Extract from Brock Carrier’s article “4 Reasons Spreadsheets Are Holding Your Legal Holds Back”
Traditional tools like spreadsheets, particularly Microsoft Excel, have long been standard in legal operations. Despite more advanced technological alternatives available today, a recent Wall Street Journal article, ‘Sorry AI, Old-School Spreadsheets Are Still King,’ illustrates why these tools remain prevalent. It emphasizes the deep trust and widespread use of spreadsheets across industries for data management and analysis tasks.
However, in this digital transformation era, spreadsheets’ shortcomings become particularly evident when it comes to managing complex legal holds. Such reliance can severely hinder the effectiveness, speed, and accuracy needed in increasingly digital legal environments. Below, we outline four key reasons that demonstrate why spreadsheets fall short in effectively managing legal holds, emphasizing the urgent need for more advanced and tailored technological solutions in contemporary legal settings.
Four Key Reasons That Demonstrate Why Spreadsheets Fall Short
1. Error-Prone Nature
When managing legal holds with spreadsheets, data becomes fragmented across multiple, disconnected files, and the process often needs more integration with current employee directories. This results in manually sending emails and tracking responses, increasing the risk of sending notices to outdated email addresses. Such manual processes can lead to significant delays in consolidating crucial data and undermine legal holds’ defensibility, making it difficult to track and verify compliance accurately. This scattered approach complicates data management and slows responsiveness, which is essential for effective legal holds.
