Without defined, repeatable processes and the right tool it's apparent that accurately estimating the cost of an eDiscovery response is dicey at best and is a complete unknown for most. Ask around your own company and the likely answer will be: "It depends."

There have been numerous articles recently about the Bush administration's email woes, including this Washington Post article that cites a $10m figure for finding lost emails. I'm sure that we will all carry that burden as taxpaying citizens of the US.

No one is immune from a document request. eDiscovery responses are becoming more of a regular occurrence (or should I say disruption?) throughout both the public and private sectors. So let's just assume there is a high response cost to a document request as we noted above. This really elevates the need to "have your house in order."

Taking steps to proactively build a compliant and discoverable environment should be on the top of everyone's list, from IT to the CEO. I kind of equate it back to the days prior to everyone having a Disaster Recovery plan. Initially DR was just a plan that sat on a shelf, a check box item if you will. Then as businesses started realizing the impact that IT-related downtimes had on their bottom line, it became more of a commitment by upper management to ensure there was a real, tested course of action between the covers of the plan.

It's clear that eDiscovery responses are expensive when you aren't prepared. As is evidenced by the search for White House email, the dollars are mounting up for discovery cases. However, the better prepared you are to respond, the less impact there is on your bottom line!

To learn more go to
www.ca.com/ig
.