8 Tips to Finding Low-Cost eDiscovery Software for Your Small Law Firm

09 August 2018 by Anith Mathai eDiscovery small-law-firm
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Some eDiscovery applications are better than others. Use these 8 tips to find powerful-but-affordable software for your small law firm.

eDiscovery is changing the way small law firms work. And there are many eDiscovery applications out there. But they aren’t all created equal. Here are 8 tips to find the best software for your small law firm.

1. Your software should be quick to set up

You should be able to sign up and start uploading files in less than 10 minutes. And if you need to upgrade your case, that should be quick too. Is your provider showing you complex pricing tables with many caveats? Run for the hills.

2. It should be easy to use

It needs a simple and clear interface so that you don’t have to waste time figuring out where everything is. And basic actions should be intuitive. You should know what to do without having to study a manual. For example, if you want to copy files from one folder to another on your computer, what do you do? You select all the files with your mouse and then drag-and-drop them into the other folder. Uploading files into your eDiscovery software should be the same. If you have to learn a new way of doing it, the software is wasting your time.

3. It should be affordable

eDiscovery for small law firms shouldn’t cost much. For example, you can get software for as little as $27 a month. How is this possible? Well, by cutting out the frills. You want an app with the essential features you need and nothing more. For example, ‘predictive coding’ is a useful feature for large law firms, but is almost never used by smaller ones like yours. By getting rid of this and similar features, eDiscovery providers can cut costs significantly. Learn more about cutting out eDiscovery frills.

4. It should have transparent pricing

eDiscovery pricing can be complicated, with many hidden costs. So, what’s the solution? Choose the right pricing scheme. There are two basic types of pricing: With (1) ‘fixed volume’ pricing, storage space is divided into chunks (or ‘plans’)–e.g., 3 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB, etc. And their prices have been set in advance. With (2) ‘Per GB’ (or, ‘pay as you go’) pricing, there aren’t any ‘plans.’ However big or small your case is, your bill is calculated based on a per-GB rate. Fixed-volume pricing is better because it simplifies billing and makes it transparent and predictable. Find out more about fixed-volume pricing.

5. It should let you make ‘advanced’ searches

You don’t want to waste time reading through thousands of documents to find the information you need. So, your eDiscovery software should have an ‘advanced’ search feature. Here, you can combine multiple keywords and tell the software how and where to search for them. Like, Find all emails John Anderson sent Sally Nedry, which mention the Pfizer meeting. And which were sent before 2015. This sort of highly-specific search is hugely useful further into a review when you’re looking for something in particular. Find out more about advanced searches.

6. It should have these important add-ons

  • Automatic processing: This includes – (1) finding and deleting duplicate files, (2) finding and deleting system files, (3) converting files into a common format, (4) extracting data from your files. Find out more about automatic processing.
  • Inbuilt OCR: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a software tool that converts scanned documents into text files that a computer can process. So, instead of just being ‘pictures’ that sit on your computer, you can actually work with them. For example, you’ll be able to use your software’s search feature to quickly find names, dates, and keywords in documents. And you’ll be able to edit/redact text.
  • Sharing productions via the software: The best apps let you share productions from within the app’s interface. It’s secure, saves time and money, and keeps you in control of the production. Find out more about the right way of sharing productions.

7. It should have excellent technical support

You want to spend your time practicing law, not sorting out technical issues. So, make sure that your eDiscovery provider has a skilled technical team that can respond quickly and efficiently to glitches.

8. It should store data in the Cloud

Cloud-hosting has been around for a long time. In fact, if you use Dropbox, Google Drive, or any Apple product, then you’re already in the Cloud. Software giants like Amazon and Google lease storage and computing power to businesses all over the world. And their thousands of interconnected servers form a public ‘Cloud.’ The more people there are in the Cloud, the less the costs for each. That’s the beauty of Cloud economics, and it means you pay much less than if you were using the private servers to store your data. And with Cloud-based eDiscovery, you don’t have to install/maintain any hardware/software. And you can use your eDiscovery application on-the-go. Find out more about Cloud-eDiscovery.

Looking for affordable eDiscovery software? Try GoldFynch.

It’s a next-generation eDiscovery application that prioritizes things that matter to small law firms.

  • Pay just $27 per month for a basic 3 GB case. That’s much less–every month–than the nearest comparable software. And hundreds of dollars cheaper than many others. GoldFynch’s pricing is transparent and readily available on the website.
  • It’s a flat, prorated rate. So it’s simple to budget for it. With legacy software, the billing is complicated and opaque, and your bill changes depending on how much data you use.
  • Got a small case that might become a large one later? GoldFynch scales from small to large. So, choose from a range of case sizes (3 GB to 150 GB, and more) and don’t waste money on space you don’t need. Plus, you don’t need to pay to ‘unlock’ premium features. You’ll have the full power of GoldFynch even with a starter case.
  • It takes just minutes to get going. It runs in the Cloud, so you use it through your web browser (Google Chrome recommended). No installation. No sales calls or emails. Plus, you get a free, fully-functional trial case (0.5 GB of data and processing cap of 1 GB), without adding a credit card.
  • You get the best technical support: It’s designed, developed and run by the same team. So, the technical support isn’t outsourced. Which means prompt and reliable service.

Want to find out more?

For more about eDiscovery for small law firms, check out these articles.

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