lot at stake for firms that are not ready to respond quickly and appropriately to e-discovery requests. And, as this paper outlines, cobbling together manual processes and calling it a 'compliance' program has become unacceptable to insurance companies and the courts," said Michael Osterman, principal analyst and founder, Osterman Research.
"So, business and IT leaders would be well-advised to immediately take a proactive approach to their e-discovery readiness and, in doing so, enable their firm to stay competitive, avoid the consequences of non-compliance, and earn the trust and loyalty of clients."
