Best-of-Breed or All-in-One Solution for eDiscovery?
Years ago, those of us in the information management industry used to argue about whether best-of-breed solutions for web content management, document management, records management, and document imaging were better than enterprise content management (ECM) suites. After lots of consolidation, it would appear that the “suite” approach won, but the reality is that most organizations still use best-of-breed products (even if they bought a full ECM suite). Sometimes, bigger isn’t always better.
A similar debate rages in the eDiscovery world. There are providers that appear to be a comprehensive, one-stop-shop for all things eDiscovery. While some of the tools out there can actually do incredible things, I believe that a comprehensive solution that addresses all eDiscovery needs is a myth. We vendors are certainly trying to do the right things and provide good products - no question about it. But, customers need best-of-breed solutions in specific areas and will need to mix and match those solutions together based on their (usually very) unique situation.
I find that most large enterprise organizations understand this fairly well. There are times that I sense the overall market beginning to buy into the idea of an “all-in-one” solution (and, in theory, that would provide great value). However, all organizations should keep in mind that today’s “comprehensive” solutions:
1.Routinely fail to deliver the promise of true integration and holistic view into every silo of content
2.Decrease the ability to develop and retain requisite technical skills in house to design and operate these solutions
3.Increase cost and risk in the end, and diminish leverage in negotiating software licenses
We’ve heard this story before, and we’ll continue to hear it as consolidation rumors heat up in the eDiscovery market. If I’m a CIO or legal officer at an organization today, I wouldn’t put all my eggs in any one vendor’s basket. My priorities would be creating pragmatic, role-based retention policies; addressing proactive preservation of high-volume content (read: nightmarish for eDiscovery) like emails, file system content, and desktop/laptop content; and creating the ability to do early-case assessment with a review tool. Your thoughts are welcome…let me know if you agree / disagree.
