By James D. Shook, Esq.
Director of E-Discovery and Compliance
EMC Corporation
Ten years ago, few people, even lawyers, knew much about electronic discovery (e-discovery)—the process of finding, preserving, processing, and producing electronic information that is relevant to a legal dispute. Today, it’s difficult to find anyone who is not at least conversant with the concept, thanks to many high-profile cases and countless articles in both IT and legal journals. And yet even with all of the changes that we have already seen, the next ten years are likely to produce even more.
An extra “e” transforms “discovery”
The U.S. legal system requires that each party in a civil dispute provide the other party with all information, both good and bad, that is relevant to the case. This part of the litigation process is called discovery.
In the “old days”—which in technology terms means before 2000—the discovery process focused primarily on paper documents such as contracts, notes, files, and correspondence, including letters and memoranda. As businesses began using more technology, especially e-mail, the majority of that information shifted from paper to electronic format, and e-discovery was born.
The rules of discovery never specifically included—or excluded—electronic data, creating inconsistencies and confusion. To address this issue, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended in December 2006 to specifically include electronic data, defined as electronically stored information or ESI. Although the FRCP only governs disputes in federal courts, it strongly influences state courts, and the rules spread quickly.
Almost overnight, IT systems such as e-mail servers became concerns for lawyers, many of whom are notoriously techno-phobic. Organizations that failed to meet their e-discovery obligations faced the risk of embarrassing and costly sanctions from the courts. Simply collecting and preserving everything was cost-prohibitive. A frequently cited study found that it costs almost $20,000 to have lawyers review a single gigabyte of data (which may seem reasonable since 1 GB represents about 75,000 pages). Extrapolating those costs across hundreds of gigabytes, or even a terabyte or more of data, scared most organizations—and they started looking for a better way to manage both the e-discovery process and their electronic information.
E-discovery strategies at work, today
Organizations that lead the way in e-discovery best practices are attacking the problem in two ways. First, by managing data more centrally and efficiently, they can responsibly delete data that has no value, or which they are under no obligation to retain. Not only does this practice improve the e-discovery process, but it also creates significant savings for storage, backup, and personnel costs.
The second part of this strategy is to bring some—or all—of the e-discovery process in-house. To do this, organizations are creating cross-functional teams that include both IT and Legal, and then deploying technologies that enable fast and efficient in-place search and collection of their ESI.
Yet even today there are many organizations that have done little to address these requirements. Because e-discovery is not a voluntary process, many unprepared organizations perform “faux e-discovery”—they attempt to meet their obligations, but in reality miss significant amounts of relevant data. In doing so, they are taking on significant risk, without understanding or acknowledging it. Other organizations that fail to prepare are forced to turn to expert (and expensive) third-party vendors, frequently spending several hundred thousand to well over a million dollars to respond to a single case—without any ongoing benefit.
More data, more technologies, more challenges, more solutions
The continuing explosion in the amount and varying types of data will continue to significantly impact the e-discovery landscape. With studies noting that we will have 35 zetabytes of data created by 2020, even good processes may be totally overwhelmed by the sheer volume.
In addition, technologies that enhance the speed and efficiency of communication and businesses processes continue to be developed—and they are usually not e-discovery-friendly. Social media technologies such as Facebook and Twitter are further blurring the line between personal and business data, which can be difficult for organizations to locate and preserve. Cloud computing can put a company’s data in the hands of a third party, sometimes in a different country or jurisdiction, which also makes e-discovery more difficult.
But technology is also likely to provide solutions, such as intelligent filtering and review of data. There are tools today that can classify and determine whether documents are relevant to a case based on their similarity to other relevant documents or other criteria. But those technologies are new and complex, and their acceptance in actual court proceedings is not assured.
With all of these issues on the horizon—and certainly more that we cannot yet predict—the next 10 years in e-discovery will be every bit as interesting as the last.
