SAN FRANCSICO – Organizations will increase their use of electronic discovery, according to new research from IT trade association CompTIA, which will open up opportunities for IT solution providers with the right skills and expertise.

E-discovery conventionally refers to the discovery process in civil litigation using electronically stored information. However, many firms routinely engage in data collection and informal investigations related to personnel matters, violations of company policies and security breaches that never involve the legal system but may nonetheless fall under the umbrella of e-discovery.

E-discovery processes that are primarily handled by law firms include analyzing e-discovery materials (67 percent), production for civil/regulatory investigation (61 percent), and reviewing documents (60 percent). Processing information (37 percent) and collection of relevant data (34 percent) are often performed by a combination of law firms and outside e-discovery firms.

The CompTIA study shows 88 percent of attorneys surveyed expect law firms to engage in e-discovery processes more frequently as more and more cases involve electronic information. Among more than 650 IT professionals surveyed, 53 percent expect the use of e-discovery within their organizations to increase over the next few years. 35 percent said they expect it to stay the same and only 3 percent believes that the use of e-discovery within their organization will decline.

The CompTIA survey identified situations that most often trigger the use of e-discovery. They include:

Investigating an employee suspected of violating company rules (cited by 66 percent of survey respondents)

Security breach stemming from an outside threat (62 percent)

Pending lawsuit (60 percent)

Intentional internal security breach (53 percent)

Unintentional internal security breach (44 percent)

Fifty percent of organizations surveyed have already developed an e-discovery strategy, either comprehensive (28 percent) or partial (22 percent). 26 percent said they have no formal strategy, but engage in some e-discovery/digital forensics practices. Only 21 percent said their organization has not engaged in any e-discovery/digital forensics practices.

“Many organizations lack expertise in this emerging area,” said Tim Herbert, vice president, research, CompTIA. “That’s significant because the increasingly connected and digital world in which companies operate means the number of situations calling for e-discovery will only grow.”

One area that is lacking however is IT professional knowledge of the issue. The survey indicated that one-quarter (25 percent) of IT professionals are familiar with the term e-discovery, 19 percent are somewhat familiar and the remaining 56 percent are not familiar with this term. A higher percentage (32 percent) of IT professionals is familiar with the term digital forensics. About one-fifth (21 percent) are somewhat familiar with the term digital forensics and the remaining 47 percent are not familiar with the term.

Given the rising need for more expertise, more opportunities should exist for IT solution providers with the right skills and expertise.

“IT companies that offer services such as security, data storage and archiving may find opportunities to expand their business and their client base by becoming an e-discovery resource,” said Herbert.

The online survey was administered during the fourth quarter of 2009 with 665 IT professionals and 271 attorneys participated in the U.S.-based survey.

This column was written by Mark Cox of ConnectIT, an IntegratedMar.Com

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