Periodic Reporting for period 1 - eDCaseMAN (Defendable legal cases through an affordable, easy, integrated and reliable case management software)
Reporting period: 2018-05-01 to 2018-09-30
Electronic discovery (e-discovery) is the electronic aspect of identifying, retrieving, and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to a request to a lawsuit or a legal investigation. Many companies and legal service providers utilize prescriptive data management tools from excel spreadsheets to emails to record and collect information. meaning that there is little cooperation between different groups involved in a case. This can lead to problems in court, as many cases are lost due to missing chain of custody. Very often too, huge volumes of data are required in such cases and improper storage and retrieval can lead to processing large amounts of data that are not required. In the age of GDPR, optimising this process has become even more pertinent as even SMEs, who often do not have the means or expertise to carry out such cases with due diligence, can receive requests on personal data.
At Brite, we have developed eDCaseMAN, an intelligent evidence management software solution that solves the administrative e-discovery process challenges. Using eDCaseMAN guarantees an audit trail so the chain of custody is maintained throughout the process from initial legal request to completed collection of data. The ability to track and trace every document throughout the evidence chain provides compliance and accountability. Dashboards keep all involved stakeholders informed with real-time data enabling informed decisions at any time.
The objectives of the feasibility study were to engage interested parties and end users and perform beta tests to gather feedback on user requirements from different customer segments. Results from this were used to develop a feasible product development plan, scout development partners and stakeholders, and engage a wider group of end users for pilot trials of the full commercial product.
At Brite, we have developed eDCaseMAN, an intelligent evidence management software solution that solves the administrative e-discovery process challenges. Using eDCaseMAN guarantees an audit trail so the chain of custody is maintained throughout the process from initial legal request to completed collection of data. The ability to track and trace every document throughout the evidence chain provides compliance and accountability. Dashboards keep all involved stakeholders informed with real-time data enabling informed decisions at any time.
The objectives of the feasibility study were to engage interested parties and end users and perform beta tests to gather feedback on user requirements from different customer segments. Results from this were used to develop a feasible product development plan, scout development partners and stakeholders, and engage a wider group of end users for pilot trials of the full commercial product.
We undertook a full analysis of the technical and business potential of eDCaseMAN and established both the engineering developments needed to meet the end user requirements, as well as the best way to commercialise the system. We investigated the broad spectrum of customer segments, from SMEs up to global corporations and determined the best approach for each in terms of features, case-load, and pricing. Brite analysed its current stage of development and the necessary engineering and scale-up activities required to achieve a wide market uptake and build a stronger reputation in the e-discovery sphere. Stakeholders – end users, distributors, and developers – were engaged and through this we confirmed the interest in the estimated reachable market. We are now in ongoing discussions with multiple clients and industry players, to whom we have demonstrated the current prototype. By analysing the technical and business risks, we have established a sound implementation plan based on these and the necessary regulations to ensure full commercialisation of the software.
While competitors cover aspects of the e-discovery process, none have a process that is tailored for legal teams to streamline the overall hold/preserve/collect side of the EDRM model by adapting the workflow to the internal work methodology of any company and go on to provide a full audit trail, including GDPR audits. eDCaseMAN will ultimately greatly increase the efficiency of e-discovery and downstream data processing for global acting companies and SMEs alike. The software system will help to manage case requirements ranging from the vast numbers of involved parties required by large companies, to simplified management tools for small companies to deal with increasing litigation pressures and with the recently issued new GDPR. eDCaseMAN empowers companies to have faith in their data management storage and retrieval so that they can focus on their core products and services. Doing so ensures better safety and accountability for all stakeholders.