Writing for Canadian Lawyer, Toronto attorney Dera Nevin asks a simple question, “Why Does eDiscovery Cost so Much?”
We’ve earlier talked about eDiscovery costs here as well. That is a very good question, and one we think needs to be answered.
Dera hits the obvious points, that there are enormous volumes of data that are discoverable, that information technology is not good at controlling corporate data, and that electronic processing has not matured to meet the demands of digital discovery.
These are messy and intractable facts of life in the digital age that most lawyers understand.
There is no easy answer for most of those problems. But in her last point, Dera hits on an issue very specific to the eDiscovery industry when she notes, “pricing is a bit opaque and it’s hard to comparison shop.”
eDiscovery Pricing – Let’s Be Blunt
Okay, this may be an example of that famous Canadian politeness, but “a bit opaque?” Saying eDiscovery pricing is a bit opaque is too polite by wide, wide margin. It’s like saying legal blogger Ralph Losey can be “a bit wordy.” The fact is, most eDiscovery vendors don’t publish their pricing at all.
Many attorneys complain the only way to get a price quote from an eDiscovery vendor is to sit through an in-person, technical briefing on the ins and outs of predictive coding, only to find out at the end that the vendor charges $450 per gigabyte just to process your data.
And that is just the cost to get started. Then there’s licensing fees, software installation, hardware costs, and consulting fees – all of which make eDiscovery costs quickly spiral out of control.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Most modern software is sold and hosted online, meaning the cost is transparent and obvious. eDiscovery is still priced like it’s a new and novel process. It’s not – it’s a well-defined and understood business. As with any modern Internet service, there should be no software to buy, no hardware to install, and no licenses to keep.
Nextpoint believes in cloud-based software – accessible on demand as your matter requires – and clear transparent pricing.
Not only does it eliminate the up-front startup costs and lower the cost of maintenance, but it allows for lower costs overall. That lets you manage eDiscovery in a way that is manageable, effective and cost-sensitive.
For more information, visit our PRICING PAGE.
We hope that is not in the least bit opaque.
