Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Content Assessment: An Economic Flash Freeze? Winter 2023 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey Results

Information - 96%
Insight - 94%
Relevance - 95%
Objectivity - 98%
Authority - 94%

95%

Excellent

A short percentage-based assessment of the qualitative benefit of the post highlighting the business confidence of cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery professionals in the winter of 2023.

Editor’s Note: The eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey is a non-scientific quarterly survey that shares insight into the business confidence of individuals working in the eDiscovery ecosystem. The survey consists of nine core questions on factors related to the creation, delivery, and consumption of eDiscovery products and services purposed toward cyber, data, and legal discovery tasks. Additionally, the survey contains three optional questions focused on the business operational metrics of days sales outstanding (DSO), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), and customer revenue distribution. 


Industry Survey

The Winter 2023 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey Results

Final Results

The quarterly eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey has been administered twenty-nine times since early 2016, with 2,939 individual responses from eDiscovery industry professionals. The survey provides valuable insight into the current business confidence of cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery professionals in the eDiscovery ecosystem. Today ComplexDiscovery shares the observations and opinions of industry analysts and observers, reporters and communicators, and law firm and legal department experts and consultants on the eDiscovery business climate in the winter of 2023.
 
The winter 2023 survey response period was initiated on January 22, 2023, and continued until January 27, 2023. The survey was highlighted and promoted primarily by direct email from ComplexDiscovery and the EDRM to cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery professionals.
This quarter’s survey experienced a strong* response rate with 65 eDiscovery professionals sharing their opinions on the business of eDiscovery. While individual answers to the survey are confidential, the aggregate and unfiltered results are published to highlight the business confidence of participants regarding economic factors impacting the creation, delivery, and consumption of eDiscovery products and services during the winter of 2023. These results may be useful to legal, information technology, and business professionals seeking to better understand current and potential future business conditions as shared by survey participants.

Business Confidence Questions (Required)

n = 65 Respondents
 
1. Which of the following segments best describes your business in eDiscovery?
Part of the eDiscovery ecosystem where your organization resides  
 
  • Law Firm – 33.8% ↑
  • Software or Services Provider – 18.5% ↓
  • Other – 16.9% ↑
  • Consultancy – 13.8% ↑
  • Corporation – 12.3% ↓
  • Media/Research – 4.6% ↑
  • Governmental Entity – 0.0% ↓
Survey Respondents by Organizational Segment - Winter 2023

2. How would you rate the current general business conditions for eDiscovery in your segment?
Subjective feeling of business performance when compared with business expectations  
 
  • Good – 36.9.% ↓
  • Normal – 56.9% ↑
  • Bad – 6.2% ↑
Current Business Climate Overview - Winter 2023

3. How do you think the business conditions will be in your segment six months from now?
Subjective feeling of business performance when compared with business expectations  
 
  • Better – 29.2% ↓
  • Same – 64.6% ↑
  • Worse – 6.2% ↑
Business Climate Overview + Six Months - Winter 2023

4. How would you guess revenue in your segment of the eDiscovery ecosystem will be six months from now?
Revenue is income generated from eDiscovery-related business activities  
 
  • Higher – 32.3% ↓
  • Same – 56.9% ↑
  • Lower – 10.8% ↑
Revenue Overview + Six Months - Winter 2023

5. How would you guess profits in your segment of the eDiscovery ecosystem will be six months from now?
Profit is the amount of income remaining after accounting for all expenses, debts, additional revenue streams, and operating costs  
 
  • Higher – 23.1% ↓
  • Same – 64.6% ↑
  • Lower – 12.3% ↑
Profits Overview + Six Months - Winter 2023

6. Of the six items presented below, what is the issue that you feel will most impact the business of eDiscovery over the next six months?
Challenges that may directly impact the business performance of your organization  
 
  • Budgetary Constraints – 32.3% ↑
  • Increasing Volumes of Data – 20.0% ↑
  • Data Security – 15.4% ↑
  • Increasing Types of Data – 13.8% ↓
  • Lack of Personnel – 9.2% ↓
  • Inadequate Technology – 9.2% ↑
Issues Impacting eDiscovery Business Performance - Winter 2023

7. In which geographical region do you primarily conduct eDiscovery-related business?
The location from which you are basing your business assessments  
 
  • North America (United States) – 92.3% ↑
  • Europe (UK) – 4.6% ↑
  • North America (Canada) – 1.5% ↓
  • Asia/Asia Pacific – 1.5% ↓
  • Middle East/Africa – 0.0% ↓
  • Europe (Non-UK) – 0.0% ↓
  • Central/South America – 0.0% =
Survey Respondents by Geographic Region - Winter 2023

8. What area best describes your primary function in the conduct of your organization’s eDiscovery-related business?  
 
  • Legal/Litigation Support – 76.9% ↓
  • Business/Business Support (All Other Business Functions) – 20.0% ↑
  • IT/Product Development – 3.1% ↓
Survey Respondents by Primary Function - Winter 2023

9. What area best describes your level of support in the conduct of your organization’s eDiscovery-related business?  
 
  • Executive Leadership – 27.7% ↓
  • Operational Management – 30.8% ↓
  • Tactical Execution – 41.5% ↑
Survey Respondents by Level of Support - Winter 2023

Business Metric Trajectory Questions (Optional)

10. How would you characterize the trajectory of your organization’s Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) during the last quarter?
n=57 Respondents  
 
  • Increasing – 22.8% ↑
  • Unfluctuating – 24.6% ↓
  • Decreasing – 3.5% ↓
  • Do Not Know – 49.1% ↑
eDiscovery Business Metric Trajectory_ Days Sales Outstanding - Winter 2023

11. How would you characterize the trajectory of your organization’s Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) during the last quarter?
n=57 Respondents
 
  • Increasing – 15.8% ↓
  • Unfluctuating – 28.1% ↑
  • Decreasing – 12.3% ↑
  • Do Not Know – 43.9% ↑
eDiscovery Business Metric Trajectory - Monthly Recurring Revenue - Winter 2023

12. Which of the following statements best describes the distribution of your organization’s revenue across your customer base during the last quarter?
n=57 Respondents  
 
  • Increasing – 21.1% ↓
  • Unfluctuating – 31.6% ↑
  • Decreasing – 5.3% ↑
  • Do Not Know – 42.1% ↑
eDiscovery Business Metric Trajectory - Distribution of Revenue Across Customer Base - Winter 2023

 Trend Notes
 
  • ↑ Increase from the last survey.
  • ↓ Decrease from the last survey.
  • = No change from the last survey.
*Survey methodology focuses on the achievement of at least 50 responses with the least number of emails sent to the ComplexDiscovery industry professional database. This approach seeks to minimize the number of requests for participation in surveys while ensuring a solid number of responses from which to generally assess market sentiment in survey areas of interest.
 
Past Survey Results
 
Respondent Backgrounder
 
Aggregate Surveys
 
 
Winter Surveys
 
 
Source: ComplexDiscovery
 
 

 

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