Electronic discovery or eDiscovery is the electronic aspect of identifying, collecting and producing electronically stored information (ESI) in response to a request for legal proceedings or investigations. ESI includes, but is not limited to, emails, documents, presentations, databases, voicemail, audio and video files, social media, and web sites.
The advantages of a records management system is evident if a company becomes involved in a lawsuit. Being able to locate relevant information quickly reduces electronic discovery costs in two ways.
Firstly, it allows for effective collaboration between in-house and outside counsel when fashioning discovery plans
Secondly, it decreases the amount of time taken to produce documents, which will protect the company from rising e-discovery costs
This is why many managers are allocating a greater portion of their information technology budgets for computer and network security.