The eDiscovery market is growing rapidly. The industry is expected to explode by 15.6% by 2021. Because the processes around eDiscovery are complex, many potential clients are just learning of its potential. eDiscovery is the technological discovery, identification, and collection of electronically stored information (ESI) to be used in various forms of investigation. eDiscovery professionals possess a wide range of skills to safely find and remove or copy data from many different sources. Voicemails, documents, databases, emails, presentations, and social media files are a few examples of files sought in eDiscovery cases. eDiscovery is often used in legal cases but the field’s recent growth has led to 3 new trends:
Extract from article by Secure Data
eDiscovery in Healthcare
The healthcare industry must comply with a number of federal regulations, including HIPAA. Attempts to maintain privacy of data can sometimes make it more difficult to collect if needed in the future. Medical records have also largely become digitized. The electronic databases used to collect patient information are often flawed at storing data in a way easily discoverable for the future use. This has put doctors and hospitals at a disadvantage in malpractice cases. eDiscovery can help level the playing field when healthcare and legal systems collide.
Managing the explosion of data
We’re living in an era of massive data creation and collection. It’s estimated that we create around 2.5 exabytes of data per day. For the litigation process, too much unmanaged data can be as troublesome as too little data. eDiscovery software and professionals can cull out irrelevant documents, leaving just the most important pieces of data to review. eDiscovery services can be pricey but their return-on-investment is clear with the amount of time saved.
eDiscovery goes global
In 2015, the US continued to dominate the eDiscovery market. Its use in civil cases has meant continued growth in the US legal system. Increasingly, however, large corporations in the Asia Pacific have contributed to the massive increase of eDiscovery services. Both small and large companies are recognizing the many applications for data acquired from eDiscovery and the world’s largest players have taken note.
The significant growth of the eDiscovery industry is tied to 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures (FRCP) standards. These rules now provide stronger support the inclusion of data from eDiscovery in a wide array of legal proceedings. Still, companies of all sizes are beginning to realize the power of expertly curated data for a number of profitable uses. As the industry is expected to continue its impressive growth, we’ll be watching for new and exciting changes to this field.