Very intriguing new survey from Rob Robinson’s excellent ComplexDiscovery blog: The eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership Survey!

As Rob notes on his survey landing page here, the eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Survey is a non-scientific survey designed to provide insight into the costs associated with the in-house management of an eDiscovery business. The survey “may be” important for two primary reasons.

• The first reason is that eDiscovery consumers generally pay a premium for eDiscovery services due to the high cost of owning, managing, and maintaining eDiscovery environments. By better understanding of ownership costs, eDiscovery consumers may be more informed in assessing the actual cost of eDiscovery.
• The second reason is that eDiscovery business owners face challenges in explaining and justifying pricing to consumers based on the complexity of eDiscovery pricing and the lack of publicly available information on the total cost of eDiscovery ownership. With market information to share in this arena, eDiscovery business owners may be better positioned to educate and inform consumers on the total cost of eDiscovery ownership.

This survey seeks to gather benchmark information regarding total spend in eDiscovery ownership with the objectives of:

• Providing a deeper understanding for eDiscovery consumers about ownership costs.
• Creating a shared understanding for eDiscovery business owners about total cost of ownership.

The anonymous survey is open to cybersecurity, information governance, and legal discovery professionals operating in the eDiscovery ecosystem, and eDiscovery consumers and business owners are invited to participate primarily by personal direct email invitation.

The multiple-choice survey of only twenty-five questions can be completed in less than seven minutes. Who doesn’t have seven minutes to spare? The core survey consists of twenty-two multiple-choice questions focused on factors relating to the procurement, management, and maintenance of in-house eDiscovery. The survey also contains three optional questions focused on metrics associated with the operational timing of hardware procurement and software upgrades.

As I mentioned, I’m very intrigued and looking forward to seeing the results of the eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership survey! Remember, your responses are anonymous, so the more who participate, the more useful the results will be. Click here to go to the survey landing page and click the Take the Survey Now! button to take it!

So, what do you think? What’s your organization’s eDiscovery Total Cost of Ownership? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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.