Information Management:
Critical To Proactive Discovery
Once the relevant information has been identified, it can then be preserved in the archive until such time as the matter is concluded or the hold is otherwise lifted. This ability to preserve information within the archive alleviates the need to create additional copies and reduces the risk that the information will end up on a hard drive in a storage facility, never to be expired. Rather, once a hold has been lifted within the archive, the information will be expired pursuant to the automated policies already established.
Use of information during the discovery process: Traditionally, there was no means during the discovery process to reduce the volume of data without an exhaustive review or the help of third-party e-discovery vendors or outside counsel. Today, given the high cost of these services and the ever-expanding corpus of data on enterprise systems, organizations are looking for ways to bring some of this functionality in-house. Even for organizations that are not staffed to conduct extensive in-house review, an archiving solution can help reduce the amount of data that is ultimately exported to outside counsel. A corollary benefit is the ability the archive provides for information gathering and strategizing in the early stages of the discovery process.
Early case assessment and meet-and-confer preparedness: The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require that parties meet and confer to discuss various e-discovery issues early in the discovery process. In addition to these legal requirements, there is a strategic advantage to being able to review and analyze the facts surrounding your case as quickly as possible. Whether an organization is sued or is evaluating bringing a cause of action against someone else, knowing which information supports your case and which information may harm it can help you evaluate your position and risk.
An archiving tool can have a significant impact on an organization’s ability to be proactive. By searching an archive, counsel can quickly determine the key custodians and issues in a matter and can broaden or tailor its legal hold notices as appropriate. Using an archive, an organization can search for information as soon as it learns of a matter and quickly retrieve relevant data for review and analysis. Because archived information has already been indexed and collected, organizations can quickly assess an issue without the time and expense associated with a manual or third-party collection process, allowing the organization to make informed decisions and determine case strategy with confidence very early on.
Review and production: The right archiving solution can also provide an organization the ability to review information internally, relieving the need to rely so much on third parties. Given that the bulk of e-discovery costs can be attributed to the review process, the ability to proactively manage some of this workflow in-house can result in tangible cost savings. For organizations that are not staffed to do review in-house, an archiving and review tool can still provide substantial benefit. In these cases, an in-house legal or IT team can simply search the archive for relevant information using specific keywords, date ranges or custodians. This allows much larger data sets to be culled down to more manageable volumes and reduces the amount of information that is ultimately exported for review by outside counsel. Organizations not routinely involved in litigation can take similar advantage of search and review capability in order to avoid costly identification, processing and review costs. The right tool will also provide an auditable chain of custody of the key activities performed on the information.
In addition to enabling a proactive response to formal information requests, an archiving tool has several collateral uses that often provide a quick return on investment. For example, in many organizations the archiving tool is used to improve the internal audit investigation process. As with formal information requests, once a claim or issue arises, information can quickly and easily be pinpointed and reviewed to determine the appropriate course of action. Likewise, internal human resources issues can be researched and analyzed without extensive disruption.
Proactively Prepared
Now, your organization receives a complaint, but because of all the proactive work you did up front, you have a process and the tools in place to respond. Using the archive, you can quickly search for information and place legal holds. The information you identify will help enable the early case assessment process, making your attorneys more knowledgeable and better prepared to handle the matter. Your initial investment in an information management process will enable you to comply with your legal obligations to preserve data, to meet your discovery deadlines and to better to control your spend on outside vendors.
Store, Manage and Discover
Symantec Enterprise Vault provides a software-based intelligent archiving platform to store, manage and discover corporate data from email systems, file-server environments, instant message platforms and content management and collaboration systems. Because not all data is created equal, Enterprise Vault utilizes intelligent classification and retention technologies to capture, categorize, index and store target data to enforce policies and protect corporate assets, while reducing storage costs and simplifying management. It also provides specialized applications such as “Discovery Accelerator” and “Compliance Accelerator” to mine archived data in support of legal discovery, content compliance, knowledge management and information security initiatives.
Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help our customers—from consumers and small businesses to the largest global organizations–-secure and manage their information, technology infrastructures and related processes against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently than any other company. As the world’s fourth largest independent software company and backed by the Global Intelligence Network, our unique focus is to eliminate information, technology and process risks independent of device, platform, interaction or location. Our software and services protect completely, in ways that can be managed easily and with controls that can be enforced automatically—enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored.