Electronic
The companies spent about $1.29 million each on management of electronic data this year, compared with $437,000 last year, according to the survey by consulting company Kroll Ontrack Inc. The data, released today, were based on interviews in June, July and August with in-house lawyers and technology specialists at 231 U.S. and 230 U.K. companies.
Forty-nine percent of respondents said theyre paying more attention to the management of electronic data, including voice- mail and e-mail, because of the current economic climate. During the discovery phase of litigation, parties involved in a lawsuit must produce electronic and other data related to the case.
“The fear that the economic crisis will spawn more litigation is leading organizations to believe that more resources are necessary to prepare for it,” Kristin Nimsger, president of Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Kroll Ontrack, said in a phone interview.
As fraud and mismanagement emerged as causes of the recession, many executives began to wonder if their companies would be sued, according to Jason Straight, senior managing director of ESI Consulting, a division of Kroll Ontrack.
Global spending on electronic-discovery software is projected to grow to more than $1 billion in 2009, about 33 percent more than the $758.8 million in 2008, according to Stamford, Connecticut,-based Gartner Inc., which provides research on information technologies.
The growth in spending is due in part to increasing rates charged by electronic-discovery vendors, said John Bace, a vice president of research at Gartner.
“The price for processing electronic data is all over the map, from $400 to $4,000 per gigabyte,” Bace said in an interview.
Kroll Ontrack, a division of global risk consulting company Kroll Inc., advises clients on preparing for litigation.