The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/116777
best practices consider splitting the costs. Shared costs can have the added benefit of fostering collaboration across departments and ensuring the solution is properly utilized and promoted. Even though departments might be sharing costs, only one department or set of individuals should be responsible for "owning" and maintaining the software. Data quality issues, upgrades, patches and outages can occur, so it is important to establish and assign clear responsibilities for each facet of the solution. Another consideration is security requirements. The security of legal data is extremely important. An organization's reputation hinges on its ability to protect sensitive and confidential information. Even if the data are not sensitive or confidential, security is paramount. Work with the IT department or a security expert to assess all security risks before implementing an analytics solution. 10 Peer to Peer Identify a Solution When evaluating available solutions, it is important not to get caught up in the bells and whistles. Focus on identifying the one solution that meets the requirements of your plan at the best price. There are three tiers of data analytics solutions: small, medium and enterprise. Small data analytics solutions use custom reports and can be built using existing tools and applications. The data needed to support these solutions must be manageable, specific and already in a structured format. Small solutions are the most costeffective, but they are typically only used within one department, consisting of five to 10 users, and most often are deployed locally. Small solutions have limited reporting features and cannot efficiently process data volumes greater than several gigabytes. Medium data analytics solutions typically leverage a thirdparty tool that connects to various types of data sources (e.g., spreadsheets, text files and databases). Solutions of this size