Corporations Are Preparing for Discovery with Policy Creation, but Failing to Implement and Optimize Effective Processes and Tec

Seventy-seven percent of companies are not confident in the repeatability and defensibility of their Electronically Stored Information (ESI) Strategy, attributable to the fact that more than half (56 percent) of companies do not have or do not know if their organization has a data map or inventory of where all their data is stored, only one-third (38 percent) have tested their policies, and nearly half (45 percent) do not know if their policies have been tested. Companies are creating policies, but are not taking the important next step of making sure all the necessary protocols have been followed and testing and modifying policies as needed. This is a key finding from the Fourth Annual ESI Trends Report, an independent study commissioned by Kroll Ontrack, the leading provider of information management, legal technologies, and data recovery products and services.

This year's survey revealed more than half of companies (52 percent, an increase from 46 percent in 2009) in the United States now have an ESI Discovery Strategy -- a pre-defined, systematic process for identifying, preserving, collecting, analyzing, filtering, processing, reviewing and producing ESI in preparation for or in response to litigation, investigations or regulatory matters. However, corporations and their in-house counsel are falling short on the implementation and optimization of effective processes and technology.

"Over the past decade, the number of discovery cases increased exponentially, and as such, the act of producing ESI for a suit or an investigation has prompted a cultural shift in the law, technology and the way organizations conduct business," said Kristin Nimsger, president of Kroll Ontrack. "Furthermore, protecting an organization's ESI while managing it for legal and regulatory demands has become increasingly complex and burdensome and often detracts focus from an organization's core business priorities. While it is encouraging to see more organizations making ESI Discovery Policies a priority, they need to ensure their policies can be implemented effectively. Without testing their policies, organizations cannot be confident in the repeatability and defensibility of their ESI Discovery Strategy."

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Source: tradingmarkets.com