Extract from Meg McLaughlin’s article “5 Easy Ways to Establish Ediscovery Metrics”
Metrics, also known as key performance indicators or KPIs, are the silver bullet to continuous improvement – not to mention cost savings and budget control – for any ediscovery process. There’s nothing mysterious about measuring and analyzing data, but most organizations haven’t adopted a consistent metrics program despite the benefits because it can feel like an overwhelming process to set up. . If you’re not sure where to start, or if you’ve tried to start and haven’t gotten good results, it’s best to get a handle on what exactly ediscovery metrics are and what they’re used for.
Understanding Ediscovery Metrics and KPIs
While in the past legal departments were used to avoiding business-oriented measures, that approach is no longer an option for most in-house corporate legal teams. Long gone are the days where legal operated outside the discretion of corporate budgets. This increase in pressure to control costs has brought an increase in attention to the true costs of ediscovery.
The result is that many organizations are now gathering and tracking more data than ever before, enabling them to minimize unnecessary costs and optimize results. In-house legal teams that can effectively track their KPIs and quickly identify outlying high-cost processes can gain better control over their budgets and protect their spending. Despite the obvious benefits, many corporate legal teams still struggle to use metrics effectively, resulting in unnecessary spend that could be reinvested elsewhere.
