This week we publish a new long-form report, Cloud e-discovery: litigation comes down to earth – download an executive summary here.
In cloud e-discovery we see two major market shifts: corporations in-sourcing e-discovery to lower costs, while outsourcing IT infrastructure and services around it through hosting. Still in early adoption, it is a leap of faith on some level, and carries both risks and benefits. While most users in our 2010 e-discovery survey were bringing the e-discovery process in-house, only 16% were using cloud to do it, for a variety of reasons including security, data loss, regulatory concerns, and ease of retrieval.
But consider that hosted e-discovery has actually been around for over 20 years. What’s more, while some enterprises are resisting the cloud, their law firms, service providers, and other outsourcers entrusted with their data are not.
Witness this month’s 2010 Am Law tech survey – 80% of law firms are using hosted technology, 60% of those for e-discovery. In fact, e-discovery tops all hosted software usage, far surpassing HR (21%), spam filter/email (21%), storage (6%) or document management (5%). And while 79% report a positive experience, 30% said the savings were not what they expected. Limited customization, diminished data control and security were even greater concerns.
And what of the bigger-picture risks? Cloud topped the agenda last month at the Masters Conference as well: the growth of public and private cloud data from mobile use and social media, potential regulatory pitfalls, the benefits and risks of hosted e-discovery, and growing cross-border issues. No blue-sky thinking here, just hard truths on the cloud from those on the front lines.
From e-discovery lawyers and consultants:
- “[Public] cloud providers can’t meet the needs [of e-discovery] today.”
- “Your data, your problem.”
- “Data privacy in the EU is like free speech or freedom of religion in the US. . . they will give up the cloud before they give this up.”
From Microsoft General Counsel, speaking on cloud regulation:
- “Things will move quickly, and if something bad happens, things will move faster still.”
From an enterprise buyer on procurement:
- “It will take 19 months to work out e-discovery issues once you start talking about it.”
- “Every dollar they save on cloud will be three dollars in legal.”
- “I hate when people say ‘it’s not gonna stop – it’s already there.’ It makes customers think there is no choice but to comply. But maybe ‘cloud’ will go away?”
And for the last word, a characteristically common-sense admonition from UK expert Chris Dale (speaking on ECA):
So, how to navigate it all? For a succinct analysis of the cloud e-discovery market, our report is available to 451 CloudScape or Information Management subscribers, or get an executive summary here. It offers a market overview, benefits and risks of cloud e-discovery, adoption trends and inhibitors, market drivers, current vendor and service-provider offerings, and the future direction of the market, particularly for enterprise customers.
Also note a complementary report, Cloud archiving: a new model for enterprise data retention, by Simon Robinson and Kathleen Reidy. They estimate the market will generate around $193m in revenues in 2010, growing at a CAGR of 36% to reach $664m by 2014. This report covers growth drivers, the competitive landscape and the outlook for consolidation, featuring detailed vendor profiles and end-user case studies.
Subscribe via RSS