As director of e-discovery and compliance at EMC Corporation, James D. Shook, Esq. works with customers to help them solve challenges related to e-discovery, compliance and privacy. James is a long-time member of The Sedona Conference, a well-known legal think tank, and is an active contributor on several of its committees.
Showing posts with label EMC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EMC. Show all posts
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Creating the Efficient Paperless Office
By Mark Brousseau
There’s a school of thought that the data capture and document imaging industry should have made more progress by now. “We’re talking about the same issues today that we were years ago,” Chris Preston of EMC Corporation said during a keynote presentation this morning at TAWPI’s Capture Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. But the economic downturn may accelerate the pace of change.
“The technology has substantially improved, and we’re moving to the right direction, but we’re not getting the paper out of the organization entirely,” Preston told conference attendees. “The challenge is to more efficiently handle the paper once it’s in an organization.”
Preston noted that the economic downturn is driving the push to more efficiently handle paper. “What’s driving organizations are three basic things, and they will continue to drive organizations even in the recovery: reduce operating costs, better serve customers, and reduce risk,” Preston said.
“Organizations want to know how to deliver value faster, better, cheaper than before,” Preston said.
Preston pointed to a study conducted by EMC and The Economist that cited agility as the top priority for 88 percent of executives worldwide. “Agility is not just about speed, it’s about adaptability and the ability to adapt quickly,” Preston said, noting that agile companies grow revenues 30 percent faster according to the study. To improve agility, Preston said organizations must:
… Improve process efficiency (change management, outsourcing, automation and satisfaction)
… Improve knowledge management and information sharing processes
… Encourage and extend collaboration across the business and beyond
“Doing all of these things will provide a foundation for becoming a more agile company,” he said.
To this end, organizations are moving from an application approach to information-centric infrastructure, with a common, virtual pool of information that applications have access to, or contribute to. “This is what organizations are trying to aspire to,” Preston explained.
Standing in the way of this migration is information. “If you look at information, there is lots of it (1.8 zetabytes), it is mostly unstructured (95 percent), mostly unmanaged (85 percent), managed by organizations (85 percent), and becoming more regulated,” Preston said. “The consequences of not managing information are severe – everything from regulatory fines, impact on customer service.”
And the paper challenges facing organizations aren’t likely to change anytime soon. Preston noted that more than 20 millions of office paper is produced and consumed each year in the United States and Europe. “Paper is, and will continue to be, a critical component of business transactions. In order to drive efficiency you’ll have to find better ways to manage paper,” Preston told attendees.
“The opportunity is to look at document imaging and data capture to transform paper into business-ready information so the organization can do something with it,” Preston stated, adding that the greatest opportunity to reduce costs and enhance services lies in transactional content management.
What do you think? Post your comments below.
There’s a school of thought that the data capture and document imaging industry should have made more progress by now. “We’re talking about the same issues today that we were years ago,” Chris Preston of EMC Corporation said during a keynote presentation this morning at TAWPI’s Capture Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. But the economic downturn may accelerate the pace of change.
“The technology has substantially improved, and we’re moving to the right direction, but we’re not getting the paper out of the organization entirely,” Preston told conference attendees. “The challenge is to more efficiently handle the paper once it’s in an organization.”
Preston noted that the economic downturn is driving the push to more efficiently handle paper. “What’s driving organizations are three basic things, and they will continue to drive organizations even in the recovery: reduce operating costs, better serve customers, and reduce risk,” Preston said.
“Organizations want to know how to deliver value faster, better, cheaper than before,” Preston said.
Preston pointed to a study conducted by EMC and The Economist that cited agility as the top priority for 88 percent of executives worldwide. “Agility is not just about speed, it’s about adaptability and the ability to adapt quickly,” Preston said, noting that agile companies grow revenues 30 percent faster according to the study. To improve agility, Preston said organizations must:
… Improve process efficiency (change management, outsourcing, automation and satisfaction)
… Improve knowledge management and information sharing processes
… Encourage and extend collaboration across the business and beyond
“Doing all of these things will provide a foundation for becoming a more agile company,” he said.
