Everlaw Survey Finds Cloud-based Ediscovery Doubled in a Year

Report Reveals Stark Divide: Cloud Leaders Gain Edge, Laggards Face 37% More Challenges

OAKLAND, Calif., July 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Everlaw, the cloud-native investigation and litigation platform, published today "2022 Ediscovery Innovation Report: Leaders and Laggards," revealing that cloud-based ediscovery is increasingly becoming standard practice.

In partnership with the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), Everlaw surveyed nearly 200 legal professionals in the U.S. across law firms, corporate legal departments, government agencies, and legal service providers to surface key trends in ediscovery and build on Everlaw's 2021 research.

• Cloud-based ediscovery managed in-house doubled in a year (24% in 2022 vs. 10% in 2021)
• 55% of respondents are managing an in-house solution, whether cloud-based or on-premises
• 96% of respondents view the shift to the cloud as inevitable by 2024
• The number of respondents that believe cloud-based ediscovery is already the norm increased by 66% in 2022 as compared to 2021.

"Cloud-based ediscovery adoption has crossed the tipping point for the first time," said Chuck Kellner, Strategic Discovery Advisor, Everlaw. "Cloud is not just the future of ediscovery, it is increasingly the norm. It's propelled by the pandemic and proven out by the success of early adopters."

The research uncovered a stark divide between cloud leaders* and laggards**, where first movers faced fewer challenges while reaping key advantages in ediscovery capabilities as well as lower costs, compared with those using on-premises ediscovery software. 

1)     The cloud removes ediscovery headaches and adds headstarts compared to on-premises

• In nine of 10 categories, leaders experience fewer ediscovery challenges than laggards, such as:
• Managing new or complex file types (26% vs. 41% laggards – their #1 challenge);
• Manual workflows (20% vs. 38% laggards);
• Being understaffed (17% vs. 34% laggards); and
• Speed (11% vs. 28% laggards)
• Leaders reap advantages in ediscovery, such as their ability to use:
• Advanced discovery features, such as AV transcription (74% vs. 28% laggards);
• Early case assessment tools (72% vs. 52% laggards)
• Technology assisted review and advanced analytics (67% vs. 54% laggards); and
• Larger case sizes, as measured by discovery data (57% of leaders have cases in the 50+ gigabyte range vs. 39% laggards )
• Overall, laggards reported 37% more challenges than cloud leaders.

"In 2022, the data is clear: not only are cloud adopters seeing significant advantages, but those tied to legacy solutions continue to fall behind," said Kellner.

2)     The cloud delivers cost advantages

• More than half of leaders (52%) said cost was the main advantage of moving to the cloud
• Laggards said they pay extra for:
• Translation services (84% vs. 29% of leaders);
• Security features (40% vs. 21% of leaders);
• Advanced analytics (40% vs. 19% of leaders); and
• Data ingestion and processing capabilities (22% vs. 6% of leaders).
• 3 in 4 leaders have a cost recovery model in place, compared to only 43% of laggards
• Unpredictable costs was the only ediscovery concern that was greater for cloud leaders than for laggards (15% vs. 7% of laggards) and was among the lowest ranked concerns.

"On-premises ediscovery users are paying more at every step of the ediscovery process, from data ingestion and document review to case analytics and productions," said Kellner. "With the rise in data types and quantity, this looks to be unsustainable."

3)     A cloud perception gap exists: Laggards say the cloud is hard to learn and expensive, but leaders who are already in the cloud disagree:

• 45% of on-premises users cite that "learning a new system" was a downside, yet only 30% of cloud users echo that sentiment
• 59% of on premises users said that cost was a downside yet only 26% of cloud users did.

"Many on-prem ediscovery users don't know what they're missing, and when faced with economic headwinds they are likely to find themselves flat footed as cloud competitors race ahead," said Kellner.

Methodology: Everlaw conducted this study with the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) to learn more about key trends in ediscovery innovation. We emailed legal professionals in May of 2022 and received 195 completed responses to our survey. Respondents were not provided an incentive for participation, however, Everlaw made a $5,000 donation to Save the Children, Ukraine and The Innocence Project on behalf of the survey participants.

Terminology: This terminology is part of the typical market adoption curve for new technology, a common framework for analyzing the spread of innovation across different segments of adopters – from early to late adopters.

*Leaders: Legal professionals deploying cloud-based, SaaS ediscovery solutions, managed in-house. These leaders represent the early majority in cloud-discovery adoption and 24% of total survey respondents.

**Laggards: Legal professionals using on-premises ediscovery software, managed in-house. Those who have yet to embrace the cloud, these individuals represent 32% of total survey respondents.

• Read the 2022 report. For comparison, here is the 2021 report
• Join our July 27th webinar on "7 Characteristics of Ediscovery Leaders"
• Read our blog on the key takeaways

Everlaw blends cutting-edge technology with modern design to help government entities, law firms and corporations solve the toughest problems in the legal industry. Everlaw is used by Fortune 100 corporate counsels and household brands like Hilton and Dick's Sporting Goods, 91 out of the AM Law 200 and all 50 U.S. state attorneys general. Based in Oakland, California, Everlaw is funded by top-tier investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, H.I.G. Growth Partners, K9 Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and TPG Growth. Learn more at https://www.everlaw.com.

Media Contact:
Colleen Haikes
[email protected]

SOURCE Everlaw