This week, Jim Gill of Hanzo takes up the slack in your discovery process (see what I did there?) by discussing a few things to consider when preserving Slack data for eDiscovery.

In the article (A Few Considerations When Preserving Slack Data for Ediscovery, available here), Jim points out that court rulings in the past few years have codified what people working in eDiscovery have known all along: Slack (and other collaboration app data) is discoverable during litigation and should be preserved the same as email as stipulated in Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). These two cases illustrate that point very well.

With that in mind, Jim discusses four things to consider when preserving Slack data for eDiscovery and four best practices for Slack preservation. Here is one of the considerations:

Cost

In eDiscovery, data volume translates to costs. The more data you have entering the top of your eDiscovery funnel, the more you’ll pay to process, review, analyze, and ultimately produce that data. Not only does more data translate to higher processing and review costs, but it also results in higher routine expenditures for data storage and transfer.

When you over-collect data to preserve it, you pay for it. First, you pay to transfer that data to an external repository. Then you pay every month to store it there safely. And that’s before you even use it. You’ll still need to pay for each gigabyte of data that you eventually process, review, analyze, and produce. It can add up fast.

Be careful that you don’t negate the cost savings of preserving data in place by later exporting or collecting everything you’ve preserved. The goal is to preserve broadly and collect narrowly—which means you need to use eDiscovery tools that allow you to do both.

So, what are the other three things to consider when preserving Slack data for eDiscovery? And what are the four best practices for Slack preservation? You’ll have to read his blog post here to find out! It’s just one more click! 😉

So, what do you think? How do you address the requirement of preserving Slack data for eDiscovery? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclosure: Hanzo is an Educational Partner and sponsor of eDiscovery Today

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.