Guest Author for Bow Tie Law: Peter Coons, VP, D4
Rentokil, a pest control company that operates in 46 countries and has over 30,000 employees, became the largest organization to begin using Google Apps last October.
According to Wikipedia.com, “Google Apps is a service from Google for using custom domain names with several Google products. It features several Web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites, including: Gmail, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs and Sites.”
Rentokil had over 40 e-mail systems including open source solutions and Microsoft Exchange. This caused huge problems with simple internal communication between employees. Basically, Google Apps, considered Software as a Service (SaaS), is going to allow Rentokil, and thousands of other organizations, to streamline and normalize its applications and most likely reduce overall IT costs.
SaaS is here and it’s not going anywhere. In fact, it makes perfect sense. Why would a company invest millions in infrastructure and licensing for software that it can affordably rent? For some companies it makes sense to support and deploy licensed software. The main one I can think of is that the software may not be offered as a Saas solution, yet (emphasis on yet). Another objection may be security. But as time passes that argument and others like it will become less of a concern or hurdle to organizations as they strive to cut costs.
What does a pest control company choosing Google Apps have to do with eDiscovery?
When I come across stories like this I think about the impact on eDiscovery, good or bad.
SaaS is akin to any new technology or service that I come across. As an eDiscovery practitioner I need to study it.
I need to know how it works. I need to know how the data is stored and where it’s stored.
I need to know if artifacts are left on a local hard drive.
I need to know the proper way to preserve the data.
I need to treat it like a frog in 10th grade Biology class.
More importantly, I need to ask the proper questions when interviewing IT personnel or persons most knowledgeable about a company’s software use. The first question should be – Does the company use SaaS or similar applications? If the answer is yes, the list of questions can go on and on.
FTP me up, Scotty!
Another trend is third party FTP services. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and it is typically used by organizations to transfer large files that don’t normally fit into an e-mail. Some services allow a user to “attach a file” to an e-mail using an Outlook plug-in and instead of the large file being sent as an attachment, a link is sent in its place. A user can also choose to send a file using Internet Explorer or other browser. The recipient receives an e-mail notifying them that a file is ready to be downloaded after they click on the hyperlink. After a certain period of time, the file is purged from the site and is no longer available via a hyperlink.
Again, this great service can pose significant challenges for anyone dealing with ESI. What if someone sent a file that one believes is integral to the matter but it’s no longer available on the FTP site, nor can it be located on the sender’s or recipient’s computer? After all efforts have been exhausted to find the file have come up short, is it possible to go after the SaaS provider and request backup tapes be restored? If so, what is the cost associated with that effort? Is an order from the court necessary? I certainly pity the SaaS providers…
If your job requires you to deal with ESI then you need to be hip to what’s new or become fast friends with an eDiscovery aficionado.
Trends can become the norm quickly.
As a lawyer, paralegal, eDiscovery practitioner or anyone dealing with eDiscovery, one must be aware of the trends or find oneself wearing platform shoes or worse, having a hairdo they will later regret.
Peter Coons is Vice President at D4 LLC and has over 15 years of experience in litigation and electronic discovery services.
Posted by bowtielaw 
