Daniel Garrie recently posted Ten Tips for Managing eDiscovery Vendors on the ACC website. His tips, however, focus on bringing additional technology in-house. While bringing some parts of the process in-house may make sense in some organizations, it’s important that legal departments strongly consider his first tip – whether the decision to bring technology in-house makes sense for their corporate resources and culture.
Frequently, as a cost-saving measure, a company will go through an expensive and time consuming process of selecting certain technologies to fit their immediate needs. A few years down the road, however, many find that the costs of keeping that technology current were not considered. Attorneys and compliance teams are then stuck with outdated, inflexible or inappropriate technology for their needs. Even when the solution stops meeting the immediate need, it can be difficult to secure approval to seek a more appropriate solution.
Many eDiscovery vendors stay on the leading edge of technology, and couple their expertise with affordable, predictable cost structures. When looking at the costs involved in bringing technology in-house, weigh the costs of ongoing maintenance and expansion against the results of a well-crafted RFP for hosted or managed services from a selection of trusted vendors. Consider selecting specific options for certain types of cases (either by content or size), allowing your team to choose the correct option for their matter. Seek pricing of specific services and for comprehensive solutions. It may be able to reach the same level of cost savings without locking your company into one, self-hosted technology solution.