As of today, AvePoint reports that 64% of businesses store and use over a petabyte of data. 41% exceed that already astronomical figure with at least 500 petabytes.
Scattered data makes legal data management a challenge, especially for enterprises working with so much digital information. Compliance risks and rising eDiscovery costs are the inevitable outcome of this disorganization.
Luckily, eDiscovery software solutions like Logikcull connector can help reduce legal expenses and ensure that you meet data privacy regulations. Read on to learn the ins and outs of scattered data and how you can streamline your operations ASAP.
The Problem: Legal Data Is Everywhere
Scattered data is information that is not arranged in a specific structure. It's irregular and has no inherent order.
With legal data, storage on multiple non-integrated applications or devices is usually the underlying issue.
This is because legal teams rely on several different applications for storage and digital communications. Information is scattered across:
- Google Drive
- Slack
- Microsoft 365
- Dropbox
Searching for key documents across all these platforms isn't just frustrating. It's inefficient and time-consuming. It is also frequently fruitless since there's no way to find the digital documents you need at a given moment.
Missing and inaccessible data can lead to compliance risks. It can also slow down investigations when you need to retrieve sensitive, case-related information. This could land you with fines or damage your reputation.
The Hidden Costs of Data Sprawl
According to 2024 reports, bad data (including scattered data) can cause companies to lose a lot of money. Currently, poor data quality costs the average organization about $12.9 million annually.
There are several reasons for this.
The first is wasted time. Legal professionals can spend hours looking for documents when they're scattered across multiple applications. Even then, they may not know where to search and might pull up outdated variations of what they're looking for.
Compliance headaches are also a reason that costs increase with bad data. When data is scattered, it's difficult to track and manage. It is also extremely hard to secure, which leads to inefficiency-related expenses and the risk of data theft.
In fact, businesses with only one non-compliance event lose about $5.87 million. This is because of:
- Fines and other financial penalties
- Disruption of workflows
- Revenue and productivity losses
- Damage to reputation
Storage and eDiscovery expenses are also higher with scattered data. When you don't know where your data is, you can't differentiate the digital information you need from what you could delete. You may not even know exactly what data you're holding onto!
This increases costs because you need to pay for cloud or server space to store that unnecessary data. If you deleted it, you could scale down on cloud space with a quality eDiscovery SaaS provider.
How Legal Teams Can Take Back Control
The best way that legal teams can regain control over their operations is to consolidate and centralize their data. This essentially means putting it in a single integrated location. Following best practices for organizing legal data is important, and this is the first step toward enhancing operations.
Integrating smarter workflows can also afford you enhanced control. Make platforms like Slack and Google Drive work for you with connectivity tools.
These platforms are great for both communication and access, but using a quality connector means that you don't need to sift through both independently to find and access specific data. No one has one-size-fits-all needs, so you will need to leverage them in the specific way that your company's data structure and plan require.
Finally, prioritize automating data retention policies. Have your AI-powered all-in-one application store the data you need and defensibly delete the rest.
This will ensure that you only keep the data that is necessary for your daily operations. When you hold onto less data, you don't only cut down on storage costs. You also make it easier to manage, find, and edit the information that you need regular access to.
What's Next for Legal Data Management?
Cloud solutions are convenient and accessible from any device. As remote work grows in popularity and more people rely on mobile devices, their adoption continues to rapidly increase.
This is great for security and convenience. However, it also means that the problem of data storage and compliance is still growing fast.
To nip financial and logistical problems in the bud, it's important to get ahead of data sprawl now. This will ensure that you avoid costly headaches later.
Tools like Onna can help. Our connectors, including Logikcull connector solutions, have several unique benefits. They include:
- A developer-friendly interface
- The ability to push data from any other source onto the all-in-one Onna platform
- An interface that allows people to view and search data whenever they need to
- Rapid and consistent data collection
- An AI-powered platform API that does the work of data management for you
This makes it easier for businesses to manage and navigate integrated data across multiple platforms and apps.
However, to reap the advantages of our eDiscovery software solutions, you'll first need to develop a data storage and access strategy. To do this, you must:
- Identify different data types
- Create data categories
- Identify both present and future data needs
- Set SMART goals for data management
- Choose appropriate cloud-based SaaS data storage and management solutions
- Implement data tiering
- Make sure the data is scalable
- Understand data lifecycle management
- Define data policies and procedures
- Monitor and optimize data continuously
This makes managing data within Onna's application much easier.
Reduce Legal Expenses and Challenges With Logikcull Connector
Now that you know the importance of legal data management and how scattered data can impede these processes, it's time to streamline your eDiscovery with Logikcull connector.
Onna, a Reveal technology, offers a wide range of connectivity solutions for businesses.
Our AI-powered platform empowers businesses to connect various platforms to make data access easy and instantaneous. Our aim isn't just to keep your data secure. It's also to supercharge all your workflows by keeping data in a single centralized location.
Contact us to learn more about our robust connector library and how our open API can help you custom-build connectors that meet your individual needs!
