Gaining Control & Reducing Costs— A Leading Home Manufacturer Brings E-Discovery In-House

CASE STUDY

BackgroundThis corporation has tens of thousands of employees, scores of factories

and various other supporting business units. Its size and complexity

means its legal matters have similar attributes. An average case for the

company involves collecting from multiple custodians and processing

and reviewing nearly 10 terabytes of data. Numerous simultaneous

cases are the norm, and the company’s in-house legal department

works with several outside law firms.

IntroductionA major corporation moved from a

services-based litigation system to an

in-house model using AccessData’s

e-discovery software, AD eDiscovery®.

Managing the process from litigation hold

all the way through to final review gave

the corporation extensive control and

transparency, leading to enormous cost

savings and improved efficiencies over

their current processes.

Business ProblemIn order to manage its case load, the corporation had

initially turned to a large national e-discovery consulting

firm and service provider. The company relied on this

provider for the entire electronic discovery process from

collection to processing to early data assessment/first

pass review to final review. However, as its cases grew

larger the manufacturer’s costs began to skyrocket, often

hitting over $750,000 per matter. It soon became clear

that the only way to rein in the ballooning services costs

was to bring some, if not all, of the processes in-house.

The services model of managing e-discovery had become

untenable and the company began to investigate its options.

The Solution: AD eDiscovery The corporation first looked into an area where it

could see quick and dramatic savings—data collection.

After surveying the market and testing the number

one and number two forensic data collection software

developers—AccessData and Guidance Software

respectively—the company recognized AccessData as the

clear leader. Due, among other things, to its ease of use

and rich, consistent collection capability, the company

purchased AD eDiscovery for its collection needs. Any

uncertainty the manufacturer felt in switching from a

comprehensive service provider to an in-house solution

provider was largely alleviated due to the extremely

responsive and knowledgeable treatment it received

from the AD Sales and Sales Engineering teams. The

service-oriented culture at AccessData made for a great

partnership with the client’s legal and IT departments.

What Is AD eDiscovery?In purchasing AD eDiscovery, the manufacturer chose

the most comprehensive electronic discovery software

solution on the market. AD eDiscovery supports the

user through multiple phases of the electronic discovery

process, from litigation hold to load file production, in an

automated, repeatable and defensible manner.

AD eDiscovery delivers the following capabilities:

• Built-in litigation hold deployment and reporting

• Collection of both structured and unstructured data,

backed by 20+ years of development experience

• Distributed data processing of terabytes per day,

involving complex data sets from multiple custodians

and data sources

• Early case assessment and culling

• Review and comprehensive load file production

• Intuitive, web-based interface for collaborative use

by internal and external litigation teams

• Extensive analytic measurement and reporting

capabilities

Any uncertainty the manufacturer felt in switching from a comprehensive service provider to an in-house solution provider was largely alleviated due to the extremely responsive and knowledgeable treatment it received from the AD Sales and Sales Engineering teams.

AD eDiscovery can be leveraged by internal and external

litigation teams to realize additional cost savings. Because

the solution is accessed via a secure web interface,

corporations like this one can quickly and easily give

outside counsel or service providers controlled access

to support real-time collaboration across the entire

corporate docket. This capability enables corporations to

take back control of their case data from service providers

and offers additional cost savings (hosting and review).

Most importantly, AD eDiscovery is easy to use and

highly effective. As an employee of the business stated,

“We were using AD eDiscovery and within one week were

impressed with its speed and accuracy in comparison

to our previous solution.” Within very little time, the

corporation had moved from using AD eDiscovery on

a per-custodian basis for collection alone to deploying

the solution enterprise wide, across their entire litigation

process. In the first, year AccessData saved the

manufacturer $2 million, and they continue to save with

each case they manage in-house with AD eDiscovery.

“Best Customer Service We’ve Ever Received …”The added benefit the corporation observed in working

with AccessData is the incredible focus AD places on

client services. In fact, the company’s satisfaction with

AD is not just attributable to the products, but is due in

large part to the dedication of the Services and Support

teams. As one of their employees stated, “AccessData’s

support organization is second to none. I have never

worked with a company that offered that level of support.

If we had a problem they fixed it, even if we were on the

phone until 3 a.m.” In fact, support is central to the culture

at AccessData and this corporation’s experience and

sentiments are not unique among AD customers.

Success with the Current ProcessThe manufacturing company’s adoption of AD eDiscovery

was a true success, and today it employs AD eDiscovery

as a comprehensive litigation support solution; using it

for litigation hold, forensic collection, data processing,

early case assessment and first pass review. The company

routinely collects up to 20 terabytes of data per case

and processes more than a terabyte per day using AD

eDiscovery. It is saving a great deal of money processing

massive amounts of data without falling victim to the per-

gig pricing trap set by some well-known software vendors.

Considering that the company runs multiple cases

simultaneously, the cost savings over the old services

model have become enormous. Cases that used to cost

the client $750,000 are now coming in at the $20,000 –

30,000 mark for the entire hold to final review process.

Corporate-Directed Final ReviewAD eDiscovery also allows the corporation to take the

significant step of requiring outside law firms they work

with to log-in to the corporation’s system to perform final

review. The corporation then leverages this capability

as an additional way to control costs and to gather

analytics regarding each firm’s performance on the case.

Moreover, it saves the corporation’s in-house legal and

IT departments from having to deal with multiple review

platforms—sometimes equal to the number of outside

firms. The company likes the concept of controlling the

review, and with the excellent AD eDiscovery reporting

functionality, it can track each outside firm’s performance

and compare them against each other. This practice has

the compound benefit of enhancing the corporation’s

control over the process, creating accountability for the

outside law firms, and ultimately saving litigation dollars

for the corporation.

Accelerated Case AssessmentBecause the manufacturer employed the AD eDiscovery

solution throughout the enterprise, it is now able to

quickly and resourcefully make informed decisions at

the onset of litigation. The client can immediately identify

and confirm relevant custodians and data locations and

refine complex keyword strategies without having to

retrieve the underlying documents until case strategy is

more fully developed. These features can translate into

key courtroom advantages for the corporation’s litigation

team over and above the tactical cost savings provided by

bringing the process in-house. Further, questions related

to proportionality and cost shifting are now less onerous

for this company since much of the EDRM (Electronic

Discovery Reference Model) is managed in-house.

Conclusion: Taking Back ControlWithin one year, this home manufacturer had saved

$2 million by employing AD eDiscovery. The company

continues to see enormous cost savings, with most cases

coming in at around $20,000 – $30,000 rather than the

$750,000 price tag it paid under the litigation services

model. While cost savings is an obvious benefit, the added

control the business now has over the process is also of

great value. The corporation now has a bird’s-eye view

into every phase of the process, which allows the litigation

team to identify and maximize efficiencies.

This corporation is a great example of a business that

has assertively taken control over its litigation process by

implementing AccessData’s in-house e-discovery solution.

It is no longer forced to spend untenable litigation review

costs that lack consistent and efficient methods to

control the “flow” of e-discovery data. The next step for

forward-leaning companies such as this will be to bring

even greater power and functionality in-house by utilizing

AccessData’s Summation® product line for enhanced

final review. This corporation is truly a beneficiary and

exemplar of the advantages companies can harness

through the use of the AD eDiscovery platform.

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