A Change in Tempo? eDiscovery Operational Metrics in the Summer of 2020

The Kinetics of Three eDiscovery Business Metrics in the Summer of 2020

The eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey is a non-scientific quarterly survey designed to provide insight into the business confidence level of individuals working in the eDiscovery ecosystem. The survey consists of nine core multiple-choice questions focused on factors related to the creation, delivery, and consumption of eDiscovery products and services. Additionally, the survey includes the following three optional questions focused on the business operational metrics of days sales outstanding (DSO), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), and revenue distribution across customer bases.

• How would you characterize the trajectory of your organization’s Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) during the last quarter? DSO represents the average number of days it takes credit sales to be converted into cash, or when a company’s account receivables can be collected.
• How would you characterize the trajectory of your organization’s Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) during the last quarter? MRR is income that a company can reliably anticipate every 30 days. Revenue from one-time purchases billed at the time of purchase is not included in MRR.
• Which of the following statements best describes the distribution of your organization’s revenue across your customer base during the last quarter? Distribution is the reduction of revenue concentration across the customer base. The customer base is the group of customers who repeatedly purchase the products or services of a business.

• Increasing
• Unfluctuating
• Decreasing
• Do Not Know

Key Observations in the Summer of 2020

• In the summer of 2020, 91 eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey participants chose to answer at least one of the optional business operational metric survey questions in the quarterly survey. This represents a strong number of participants given the summer survey was limited to 100 total responders to balance against the recent proliferation of new industry surveys and communications initiated during the current pandemic.
• In the summer of 2020, 91% of eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey participants chose to answer at least one of the optional business operational metric questions in the quarterly survey. This is an increase in percentage from the 87.2% of participants answering the optional business operational metric questions in the spring of 2020 survey.
• In the summer 2020 survey, between 28.9% and 39.6% of the respondents (depending on the question) did not know whether DSO, MRR, or distribution of customer revenue-based measures were increasing, unfluctuating, or decreasing.

• Exactly 20.9% of survey respondents reported DSO as increasing in the summer of 2020. This is an increase from 19.3% reporting DSO as increasing in the spring of 2020. This is also the highest percentage of respondents reporting DSO as increasing since the introduction of operational metric questions into the business confidence survey.
• There was an increase (1.1%) in the summer 2020 percentage (23.1%) of respondents reporting DSO as unfluctuating when compared to spring 2020 reporting (22%). This is the third-lowest percentage of respondents reporting DSO as unfluctuating since the introduction of operational metric questions into the business confidence survey, with the lowest being the 22% reported in the spring 2020 survey.
• 16.5% of survey respondents reported DSO as decreasing in the summer of 2020. This is a slight increase from reporting in the spring of 2020 when 15.3% of respondents noted decreasing DSO.

• There was a strong increase (11.4%) in the summer 2020 percentage (26.7%) of respondents reporting increasing MRR when compared to spring 2020 reporting (15.3%). This represents a strong quarter over quarter growth from the spring of 2020 when the lowest percentage of respondents reporting MRR as increasing since the introduction of operational metric questions into the business confidence survey occurred.
• There was a solid decrease (6.4%) in the summer 2020 percentage (18.9%) of respondents reporting MRR as unfluctuating when compared to spring 2020 reporting (25.3%)
• Just under 26% (25.6%) of survey respondents reported Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) as decreasing in the summer of 2020. This is a slight decrease from the 26% reporting MRR as decreasing in the spring of 2020 and is the second-highest percentage of respondents reporting MRR as decreasing since the introduction of business operational metric questions to the eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey in the winter of 2019.

• The percentage of survey respondents reporting an increasing distribution of revenue across their customer base increased (4.2%) between the spring of 2020 (16%) and the summer of 2020 (20.2%). This is also the second-lowest percentage of respondents reporting increasing distribution of revenue across their customer base since the introduction of operational metric questions into the business confidence survey.
• There was a decrease (3%) in the summer 2020 percentage (27%) of respondents reporting the distribution of revenue across their customer base as unfluctuating when compared to spring 2020 reporting (30%). This is also the second-highest percentage of respondents reporting unfluctuating distribution of revenue across their customer base since the introduction of operational metric questions into the business confidence survey.
• There was also a slight decrease (0.7%) in the percentage of survey respondents reporting a decrease in revenue distribution across their customer base, with 18% reporting a decreasing distribution of revenue in the summer of 2020. This is also the second-highest percentage of respondents reporting decreasing distribution of revenue across their customer base since the introduction of operational metric questions into the business confidence survey.

Running Listing of eDiscovery Business Confidence Survey Results

• Summer 2020 Survey (26 June – 10 July 2020)
• Spring 2020 Survey (2 April – 15 April 2020)
• Winter 2020 Survey (28 December 19 – 11 January 2020)
• Fall 2019 Survey (29 September – 17 October 2019)
• Summer 2019 Survey ( 1 July – 17 July 2019)
• Spring 2019 Survey (1 April – 18 April 2019)
• Winter 2019 Survey (27 December 2018 – January 10, 2019)
• Fall 2018 Survey (14 October – 26 October 2018)
• Summer 2018 Survey (4 July – 24 July 2018)
• Spring 2018 Survey (7 April – 20 April 2018)
• Winter 2018 Survey (24 December 17 – 15 January 2018)
• Fall 2017 Survey (5 October – 17 October 2017)
• Summer 2017 Survey (6 July – 31 July 2017)
• Spring 2017 Survey (14 April – 1 May 2017)
• Winter 2017 Survey (20 January – 6 February 2017)
• Fall 2016 Survey (11 October – 1 December 2016)
• Summer 2016 Survey (1 August – 31 August 2016)
• Spring 2016 Survey (1 May – 31 May 2016)
• Winter 2016 Survey (15 February – 29 February 2016)

• The Short List: An Abridged eDiscovery Directory
• From Alexa to iTunes: Audio Updates on eDiscovery

Rob Robinson

ComplexDiscovery Solutions

Based in Austin, Texas, Rob is a technology marketer who has held senior leadership positions with multiple top-tier data and legal technology providers and writes regularly on technology and marketing topics on the ComplexDiscovery(.com) blog.

Rob holds a Certified E-Discovery Specialist (CEDS) designation from ACEDS, a Certificate of eDiscovery from the Electronic Discovery and Evidence Training Institute, and has held leadership roles (VP of Marketing, CMO, and COO) in legal technology organizations to include ONSITE3 (Acquired), Orange Legal Technologies (Acquired), CloudNine (Acquired LexisNexis eDiscovery Product Line), and currently with HaystackID (Acquired Envision Discovery, Inspired Review, and eTERA Consulting). Rob also has held leadership positions in technology-centric organizations to include Crossroads Systems (Director of Marketing – Storage Area Networking) and Compaq Computer Corporation (Product Marketing Manager – Deskpro and Prosignia Product Lines). A former US Army Captain and Helicopter Pilot (AH-1, OH-58, and UH-1), Rob is an alumnus and Distinguished Military Graduate of the University of Mississippi.