P2P

7 I L T A N E T . O R G With the changed perceptions that cloud data bring, we would surmise that the policies and strategies around data would experience growth and that information governance would grow stronger. Many clients we interview in Identification / Preservation discussions made governance decisions when migrating data around cost, not value. While we could be leveraging technology in a myriad of ways to govern company data – few clients see the value in it. Outside of the regulated health and financial industries, managing information to control data can be costly and may not realize a value. Often it is easier to limit retention periods or institute 'email jail' for hosted / current data and allow users the ability to save data off-line. Less space is managed; however, more data is not governed. The impact of these decisions can include discovery processes and the inability to locate information they may need – fortunately this impact may not be significant or occur often. Data from emerging sources influences cost at a staggering level, especially in litigation support. How clients use this data impacts their costs as well as our budgets. To provide context - litigation support considers emerging data as data we receive in discovery for which there are not yet standardized processes to support in the collection, analysis, review, and/or production of that data. When I was working in a corporate legal department there was a [brilliant] data management technique used to help control the business unit demands (and related costs) in discovery – the business unit that sponsored the application had to pay the discovery costs associated with the data they maintained. When we talked about their deployment of new technology, once we incorporated discovery costs relating to it – the discussion for a social media deployment went like this: Me: Ok, so we can run searches in the text files and export the relevant data. Are you allowing users to attach files to when they save their posts? Them: We MUST have the ability to attach files to posts. Me: Ok, the cost for the technical processes to export your data with attachments is 10x the cost when we compare it to the cost of exporting without attachments. Them: We do not need to allow attachments. Cindy MacBean is Litigation Support Manager at Honigman LLP. Cindy is a highly-experienced Litigation Support professional who has recommended technology solutions to support discovery workflow to provide innovative, appropriate and cost-effective solutions in law firms, their clients and corporate legal staff. Cindy has utilized her business education and diverse experience to demonstrate excellence in solving problems, mitigating risk, providing tactical direction, overseeing operations, planning strategic initiatives, implementing solutions and supporting legal teams with the utmost commitment to customer service. In addition to her MBA in Technology Management, she maintains certifications in eDiscovery (CEDS), Information Governance (IGP) and US/Europe Privacy (CIPP/US, CIPP/E). When the business units see the costs associated with their technology – they made decisions about how they could use their technology while understanding the cost of discovering the data they created. While this may not translate to all companies, it was a great example of how emerging technology costs could get out of control if all costs are not considered when deploying new technology tools. There are many examples of companies receiving a discovery budget to handle their data without understanding that their implementation decisions control those costs. Litigation support is all about the data - we will continue to adjust processes and deal with evidence wherever it is located. What I love about litigation is that the overarching processes remain static, but the technology tools we plug and play are ever changing. It is not without its challenges, but we find our way to find value. ILTA

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