eDiscovery: 'What You Want' Vs. 'What You Need' for Your Small Law Firm

05 July 2019 by Anith Mathai eDiscovery small-law-firm ethics

Takeaway: Small law firms often don’t know what to ask for when buying eDiscovery software. Learn to tweak your eDiscovery ‘wants,’ and you’ll quickly find powerful, intuitive, secure, mobile, and affordable software.

Are you asking for too little from your eDiscovery software?

How do you choose the right eDiscovery software? Well, you’d start by listing the features you want, right? The thing is, over the years we’ve noticed that our customers don’t realize they’re asking for too little.

Here are five examples of eDiscovery ‘wants’ vs. ‘needs.’

Notice how a simple tweak to a ‘want’ can get you the right software for your firm.

1. “I want the best eDiscovery software on the market.”

Great! But it’ll help to be a bit more specific. How about, “I want the best eDiscovery software on the market, for a small law firm.” With question one, you’ll find quality eDiscovery applications with advanced features. They’ll sound exciting and cutting-edge. But is ‘exciting’ what you need? After all, you don’t get paid extra for fancy features that you never use. And advanced software is often designed by large companies with whole departments and teams focused on sales and advertising. That adds to the overhead. And you pick up the tab. With question two, you’ll find software that’s ‘powerful, optimal, and affordable’ instead. Learn more about expensive vs. optimal eDiscovery.

2. “I want software that’s easy to learn how to use.”

Sure! But let’s go one better: “I want software that I already know how to use.” Because the best eDiscovery software looks and feels like the other applications you currently use. For example, you’ll.

Load the software as you do with email. No need to download and install anything. Just go to the website, sign in, and start working. It’s like checking email.
Move files around like in Windows. Just drag-and-drop them into your eDiscovery browser.
Search as you do with Google. Just type your keywords into the search bar. Even with ‘advanced’ searches that have many interrelated keywords, you’ll be giving commands using simple drop-down bars.

3. “I want software that’s hack-proof.”

Useful. But why not an entire eDiscovery environment that’s hack-proof? Because with Cloud eDiscovery, experts protect your data at multiple levels:

They protect your data from physical damage (fires, floods, etc.). And they have generators to make sure their servers are always powered up.
They protect your data from intruders and hackers. They do rigorous background and security checks for employees and IT professionals that come in contact with their servers. They use technology like encrypted biometric identification to make sure only authorized vendors are connecting to their servers. And they regularly test their software and hardware to make them hack-proof.
They encrypt your data. And when you want to delete it, they use crypto-shredding to delete the encryption keys. This guarantees that your data is wiped thoroughly. Also, they mask (i.e., hide within random characters) vital information like credit card numbers.
They have advanced data recovery tools to retrieve your data if it gets lost. And they make sure your data doesn’t get mistakenly corrupted, edited, or mixed up with other users’ Cloud data.

4. “I want a simple way to transfer data between computers.”

Convenient. But what about a system where you don’t have to transfer data at all? Instead, it’ll sit in a well-protected central location that you can access from anywhere – even on-the-go! Because that’s how Cloud eDiscovery works. Here, software giants like Amazon and Google lease storage space to businesses all over the world. And their thousands of interconnected servers form a ‘Cloud.’ When your data is in the Cloud, you can access it from anywhere. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection. Note: It’s how Dropbox, Google Drive, or any Apple product stores your data.

5. “I want rock-bottom prices.”

That’s a good start. But how about rock-bottom prices where you know, (1) Exactly what you’re paying for and, (2) Exactly how much your bill will be every month? You get this when you choose eDiscovery software with ‘fixed-volume’ pricing. Here, 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. So, you choose a plan you want and pay a fixed monthly amount that you know about up-front. And remember to watch out for sneaky eDiscovery pricing traps.

Looking for powerful and affordable eDiscovery software? Try GoldFynch.

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

It costs just $27 a month for a 3 GB case: That’s far less – every month – than the nearest comparable software. And hundreds of dollars less than many others. With GoldFynch, you know what you’re paying for exactly – its pricing is simple and readily available on the website.
It’s easy to budget for. GoldFynch has a flat, prorated rate. With legacy software, your bill changes depending on how much data you use.
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 a processing cap of 1 GB), without adding a credit card.
It can handle even the largest cases. GoldFynch scales from small to large, since it’s in the Cloud. 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.
You can access it from anywhere. And 24/7. All your files are backed up and secure in the Cloud. And you can monitor its servers here.
You won’t have to worry about technical stuff. It’s designed, developed and run by the same team. So, its technical support isn’t outsourced. Which means you get prompt and reliable service.

Want to learn more about GoldFynch?

Try GoldFynch for Free Schedule a Demo