Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Content Assessment: Status Quo or Grow? Spring 2022 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey

Information - 96%
Insight - 97%
Relevance - 95%
Objectivity - 94%
Authority - 95%

95%

Excellent

A short percentage-based assessment of the qualitative benefit of the recent post highlighting results from the Spring 2022 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey.

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. Administered for the twenty-sixth time in the spring of 2022, the survey has been conducted nine times during the current global pandemic.


The Spring 2022 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey Results

The spring 2022 survey response period was initiated on March 18, 2022, and continued until March 23, 2022. The survey was highlighted and promoted primarily by direct email from ComplexDiscovery to cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery professionals. This quarter’s survey experienced a solid* response rate with 52 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 spring of 2022. 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 = 52 Respondents
 
1. Which of the following segments best describes your business in eDiscovery? Part of the eDiscovery ecosystem where your organization resides  
 
  • Law Firm – 36.5% ↑
  • Software or Services Provider – 30.8% ↓
  • Consultancy – 15.4% ↓
  • Other – 7.7% ↑
  • Corporation – 3.8% ↓
  • Media/Research – 3.8% ↑
  • Governmental Entity – 1.9% ↓
1 - Survey Respondents by Organizational Segment - Spring 2022

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 – 71.2% ↑
  • Normal – 23.1% ↓
  • Bad – 5.8% ↑
2 - Current Business Climate Overview - Spring 2022

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 – 53.8% ↑
  • Same – 44.2% ↓
  • Worse – 1.9% =
3 - Business Climate Overview + Six Months - Spring 2022

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 – 63.5% ↑
  • Same – 30.8% ↓
  • Lower – 5.8% ↑
4 - Revenue Overview + Six Months - Spring 2022

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 – 44.2% ↑
  • Same – 46.2% ↓
  • Lower – 9.6% ↑
5 - Profits Overview + Six Months - Spring 2022

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  
 
  • Increasing Types of Data – 36.5% ↑
  • Lack of Personnel – 21.2% ↓
  • Increasing Volumes of Data – 19.2% ↑
  • Data Security – 9.6% ↑
  • Inadequate Technology – 7.7% ↑
  • Budgetary Constraints – 5.8% ↓
6 - Issues Impacting eDiscovery Business Performance - Spring 2022

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) – 84.6% ↓
  • Europe (UK) – 5.8% ↑
  • Europe (Non-UK) – 3.8% ↓
  • Asia/Asia Pacific – 3.8% ↑
  • Middle East/Africa – 1.9% ↑
  • North America (Canada) – 0.0% ↓
  • Central/South America – 0.0% ↓
7 - Survey Respondents by Geographic Region - Spring 2022

8. What area best describes your primary function in the conduct of your organization’s eDiscovery-related business?  
 
  • Legal/Litigation Support – 75.0% ↓
  • Business/Business Support (All Other Business Functions) – 25.0% ↑
  • IT/Product Development – 0.0% ↓
8 - Survey Respondents by Primary Function - Spring 2022

9. What area best describes your level of support in the conduct of your organization’s eDiscovery-related business?  
 
  • Executive Leadership – 57.7% ↑
  • Operational Management – 26.9% ↑
  • Tactical Execution – 15.4% ↓
9 - Survey Respondents by Level of Support - Spring 2022

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=46 Respondents  
 
  • Increasing – 21.7% ↓
  • Unfluctuating – 37.0% ↑
  • Decreasing – 8.7% ↑
  • Do Not Know – 32.6% ↑
10 - eDiscovery Business Metric Trajectory - Days Sales Outstanding - Spring 2022

11. How would you characterize the trajectory of your organization’s Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) during the last quarter?
n=46 Respondents
 
  • Increasing – 41.3% ↓
  • Unfluctuating – 23.9%↓
  • Decreasing – 8.7% ↑
  • Do Not Know – 26.1% ↑
11 - eDiscovery Business Metric Trajectory - Monthly Recurring Revenue - Spring 2022

12. Which of the following statements best describes the distribution of your organization’s revenue across your customer base during the last quarter?
n=46 Respondents  
 
  • Increasing – 39.1% ↓
  • Unfluctuating – 28.3% ↓
  • Decreasing – 8.7% ↑
  • Do Not Know – 23.9% ↑
12 - eDiscovery Business Metric Trajectory - Distribution of Revenue Across Customer Base - Spring 2022

 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 approximately 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
 
13 - Survey Respondents (Individual and Aggregate Overview) - Spring 2022
 
Source: ComplexDiscovery

 

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