eDiscovery and Information Management

eDiscovery is the process of collecting, culling/tagging and exporting electronic content that answers specific questions or requests resulting from an audit, law suit, or due diligence. This is obviously not a new concept as organizations have been trawling through paperwork looking for the right information for years, but what we are talking about here is moving this into an electronic platform. So what information may be electronically discoverable? Any information is the answer, which thanks to technology is increasing all the time. Information can exist on network file-shares, collaboration portals such as SharePoint, document management systems, email systems, instant message systems, hand-held devices, laptops etc.

In short eDiscovery solutions help organizations collect and categorize information stored in these different repositories. The ROI is unquestionable in certain situations, however, organizations can go a long way to implement an information management strategy to lessen the burden of eDiscovery.

The following points need to be taken into consideration:

1) eDiscovery works well if the information is electronic. If you have information on paper then this will either need to be digitized, or you will need to use the “old school” approach to discovery…or use both. So the first stage is to understand where your information exists.

2) You may have solutions like SharePoint co-existing with document management systems and network file-shares. The second stage is to understand what system manages which type of documents. Strategically there may need to be a consolidation of systems to simplify the architecture.

3) Should employees be storing information on their local machines/devices or should all the information be stored and managed centrally? Put together a security policy for taking the different types of documents outside of the organization. Perhaps consider an Information Rights Management solution to protect/control sensitive information from leaving the organization.

4) Implement a records retention policy that is guided by regulation and compliance. As more regulations are being put in place to govern content, a strong policy will make sure that all information is present and can be made available during discovery.

Learn About EMC's Latest Acquisition: Kazeon

EMC announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Kazeon Systems, Inc.– a leading eDiscovery software provider for corporations, legal service providers, government entities and law firms.

With Kazeon, EMC will be able to offer end-to-end, in-house eDiscovery and litigation readiness solutions as part of the EMC SourceOne family for integrated but modular eDiscovery, archiving and compliance. Kazeon allows organizations to quickly and reliably identify, preserve, collect, process, analyze and review information in accordance with the widely accepted EDRM (Electronic Discovery eference Model) framework. Core to Kazeon is its ability to handle Electronically Stored Information (ESI) that resides anywhere in the enterprise environment -- including content on laptops, desktops, content management repositories (including, EMC Documentum and  ApplicationXtender), Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange, Lotus Domino, email archives and file shares.

The Kazeon offering is available as an appliance, enabling organizations to quickly deploy the solution. This enables Early Case Assessment (ECA) to determine case merit and legal strategies, possibly avoiding costly legal fees. Kazeon’s targeted collection capabilities ensure avoidance of the classic problem of over-collection which often leads to high retention and review costs. In addition, Kazeon’s legal hold management capability ensures no erroneous deletion of data and its metadata. Further, the Kazeon solution is capable of performing fine-grained analytics, including concept-based search and analysis, and offering a collaborative review platform for distributed reviewers.

Kazeon enables organizations to take a proactive approach to eDiscovery. The same solution that enables end-to-end, in-house eDiscovery can also be leveraged for the policy management of information that resides in multiple disparate systems across the enterprise. Kazeon is unique in its ability to identify and classify information and take appropriate action, such as preservation, deletion or migration of documents into EMC storage for litigation hold, and EMC Documentum for records management.

The acquisition will further strengthen the power of EMC’s SourceOne portfolio. EMC SourceOne is an integrated family of products and solutions for eDiscovery, archiving and compliance. Unlike other offerings, SourceOne offers solutions that solve particular customer challenges today, and -- in conjunction with the Data Loss Prevention capabilities offered by RSA, EMC’s security division -- EMC can now offer customers an industry-leading set of capabilities for discovering, classifying and managing information, enabling a full information governance strategy for the future. Each of the SourceOne offerings stands alone, but also integrates in a modular way with each other to provide a comprehensive solution. SourceOne leverages EMC tiered storage and archive infrastructures.

Interested in learning more about Kazeon and EMC's SourceOne family of products.

Join us for a free Lunch and Learn on November 17th at BIOCOM San Diego.
This is a free event however space is limited so please email

info@portfordsolutions.com to reserve seats for your company.

eDiscovery Lunch and Learn in San Diego on 11/17/09

When and Where Is the Event: 11/07/09 - 4510 Executive Drive Plaza, San Diego, CA 92121

Portford Solutions and BIOCOM cordially invite you to join us for a lunch and learn seminar focused on providing Life Science organizations with the ability to proactively manage content for risk mitigation, litigation readiness, operational improvements and content reuse. EMC's eDiscovery solutions provide the ability to create repeatable e-discovery processes while securing access, defensible collection results, and chain of custody. Join a group of your colleagues as we explore innovative solutions that will help you:

•  Reduce the cost of discovery by presenting only the e-mail messages that are relevant to the matter at hand for review by counsel
  
• Reduce the burden of aging e-mail in production Exchange systems by storing it online in the appropriate storage tier
• Accelerate results and increase accuracy of discovery searches against the centralized, de-duplicated archive
  
• Match archiving policies with business requirements using a combination of automated and manual capture options
  
• Eliminate the need for repetitive, ad hoc searches of databases, personal archives, and backup tapes.

BIOCOM'S Offices are located at 4510 Executive Drive Plaza 7 San Diego CA 92121 telephone: 858-455-0300. To RSVP seating at this free event please email:
info@portfordsolutions.com. Unable to attend in person? To add this webex to as an appointment in Outlook calendar:
Here.