Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

Content Assessment: Issues Impacting eDiscovery Business Performance: A Winter 2021 Overview

Information - 95%
Insight - 95%
Relevance - 95%
Objectivity - 100%
Authority - 90%

95%

Excellent

A short percentage-based assessment of the qualitative benefit of the recent post highlighting issues impacting the business of eDiscovery.

Editor’s Note: The results of the recent Winter 2021 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey present the continuing impact of COVID constraints on the business of eDiscovery. However, for these pandemic-driven results and their potential impact on the business of eDiscovery to be fully understood, they should be viewed through the contextual lens of the results of all twenty-one surveys that have been administered to eDiscovery professionals since the inception of the eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey in early 2016.

Initiated in January 2016, the survey has been administered twenty-one times with 2,332 individual responses. The latest survey was administered in the winter of 2021 and had 60 respondents.

Budgetary Constraints: The Undisputed Champion 0f Business Impact Issues

The eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey is a nonscientific quarterly survey designed to provide insight into the business confidence level of individuals working in the eDiscovery ecosystem. The survey consists of nine core multiple-choice questions focused on factors related to the creation, delivery, and consumption of eDiscovery products and services. Additionally, the survey contains three optional questions focused on the business operational metrics of days sales outstanding (DSO), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), and revenue distribution across customer bases.

Initiated in January 2016, the survey has been administered twenty-one times with 2,332 individual responses. The survey is open to legal, business, and information technology professionals operating in the eDiscovery ecosystem, and individuals are invited to participate primarily via direct email invitations.

The latest survey was administered in the winter of 2021 and had 60 respondents in roles that included executive leadership (45.0%), operational management (36.7%), and tactical execution (18.3%). Industry segments represented in the survey included software and service providers (41.7%), law firms (28.3%), consultancies (13.3%), corporations (5.0%), governmental entities (5.0%), media and research professionals (5.0%), and others (1.7%).

One of the questions in the quarterly survey asks participants to select from a listing of six choices the issue they view as potentially having the most impact on their eDiscovery business during the next six months. The issues presented include:

  • Budgetary Constraints
  • Data Security
  • Inadequate Technology
  • Increasing Types of Data
  • Increasing Volumes of Data
  • Lack of Personnel

While not all-inclusive, the listing of issues provides a realistic overview of potential areas that appear to have a direct and ongoing impact on the business of eDiscovery.

Based on the aggregate results of past surveys, the following findings and charted overviews of responses to the question of issues impacting business may be helpful in understanding the collective mindset of many industry experts regarding these issues and their impact on the business of eDiscovery.

Six Key Findings in the Winter of 2021

  • In the winter of 2021, 43.3% of respondents viewed budgetary constraints as potentially having the greatest business impact on their business in the next six months. This percentage is the highest of all concerns represented in the winter 2021 survey and also is the fourth-highest rating for any business performance concern since the inception of the survey. It also should be noted that the four highest ratings of budgetary constraints as a primary concern for survey respondents have all occurred during the current COVID-19 pandemic, beginning with the spring 2020 survey. This is also the thirteenth time in twenty-one surveys that the issue of budgetary constraints has been the top concern or tied for the top concern by survey respondents. (Charts 1,2, and 3)
  • Increasing data volumes continue to be a consistent concern for eDiscovery professionals with 18.3% of winter 2021 survey respondents viewing data volume challenges as potentially having a substantial impact on business in the next six months. This was a significant increase in this area from the 12.0% response rate in the fall 2020 survey. (Chart 4)
  • The percentage of respondents that viewed increasing types of data as a top business concern decreased slightly in the last quarter from 18.1% in the fall of 2020 to 16.7% in the winter of 2021. (Chart 5)
  • The percentage of respondents viewing the impact of data security as a top business issue increased strongly from the last quarter and is now viewed as the top concern by 13.3% of survey respondents. (Chart 6)
  • The impact of a lack of personnel on eDiscovery business performance decreased during the last quarter and is the top concern for 5.0% of respondents, down from 8.4% in the fall of 2020. (Chart 7)
  • In the winter of 2021, the impact of inadequate technology as the top business issue decreased by 1.5% from the last quarter and is now viewed as the top concern by 3.3% of survey respondents. This is the lowest rating of any business performance impact concern in the winter 2021 survey. It is also is the nineteenth time in twenty-one surveys that the impact of inadequate technology has been rated as the lowest area of business performance concern by survey respondents. (Chart 8)

Considering Twenty-One Quarters of Results from 2016 to 2021

From a top issue perspective, the following potential issues and the number of quarterly times they have been considered the top concern by survey respondents is shared to create context as to the cyclical concerns of eDiscovery professionals.

  • Budgetary Constraints: The top concern thirteen times in twenty-one quarters (4x Winter*, 3x Spring, 3x Summer, 3x Fall).
  • Increasing Volumes of Data: The top concern six times in twenty-one quarters (2x Winter*, 2x Spring, 1x Summer, 1x Fall).
  • Increasing Types of Data: The top concern three times in twenty-one quarters (1x Winter, 1x Summer, 1x Fall).
  • Data Security: Never ranked as the top concern.
  • Lack of Personnel: Never ranked as the top concern.
  • Inadequate Technology: Never ranked as the top concern.

* Top concern tie between Budgetary Constraints and Increasing Volumes of Data in the Winter of 2017.

Survey Charts

(Charts Can Be Expanded for Detailed Viewing)


Chart 1: An Aggregate Overview of Issues Impacting eDiscovery Business Performance

1 – Issues Impacting eDiscovery Business Performance – Winter 2021

 


Chart 2: An Overview of Issues Impacting eDiscovery Business Performance in the Winter of 2021

2 – Issues Impacting eDiscovery Business Performance – Winter 2021

 


Chart 3: An Overview of the Percentage of Respondents Viewing Budgetary Constraints as the Top Issue Impacting eDiscovery Business

3 – Impact of Budgetary Constraints on eDiscovery Business – Winter 2021

 


Chart 4: An Overview of the Percentage of Respondents Viewing Increasing Volumes of Data as the Top Issue Impacting eDiscovery Business

4 – Impact of Increasing Volumes of Data on eDiscovery Business – 2021

 


Chart 5: An Overview of the Percentage of Respondents Viewing Increasing Types of Data as the Top Issue Impacting eDiscovery Business

5 – Impact of Increasing Types of Data on eDiscovery Business – Winter 2021

 


Chart 6: An Overview of the Percentage of Respondents Viewing Data Security as the Top Issue Impacting eDiscovery Business

6 – Impact of Data Security on eDiscovery Business – Winter 2021

 


Chart 7: An Overview of the Percentage of Respondents Viewing Lack of Personnel as the Top Issue Impacting eDiscovery Business

7 – Impact of Lack of Personnel on eDiscovery Business – Winter 2021

 


Chart 8: An Overview of the Percentage of Respondents Viewing Inadequate Technology as the Top Issue Impacting eDiscovery Business

8 – Impact of Inadequate Technology on eDiscovery Business – Winter 2021

 


Chart 9: Survey Participant Overview

9 – Survey Respondents (Individual and Aggregate Overview) Winter 2021

Running Listing of Survey Results

Additional Reading

Source: ComplexDiscovery

 

 

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