To this end, organizations are moving from an application approach to information-centric infrastructure, with a common, virtual pool of information that applications have access to, or contribute to. “This is what organizations are trying to aspire to,” Preston explained.
Standing in the way of this migration is information. “If you look at information, there is lots of it (1.8 zetabytes), it is mostly unstructured (95 percent), mostly unmanaged (85 percent), managed by organizations (85 percent), and becoming more regulated,” Preston said. “The consequences of not managing information are severe – everything from regulatory fines, impact on customer service.”
And the paper challenges facing organizations aren’t likely to change anytime soon. Preston noted that more than 20 millions of office paper is produced and consumed each year in the United States and Europe. “Paper is, and will continue to be, a critical component of business transactions. In order to drive efficiency you’ll have to find better ways to manage paper,” Preston told attendees.
“The opportunity is to look at document imaging and data capture to transform paper into business-ready information so the organization can do something with it,” Preston stated, adding that the greatest opportunity to reduce costs and enhance services lies in transactional content management.
What do you think? Post your comments below.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Magazine Loves EMC Stock
Posted by Mark Brousseau
In it's current issue, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine names EMC one of its "5 Stable Tech Stocks You Should Love." Here's what the magazine had to say about the company:
As the business world grows increasingly digital, the amount of data companies must store is swelling. This unrelenting trend virtually guarantees steady growth for EMC Corp. (EMC), a leader in storage.
The market for storage hardware and software is plenty crowded, says Morningstar analyst Michael Holt, but EMC has differentiated itself by being "one of the first companies to push into network storage"--that is, storage on a central server. The company currently claims about 25% of this market. EMC's strategy is to sell customers both the low-margin hardware they need for storage and the high-margin software for smoothly accessing stored data.
Through its 84% stake in VMware, EMC is also "the leader in virtualization technology," says Halford. Virtualization, he explains, is an efficiency-improving technology that allows users to run multiple operating systems on a single machine. "Most surveys of chief technology officers rank virtualization as their top priority because the payback period on an investment is so short," says Jay Sekelsky, manager of the Madison Mosaic Investors fund, which owns shares of EMC.
The recession finally caught up to EMC in the first half of 2009. Sales and earnings per share fell 10% and 26%, to $6.4 billion and 34 cents, respectively, from the same period in 2008. Analysts expect earnings of 82 cents per share in 2009 and $1.03 in 2010, compared with $100 per share last year. At$15.19, the stock trades for 18 times 2009 profits and has popped 45% year-to-date.
What do you think?
In it's current issue, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine names EMC one of its "5 Stable Tech Stocks You Should Love." Here's what the magazine had to say about the company:
As the business world grows increasingly digital, the amount of data companies must store is swelling. This unrelenting trend virtually guarantees steady growth for EMC Corp. (EMC), a leader in storage.
The market for storage hardware and software is plenty crowded, says Morningstar analyst Michael Holt, but EMC has differentiated itself by being "one of the first companies to push into network storage"--that is, storage on a central server. The company currently claims about 25% of this market. EMC's strategy is to sell customers both the low-margin hardware they need for storage and the high-margin software for smoothly accessing stored data.
Through its 84% stake in VMware, EMC is also "the leader in virtualization technology," says Halford. Virtualization, he explains, is an efficiency-improving technology that allows users to run multiple operating systems on a single machine. "Most surveys of chief technology officers rank virtualization as their top priority because the payback period on an investment is so short," says Jay Sekelsky, manager of the Madison Mosaic Investors fund, which owns shares of EMC.
The recession finally caught up to EMC in the first half of 2009. Sales and earnings per share fell 10% and 26%, to $6.4 billion and 34 cents, respectively, from the same period in 2008. Analysts expect earnings of 82 cents per share in 2009 and $1.03 in 2010, compared with $100 per share last year. At$15.19, the stock trades for 18 times 2009 profits and has popped 45% year-to-date.
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
