Content Assessment: Challenged or Concerned? The eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership Survey (Fall 2022)

Information - 92%
Insight - 90%
Relevance - 94%
Objectivity - 92%
Authority - 90%

92%

Excellent

A short percentage-based assessment of the qualitative benefit of the eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership Survey initiated in the fall of 2022 from ComplexDiscovery.

Editor’s Note: From time to time, ComplexDiscovery highlights publicly available or privately purchasable announcements, content updates, and research from cyber, data, and legal discovery providers, research organizations, and ComplexDiscovery community members. While ComplexDiscovery regularly highlights this information, it does not assume any responsibility for content assertions.

To submit recommendations for consideration and inclusion in ComplexDiscovery’s cyber, data, and legal discovery-centric service, product, or research announcements, contact us today.


Background Note: ComplexDiscovery regularly conducts non-scientific surveys to gain insight into the business of eDiscovery. These surveys include the quarterly eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey, focused on gaining insight into the current confidence of eDiscovery-ecosystem professionals regarding economic factors impacting the creation, delivery, and consumption of eDiscovery products and services. Today CompexDiscovery expands that survey portfolio through the introduction of a new business survey focused on understanding the total cost of ownership (TCO) of in-house managed eDiscovery. This new survey may be beneficial for cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery professionals seeking to better understand the TCO of in-house eDiscovery. 

Industry Survey

eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership Survey (Fall 2022)

Participation Request

The eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Survey is a non-scientific survey designed to provide insight into the costs associated with the in-house management of an eDiscovery business. 
 
The survey may be important for two primary reasons.
 
  • The first reason is that eDiscovery consumers generally pay a premium for eDiscovery services due to the high cost of owning, managing, and maintaining eDiscovery environments. By better understanding of ownership costs, eDiscovery consumers may be more informed in assessing the actual cost of eDiscovery. 
  • The second reason is that eDiscovery business owners face challenges in explaining and justifying pricing to consumers based on the complexity of eDiscovery pricing and the lack of publicly available information on the total cost of eDiscovery ownership. With market information to share in this arena, eDiscovery business owners may be better positioned to educate and inform consumers on the total cost of eDiscovery ownership.

This survey seeks to gather benchmark information regarding total spend in eDiscovery ownership with the objectives of:
 
  • Providing a deeper understanding for eDiscovery consumers about ownership costs.
  • Creating a shared understanding for eDiscovery business owners about total cost of ownership.
The anonymous survey is open to cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery professionals operating in the eDiscovery ecosystem, and eDiscovery consumers and business owners are invited to participate primarily by personal direct email invitation.
 
Today ComplexDiscovery kindly asks you to share your observations and opinions on in-house eDiscovery cost by participating in the Fall 2022 eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership Survey.


The core survey consists of twenty-two multiple-choice questions focused on factors relating to the procurement, management, and maintenance of in-house eDiscovery. The survey also contains three optional questions focused on metrics associated with the operational timing of hardware procurement and software upgrades.
 

eDiscovery TCO Survey – Core Questions

General Questions

  • Which business segment best describes your business in eDiscovery?
  • What percentage of your business is managed in-house?
  • How much Active Data does your organization maintain related to eDiscovery Hosting Services on a MONTHLY basis?
  • How much new eDiscovery data does your organization process on a MONTHLY basis?

Software-Centric Questions

  • How many users does your organization license MONTHLY for eDiscovery-related support?
  • What is your average MONTHLY spend on all user licensing fees for your primary eDiscovery platform?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on eDiscovery processing software?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on data storage?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on infrastructure licensing supporting software applications?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on security application and licensing services?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on security audits, certifications, and employee security training?

Hardware-Centric Questions

  • What is the ANNUAL cost of your organization’s IT infrastructure?
  • Does your organization rent, lease, or own IT/data storage facilities?
  • How much does your organization spend MONTHLY on data center space?
  • What is your organization’s ANNUAL budget for servers, storage, and related data center hardware?

Staffing-Centric Questions

  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on staffing to maintain your IT infrastructure and related IT services?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on staffing for your information security?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on application support?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on staffing for project management?

Miscellaneous and Unplanned Costs TCO Questions

  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on backup and disaster recovery?
  • How much coverage does your organization have for cyber insurance?
  • How much does your organization spend ANNUALLY on cyber insurance?

eDiscovery TCO Survey – Optional Questions

Procurement and Upgrade Timelines

  • What is the typical lead time required when ordering new data center equipment?
  • When a major version of your primary eDiscovery software is released, how soon does your organization apply the update in production?
  • What is the single most driving factor that impacts your timing on production updates?

ComplexDiscovery will anonymize responses to the survey and does not share any individual or organizational contact data, demographics, or answers.

The eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership Survey response period will be between today and mid-November 2022. Upon completion of the survey, the results will be anonymized, provided to all participants via email, and published on the ComplexDiscovery website.

As your opinion is important in helping form a picture of the total cost of eDiscovery, please do take the time to complete this survey, as the results will provide professionals in the eDiscovery ecosystem with an important reference for considering business decisions.



Additional Research

Source: ComplexDiscovery

 

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