Software Deployment Models Impact Innovation

Enterprise software and consumer technology have collided, escalating expectations among users for constant innovation and usability. Today's workplace is filled with individuals who receive frequent software updates on their smartphones and tablets, but are tethered to mission-critical software and desktop systems that are regularly three to five years out of date.

Few departments are more pressed to stay current with the latest innovations than the legal team. With data volume growth and an increasing emphasis on global matters, e-discovery requires the latest technology advances, from predictive coding to visual analytics, to reduce the cost and risk associated with litigation and investigations. Being several years behind on e-discovery software updates is tantamount to going into battle with a propeller-driven aircraft, while your adversary uses a modern jet fighter.

However, upgrading on-premise systems, and staying current with the latest technology, is not an easy task. For any system—and e-discovery tools in particular—there can be a significant disruption to active engagements and increased hardware or personnel costs to take into account. If a company wants to stay current with e-discovery innovation, it should first evaluate the pros and cons of various software deployment models:

On premise: For organizations that want complete control over the software and data, hosting the software in-house may be the best option. This typically offers corporations the opportunity to put in place specific security capabilities to address their confidentiality and privacy requirements. However it may not always be the most cost-effective. In the case of e-discovery software, cases may balloon outside of the on-premise software's capacity, forcing the corporation to add resources or outsource to accommodate the size of the particular case. Hosting the software in-house also requires upfront costs, ongoing investments in upgrading and refreshing the technology on a regular basis and IT
involvement in maintaining and managing the software.

Software as a service (SaaS): This option provides a similar level of control as the on-premise model, but with more ability to align costs to operating budget. These types of offerings typically come with a variable subscription fee, which allows the organization to plan a budget that gives access to the tools needed with scalable availability as requirements fluctuate. With this model, the burden of maintaining the most recent version of the software is removed, as this is handled directly by the SaaS provider.

Hybrid: When dealing with e-discovery matters, many legal departments take a hybrid approach to deal with the unique needs of a variety of cases. Some medium-sized cases may only need a team to have access to the SaaS solution, while more pressing cases require additional resources from a SaaS provider. We see increasing interest in hybrid on-premise/SaaS and managed services models to address ever-changing needs.

Key Considerations

Beyond the pros and cons of different deployment models, there are additional considerations that can help in determining which type of deployment and which provider are the best fit for your organizational needs:

Security. Securing the network perimeter and enforcing strict user-access controls, data privacy and data loss prevention are critical attributes of any viable solution. On-premise software deployment methodologies are well understood and usually follow traditional data center models for deploying software in single tenant configurations. For SaaS or on-demand deployments, a multi-tenant data center model is frequently used, taking advantage of data center consolidation and virtualization.

Access control. Have a good understanding of how user access to information is managed, whether internally or by third-party providers. For SaaS or on-demand, ask potential providers how potential data comingling is handled and about the weak points for sensitive data being exposed to parties who should not have access to it. You should understand the logical and physical access rights in the deployment configuration you select.

Compliance. The regulations that touch a company's industry (such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, etc.) will play a role in determining the best approach, and maintaining compliance is mission critical. Make sure the provider has controls in place that will ensure compliance is maintained across the board.

In addition to the considerations above, the following checklist can help ensure success when embarking on the process of deploying new software.

• Have a vision for what you want but prepare to be flexible.
• Develop an implementation plan, including an internal communication strategy.
• Leverage the success of other deployments in your organization to lessen departmental or management resistance.
• Educate all stakeholders and give them ownership in the decision where possible.
• Run a pilot on a small project before migrating larger, mission-critical matters.
• Master the technical details and service-level agreements of the solution including uptime, security protocols and data redundancy.
• Plan for seamless transitions to the new solution; but expect setbacks as it is not a simple exercise to undertake.
• Finally, remember that user experience drives adoption. Don't ignore software quality for the sake of familiarity, ease of use or cost.

Any company committed to keeping pace with innovation and streamlining business cost and productivity across the board will be faced with the prospect of determining deployment options and identifying the best providers for the job. The key to success is to be proactive and prepared, and understand the many nuances involved. For e-discovery in particular, as the legal process unfolds and more and more analytics tools are introduced to the market, emerging models will allow legal and IT to focus on their core competencies, rather than trying to determine how to implement the next new software solution.