New Challenges on the Horizon? Spring 2023 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey Results

Background Note: The quarterly eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey has been administered thirty times since early 2016, with 3,014 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 spring of 2023. The spring 2023 survey response period was initiated on March 25, 2023, and continued until April 14, 2023. The survey was highlighted and promoted primarily by direct email from ComplexDiscovery, the EDRM, and other leading eDiscovery organizations to cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery professionals.

The eDiscovery ecosystem is diverse and continuously evolving, as demonstrated by the Spring 2023 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey Results. Law firms and software/services providers make up the majority of participants, with consultancies, corporations, media/research organizations, and others also playing significant roles. Respondents generally have an optimistic outlook on the current business conditions, with most considering them good. Over the next six months, a majority anticipate conditions to remain the same, while a smaller percentage foresee improvements.

Revenue and profit expectations for the eDiscovery ecosystem are cautiously optimistic. Nearly half of the respondents expect higher revenues and a significant portion foresee stable revenues six months from now. Similarly, a considerable percentage of respondents predict higher profits, with others anticipating no change in profit levels. The industry faces various challenges, including increasing types of data, budgetary constraints, increasing data volumes, data security, and lack of personnel. However, inadequate technology appears to be less of a concern.

Most respondents primarily conduct their eDiscovery-related business in the United States, with a small portion operating in Asia/Asia Pacific and Europe. The majority focus on legal/litigation support, followed by business/business support and IT/product development. Executive leadership, operational management, and tactical execution roles are all well-represented among the respondents.

Organizations’ Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) trajectories are mixed. A significant portion report unfluctuating DSO, with some experiencing an increase and a smaller percentage seeing a decrease. MRR trends are mostly positive, with many respondents reporting an increase, while others note stable or decreasing trends. The distribution of organizations’ revenue across their customer base varies, with some experiencing increasing revenue distribution, others observing unchanging trends, and a smaller percentage facing a decrease. In general, the survey results paint a cautiously optimistic picture of the eDiscovery industry in Spring 2023.

Spring Survey Questions (Required)

• Law Firm – 36.0% ↑
• Software or Services Provider – 33.3% ↑
• Consultancy – 10.7% ↓
• Corporation – 8.0% ↓
• Media/Research – 6.7% ↑
• Other – 5.3% ↓
• Governmental Entity – 0.0% =

• Good – 57.3.% ↑
• Normal – 36.0% ↓
• Bad – 6.7% ↑

• Better – 34.7% ↑
• Same – 61.3% ↓
• Worse – 4.0% ↓

• Higher – 48.0% ↑
  
• Same – 44.0% ↓
• Lower – 8.0% ↓

• Higher – 40.0% ↑
• Same – 48.0% ↓
• Lower – 12.0% ↑

• Increasing Types of Data – 33.3% ↑
• Budgetary Constraints – 21.3% ↓
• Increasing Volumes of Data – 16.0% ↓
• Data Security – 13.3% ↓
• Lack of Personnel – 13.3% ↑
• Inadequate Technology – 2.7% ↓

• North America (United States) – 94.7% ↑
• Asia/Asia Pacific – 2.7% ↑
• Europe (UK) – 1.3% ↓
• Europe (Non-UK) – 1.3% ↑
• North America (Canada) – 0.0% ↓
• Middle East/Africa – 0.0% =
• Central/South America – 0.0% =

• Legal/Litigation Support – 66.7% ↓
• Business/Business Support (All Other Business Functions) – 25.3% ↑
• IT/Product Development – 8.0% ↑

• Executive Leadership – 44.0% ↑
  
• Operational Management – 28.0% ↓
• Tactical Execution – 28.0% ↓

Business Metric Trajectory Questions (Optional)

• Increasing – 14.9% ↓
• Unfluctuating – 37.3% ↑
  
• Decreasing – 10.4% ↑
• Do Not Know – 37.3% ↓

• Increasing – 38.2% ↑
• Unfluctuating – 22.1% ↓
• Decreasing – 5.9% ↓
• Do Not Know – 33.8% ↓

• Increasing – 37.3% ↑
• Unfluctuating – 28.4% ↓
• Decreasing – 4.5% ↓
• Do Not Know – 29.9% ↓

• ↑ Increase from the last survey.
• ↓ Decrease from the last survey.
• = No change from the last survey.

• Winter 2023 Survey (January 22 – January 27, 2023)
• Fall 2022 Survey (September 11 – September 22, 2022)
• Summer 2022 Survey (June 10 – June 27, 2022)
• Spring 2022 Survey (March 18 – March 23, 2022)
• Winter 2022 Survey (January 6 – January 12, 2022)
• Fall 2021 Survey (October 5 – October 12, 2021)
• Summer 2021 Survey (22 June – 6 July 2021)
• Spring 2021 Survey (28 March – 11 April 2021)
• Winter 2021 Survey (3 January – 12 January 2021)
• Fall 2020 Survey (21 September – 1 October 2020)
• Summer 2020 Survey (26 June – 10 July 2020)
• Spring 2020 Survey (2 April – 15 April 2020)
• Winter 2020 Survey (28 December 2019 – 11 January 2020)
• Fall 2019 Survey (29 September – 17 October 2019)
• Summer 2019 Survey (1 July – 17 July 2019)
• Spring 2019 Survey (1 April – 18 April 2019)
• Winter 2019 Survey (27 December 2018 – January 10, 2019)
• Fall 2018 Survey (14 October – 26 October 2018)
• Summer 2018 Survey (4 July – 24 July 2018)
• Spring 2018 Survey (7 April – 20 April 2018)
• Winter 2018 Survey (24 December 17 – 15 January 2018)
• Fall 2017 Survey (5 October – 17 October 2017)
• Summer 2017 Survey (6 July – 31 July 2017)
• Spring 2017 Survey (14 April – 1 May 2017)
• Winter 2017 Survey (20 January – 6 February 2017)
• Fall 2016 Survey (11 October – 1 December 2016)
• Summer 2016 Survey (1 August – 31 August 2016)
• Spring 2016 Survey (1 May – 31 May 2016)
• Winter 2016 Survey (15 February – 29 February 2016)