SPEED, CAPACITY, AND ECONOMIES OF SCALE

Over the last decade, Altep has established world-class dedicated OCR and EDD clusters in a fully redundant environment governed by an elaborate network security system. This scalable system allows us to process massive amounts of data quickly and efficiently. With an EDD staff consisting of dedicated pre-processors, operators, post-processors and quality assurance personnel, we have the resources available to handle the largest litigation matters as well as the associated discovery emergencies and inevitable "surprises." Utilizing Altep's advanced technological and expert human resources allows our clients to markedly reduce their litigation costs as they pay only for the EDD processing needed, rather than investing a small fortune into an in-house shop only to suffer through the trial and error learning curve of inefficient EDD processing. Additionally, the pressure of litigation reveals the true advantages of experienced and proven EDD processing as execution itself will reduce the overall cost of litigation by preventing sanctions, removing the potential arguments over spoliation and creating a defensible litigation climate.

Furthermore, litigation is cyclical and a corporation's need for EDD processing will fluctuate as to the volume of cases and types of litigation. This variance undoubtedly will lead to the need within the corporation to continually “staff up” or “staff down” in order to meet changing demands. This turnover in personnel is inefficient and costly due to the time and effort spent on recruiting and training and will surely cause delays in production. With a diversified client base, we are not materially impacted by the litigation needs of any particular client. This allows us to maintain our staff at a consistent level and retain highly skilled and trained individuals with minimal turnover. These economies of scale are also evident in the hardware and software we purchase as we are able to spread the costs of such purchases over a large client base; therefore significantly reducing the cost a client would pay if purchased independently. All of these efficiencies are then passed on to our client in the form of quality work product and aggressive pricing.

TIMELINESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY

One significant aspect of the execution of e-discovery that is often overlooked by corporate law departments is the nature of the relationship with the in-house IT department. The IT department is often under an inordinate amount of pressure and deadlines. As a result, it has little time or desire to assist the legal department with e-discovery needs. With good reason, many IT departments have the mindset that their primary responsibility is to assist operations or other revenue-generating departments in the company. Administrative, “cost” or overhead departments come second. This can lead to friction between legal and IT as both groups are trying to meet their own priorities. The responsibilities and burden IT inherits with the implementation of a comprehensive in-house processing shop is considerable and often overwhelming. Obviously, substantial investment by the corporation in additional resources for the IT department is required, but even with the addition of personnel and equipment, the relationship between legal and IT will be terribly strained. Additionally, IT may not always sympathize with legal’s deadlines or fear of sanctions.

This tension can be limited when the responsibility for handling e-discovery lies with a second party. Altep, as a litigation support and document management partner, can limit or alleviate the Legal/IT tension. Our focus is to facilitate communications between departments and execute the e-discovery process with an emphasis on cost savings and deadline satisfaction. Because we speak the language of both the legal practitioner and the technology professional, we can act as yet another support to ensure that the corporate client’s litigation needs are met.

MOST CURRENT TECHNOLOGY AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE MARKETPLACE

As previously mentioned, e-discovery is fluid and ever-changing. The software available for extracting metadata, searching, converting, hosting, reviewing, and producing electronic media changes rapidly. Software updates and patches must be constantly evaluated in order to determine which are necessary and which are superfluous. Not only is the analysis of these updates difficult, requiring significant manpower by IT specialists, it is also incredibly expensive. In addition to software updates, the hardware used to process the data must also be kept up-to-date and evaluated continually. Because of the competitive nature of the e-discovery industry, providers such as Altep must keep current with the latest software and hardware available in order to stay competitive in the marketplace. Unlike a corporation, whose in-house processing software may go years without being updated (typically only replaced or updated if something breaks) Altep must consistently reevaluate all aspects of its processing and the software and hardware used to facilitate that process in order to ensure that we are using a combination of software and hardware that provides our clients with the greatest efficiencies at a competitive rate.

Additionally, because of intimate knowledge and dependence on e-discovery, Altep is a pioneer in the development of software and best practices. We are consistently at the leading edge of technological advancements and methods emerging within the industry. As a result, our clients benefit from not only the most current and efficient e-discovery practices offered in the industry, but also from services and processes that are not available anywhere else in the market. This gives our clients an advantage in not only the collection and review of their own documents, but in the analysis of documents produced by the opposing party.

CONCLUSION

The corporate goal of reducing litigation costs will not be obtained simply by internalizing the EDD processing component through massive capital investment in EDD technology and personnel. In fact, even a determined, long-term financial commitment to develop the expertise, speed, capacity, updated technology, and general experience to competently execute a corporation’s basic EDD processing needs is unlikely to match the capabilities of a world-class provider like Altep in cost or performance. When a corporate client partners with Altep, they immediately receive the cost benefits generated by the enhanced technological and methodological efficiencies that only Altep possesses. Additionally, as a partner, Altep acts as a litigation support advocate on behalf of the corporation, constantly seeking ways to reduce costs and place the corporation in control of its litigation budget. As an Altep partner, a corporation enhances its ability to execute litigation matters by providing corporate Legal and IT professionals with state-of-the-art tools and allowing those same professionals to focus on their core responsibilities to the corporation.

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