One quarter of UK organisations unnecessarily outsource all eDisclosure needs, Recommind comments

Global News

16
Oct
2009

International law firm Fulbright & Jaworski yesterday announced the results of its 2009 Litigation Trends survey*, revealing that a quarter of all companies surveyed use law firms with specialised eDisclosure practices, while 28 percent of UK organisations prefer to outsource their main eDisclosure functions through preferred service provider relationships or master service agreements.

Information risk leader Recommind notes that UK firms are facing a ticking time bomb as eDisclosure becomes increasingly common in the UK, and the use of social media skyrockets across all industries.  According to Fulbright, this may be because 18 percent of UK respondents reported that they have been required to produce information from one or more of these sites in the last year as part of an eDisclosure request.

Recommind believes that organisations should refrain from outsourcing all information management responsibility when it comes to eDisclosure, and instead should tackle the issue proactively – an approach that will benefit firms in the long term.

“Although eDisclosure no longer appears to be an afterthought for a sizeable number of organisations, Fulbright’s research suggests that their immediate notion is to outsource such a critical responsibility,” said Craig Carpenter, VP and general counsel at Recommind.  “With the increase in the number and scope of eDisclosure requests, coupled with tight deadlines to provide responsive data, being prepared for such events should underline a company’s entire information management programme from the inside out.”

Previous Recommind research** indicates that almost half of all UK enterprises have experienced an increase in eDisclosure requests over the past year, with IT directors citing fraud and other illegal financial activities as the main contributing factor, while the growth of electronic communication comes in a close second.

“Taking control of an entire organisation’s data store is undeniably one of the major challenges associated with eDisclosure – making data searchable and discoverable in today's tight budget restrictions can be a daunting undertaking for IT and legal departments,” continued Carpenter.  “However, with sophisticated search and eDisclosure solutions at the core of an effective data management strategy, the initial outlay will ultimately save firms significant amounts of time and money by not having to rely on external third parties when a disclosure demand is made.”  

*Fulbright’s sixth annual Litigation Trends survey report, October 2009: http://www.fulbright.com/litigationtrends19

**Survey of CIOs and IT directors at 150 UK organisations with more than 1,000 employees conducted by Vanson Bourne in April 2009: http://www.recommind.com/releases/edisclosuretimebomb20090520