Too often I see law firms forced to shape their work practices around the capabilities of their eDiscovery software. This can lead to completely needless additional burden and cost.

To prevent this it is increasingly important to understand your requirements to help find the right eDiscovery software. It sounds simple, but often it is not, especially if you are not familiar with eDiscovery software.

There are many great eDiscovery software solutions now available, it is a matter of finding the right one to suit your requirements.

If you have a greater grasp on your requirements then you will be in a better position to find the eDiscovery solution that works for you. There may be many practices that you want to continue and it will be essential for your software to help you leverage those practices.

Some of the considerations I mentioned in an earlier post may be a starting point, namely –

• What is it that you want to achieve?
• What do you want to do with the software?
• Do you want to dig deeper to find the key facts fast and know what key information you have, or do you just simply want to review the information and produce it?
• Volume of documents?
• How many users?
• Installed in-house vs externally hosted (and supported)?
• Do you want the software to be managed externally or do you prefer to be self-sufficient?

In working through these considerations, you may find it beneficial to talk these through with an expert to help guide you through the process.

It is a significant advantage to be on top of your eDiscovery software requirements before you see or speak with those selling the products. You will then be able to create a shortlist of the options that you wish to explore further.

It can be beneficial to talk the options through with someone that can provide independent advice on the product, looking at the pros and cons, but more importantly if it is right for you. It is helpful to know fully (and impartially) as to what each tool can do or not do, and also if any features incur any additional fees for you to access (something that I know frustrates many !).

It is important to explore the particular functionality of the software products, but at the same time discuss if you need the features or not. Some matters will not require these features, whilst in others it will be essential.  

If you need help to better understand your exact requirements or explore the eDiscovery options, then give me a shout as this is what I do !