The eDiscovery software market is set for rapid growth, with revenues expected to surpass $1.2bn in 2010, according to analyst house Gartner. The market this year is tipped to total $1bn, a 25% increase over 2008 figures.
Gartner defines eDiscovery as, “the identification, preservation, collection, preparation, review and production of electronically stored information associated with legal and government proceedings.”
It can be delivered on-premise or through a SaaS offering.
The growth in the market is being fuelled by increasing levels of litigation across the business world. Craig Carpenter, VP of marketing at eDiscovery and eDisclosure form Recommind, told CBR that the economic situation was driving more companies to take legal proceedings.
“When times are good, people don’t sue each other very much; they’re making money and they have money. When times are bad, people tend to sue a lot more,” he said. “EDiscovery and eDisclosure are becoming core platforms for businesses. I think we’ll start to see more and more of this soft of software over the next few years.”
Tom Eid, research vice president at Gartner claims that the market will continue to grow throughout 2011, with consolidation continuing beyond then. While existing vendors will expand their product line, the emergence of eDiscovery as a high-growth market will see more companies enter the space, Gartner said.
While the US has been the biggest market for eDiscovery – accounting for about 90% of the market revenue in 2008 – other territories such as the UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa are expected to see large revenue growth over the next few years.
“The December 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures (FRCP) in the U.S. regarding the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI) and passing of subsequent similar statutes in other countries, has really spurred market interest in eDiscovery,” said Eid. “This is prompting many companies to rethink their overall information management strategies, from the policy level to the implementation level.”
Players in the eDiscovery scene include Autonomy, Recommind, EMC and ZyLAB.
