Top Tips for eDiscovery Software Demo iControl ESI
- 1. - A PUBLICATION OF iCONTROL ESI - Top Tips to a Successful eDiscovery Software Demo
- 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS Intro Know Your Goals Know Your Players Know Your Boundaries Research Your Potential Partners Prepare for Your Demos Don’t Forget the Proof of Concept 1 2 3 4 5 6
- 3. Introduction. Because the use of technology to manage discovery has become so widespread, we take for granted that those seeking software solutions to discovery needs have a good understanding of a sound software evaluation process. Over the last few months, however, folks attending our software solution demos have admitted they don’t know how to make the most of an evaluation, or what to ask a company when evaluating software, and there’s no published guide to how to evaluate. It seems appropriate to share some of our basic advice for software demos. These guidelines will help you make the most of your time in reviewing software solutions. They cover: Know Your Goals Know Your Players Know Your Boundaries Research Your Potential Partners Prepare for Your Demos Don’t Forget the Proof of Concept
- 4. Know Your Goals CHAPTER ONE 1
- 5. Know Your Goals. Prepare a list of the business problems you are trying to solve with technology. Generally, we need solutions that get us to the most important and relevant documents as quickly and efficiently as possible. Tools contributing to that begin at retention and preservation, and end at review and production. First, decide where in that spectrum you are shopping. You may be looking for an “end-to- end” solution or a new answer to just part of the process. With that scope set, you are ready to think about the specifics you would like to see in a potential new solution. It can be useful to ask questions like… What does my current solution do well? What would I like it to do better or more effectively? What potentially valuable features are simply missing from my current process?
- 6. Prepare a list of the business problems you are trying to solve with technology.“
- 7. Know Your Players CHAPTER TWO 2
- 8. Know Your Players. Think through your organization and which of your team will most likely play roles in use and support. How will you use the software? Who else will use the software, and are their needs any different than your own? What training will you, and your team require? Who will support and administer your use of the software? Knowing (or at least having some idea) the answers to these questions helps you identify the players that you may want to involve in the remainder of the process, giving your selection a better chance of acceptance and successful deployment.
- 9. Think through your organization and which of your team will most likely play roles in use and support.“
- 10. Know Your Boundaries CHAPTER THREE 3
- 11. Know Your Boundaries. Do you need all software installs and data to remain behind your corporate firewall? Is Software or Infrastructure as a service ok? Fully cloud-based solutions? For each one of those possible deployment methods, do you have specific security or system administration requirements that your selected solution must adhere too. These, are but a few examples of the many questions you should ask. Your potential partners will undoubtedly be willing and able to help you track down the answers to these questions. That said, to the extent you can track down the answers, you can use that information to provide better focus for your search, and save time you might otherwise use in evaluating solutions that aren’t a good fit for your organization.
- 12. Do you need all software installs and data to remain behind your corporate firewall? “
- 13. Research Your Potential Partners CHAPTER FOUR 4
- 14. Research Your Potential Partners. As with previous guidelines, your goal here is to focus your search. You don’t likely have time to look at solutions from a large list of partners. You want to establish criteria that ensure the few solutions you spend significant time evaluating are from partners that meet or exceed the thresholds you establish here. eDiscovery is highly specialized and expanding in skillsets required from IT to legal to Privacy and Security. Look for vendors who understand the document types being produced so they understand developing software to manage them. Make sure that they understand the privacy and security issues associated with litigation. Learn about their reputation and time in the industry, and the availability of support staff in the event of issues with the software.
- 15. Research Your Potential Partners. Examples of Questions to Ask • How long has the company been providing eDiscovery software? • What is the company’s history in eDiscovery? • What is their general reputation in the industry? • Does the company have a list of current and past clients to serve as references? • What types of projects has the company worked on in the past? • What is the most complex matter they have handled? • Do they have a variety of experts in legal, technical, privacy, ESI management? • Is this a company with a stable history indicating that they are here for the long run to support their product? • Are they easy to work with? • Do they offer training? • What is the software update cycle and how are updates to software applied?
- 16. Prepare for Your Demos CHAPTER FIVE 5
- 17. Prepare for Your Demos. Set expectations. Provide your potential partners with (at least in summary) the Goals, Players, and boundaries that you identify. Set the expectation that you want to see a demo focused on those requirements specific to your organization. If creating a demo that addresses your specific requirements is a challenge for any potential partner, that’s probably a good sign that their solution isn’t right for you. Bring the right team with you so you can get as many of your questions answered at the demo as possible. Consider your Players, and think about inviting some or all of them to attend your demos. Let each potential attendee know why you believe there attendance to be important, and what you are relying on them to listen for. Ask each to come prepared with questions focused in their area of expertise. For example, you may want to include someone from both IT and legal so that you can ensure the software deployment fits within your organization’s security guidelines and provides for a defensible result.
- 18. Prepare for Your Demos. This list of example questions likely highlights the need to involve multiple areas of expertise. These are the types of questions you should ask/consider in every software demo (it is helpful to provide these questions to the potential partner ahead of time): • Is the UI pleasing? • Is the software easy to use? • How are your features different from others who offer this technology? • What about security and privacy? Are there any risks associated with using your technology? • Is the software cloud-based (SaaS) or is it a behind-the-firewall installation? • Do you have infrastructure as a service models (IaaS)
- 19. Develop a sheet with Criteria …“ Finally, develop a sheet with criteria and grade each vendor on the same criteria. Virtually all applications you evaluate will have different feature sets. A feature that is present in one application may not be present in another. Identify those features that are important to you and indicate the critically of those that are MUST HAVE vs something less important, or optional. The above table is an example of some.
- 20. Don’t Forget the Proof of Concept CHAPTER SIX 6
- 21. Don’t Forget the Proof of Concept (POC). Before you make your final decision, conduct a POC. Someone once said that the “proof of the pudding is in the eating,” and that’s true here as well. The only true way to know whether you’ve made the right choice is to test drive the software before you make a commitment. While the best possible POC is a real project that will get everyone undivided attention, a successful POC can also be conducted on “test data.” As you go through your POC, make a list of the steps that will follow the POC. This is especially important if you are conducting a POC of multiple software applications. Be sure that you know, at a minimum, the “success factors” that will be used to judge the whether the POC is successful. The criteria sheet you use for grading the vendor demos, should serve as a starting point for grading the success of each POC. As the POC progresses, you should share your results, against the selected criteria with the software company, so that you can discuss and then assign each criterion a PASS or FAIL result.
- 22. The proof of the pudding is in the eating …“ At the end of the POC, your review of the PASS or FAIL results for the packages you reviewed will, more often than not, give you the clear winner.
- 23. Questions? We’re here to answer your questions and to help. Check out our other resources at www.icontrolesi.com While there, take a tour of Recenseo and Envize