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Technology Assisted Review And Its Importance
Explains the importance of technology assisted review in contrast to an archival solution.

Technology assisted review, also known as computer-assisted review or predictive coding, is a process in which software is used to aid in the review of documents during the discovery phase of litigation. This process can significantly speed up the review process and help identify relevant documents more accurately and efficiently.

One product that offers technology assisted review is Grotabyte. Grotabyte is a cloud-based platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to help legal teams identify relevant documents and streamline the review process. One of the key features of Sonavault is its ability to predict which documents are likely to be relevant based on a set of training documents that have been labeled by a human reviewer. This allows the system to learn and improve over time, resulting in more accurate predictions and a more efficient review process. But how does Grotabyte's predictive coding technology work? The process begins by selecting a set of documents that will be used to train the system. These documents, known as "seed documents," are typically chosen by a human reviewer and are representative of the types of documents that are expected to be found in the review pool. The human reviewer then labels these seed documents as either relevant or not relevant to the case. Once the seed documents have been labeled, the Sonavault system uses these labels to train a machine learning model. The model is then used to predict which other documents in the review pool are likely to be relevant. These predictions are then reviewed and confirmed or corrected by a human reviewer, and the process is repeated until the review pool has been thoroughly searched and all relevant documents have been identified. In addition to its predictive coding technology, Sonavault offers a number of other features that make it an effective tool for technology assisted review. One of these features is its ability to identify duplicate documents and remove them from the review pool, saving time and resources. It also has robust collaboration tools that allow multiple reviewers to work on the same document set simultaneously, ensuring that no relevant documents are missed. But Sonavault is not just a powerful tool for technology assisted review. It is also user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy for reviewers to get up and running quickly. It has a simple and straightforward interface that allows reviewers to easily label documents and track their progress through the review process. Overall, Sonavault is a powerful tool for technology assisted review that can help legal teams save time and resources while improving the accuracy and efficiency of the document review process. Its advanced machine learning algorithms and user-friendly interface make it an effective and efficient tool for identifying relevant documents and streamlining the review process. Whether you are a seasoned legal professional or new to the field, Sonavault is a tool that can help you get the job done more efficiently and effectively. REQUEST A DEMO NOW

CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF ELECTRONICALLY STORED INFORMATION (ESI) AND WHY THEY MAKE E-DISCOVERY MORE CHALLENGING
The process of e-discovery is cumbersome and time-consuming, whether you are the party initiating it or responding to it. The new forms of electronically stored information (ESI) add even more complexity to the process and make it even more challenging to manage effectively. ESI can be found in many forms, including documents, databases, audio files, videos, emails, instant messages, and more. These new forms of ESI can often overwhelm investigators and make it difficult to identify relevant data for discovery in court cases.

The process of e-discovery is cumbersome and time-consuming, whether you are the party initiating it or responding to it. The new forms of electronically stored information (ESI) add even more complexity to the process and make it even more challenging to manage effectively. ESI can be found in many forms, including documents, databases, audio files, videos, emails, instant messages, and more. These new forms of ESI can often overwhelm investigators and make it difficult to identify relevant data for discovery in court cases.

A Brief History of Electronic Discovery (E-Discovery) It’s probably worth remembering that as recently as 20 years ago, e-discovery was not a phrase that would be heard in a court of law. Back then, it wasn’t even possible for pieces of information to be electronically stored, hard to believe but true! The process now known as e-discovery began with the advent of email and quickly became an overwhelming challenge for companies and their attorneys tasked with responding to civil subpoenas and court orders issued by litigants. Since those early days, technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, and our ability to store data has grown exponentially over time. In just a few short decades, we went from storing gigabytes of data on floppy disks to petabytes (1 million gigabytes) on tape storage systems. More than ever, new forms of ESI emerge every day. As a result, what used to be relatively simple discovery requests are now much more complex because they involve multiple types of media: emails, word processing documents; spreadsheets; PowerPoint presentations; video files; audio files, images, and more. As a result, electronic discovery is becoming increasingly complicated and expensive because it requires legal teams to handle large volumes of ESI in many different formats from multiple sources. And when you think you’ve seen it all, new forms of ESI appear on the horizon — like social media posts and cloud computing — that continually challenge e-discovery professionals to do better at what they do. New Forms of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) and Their Associated Problems Before ESI became commonplace, court orders for the production of documents were relatively simple and targeted. For example, if a witness’s billing records from an employer were needed (which in most cases would be a third party), all that had to be done was provide the adversary with a subpoena duces tecum (Latin for produce that which is commanded), along with its attendant affidavit. However, with the rise in technology, physical paper trails are almost extinct. In addition, many organizations engage more in e-communication, especially since many have had to go remote after the pandemic. Regardless, many organizations try to collate and store their ESI for future references; hence, they back up individual data of each system communication on cloud storage services such as Dropbox or shared drives like Google Drive. However, with increased communication data, it becomes cumbersome and haphazard; in truth, all needed information may be available on the selected storage, but they are hardly sorted, so the information is pretty scattered and incoherent. Let’s not forget that many e-communication platforms exist, and a company with a remote approach could use multiple apps simultaneously. For example, a company could use Outlook for official emails, Skype for instant messaging, Meet for Video conferences, and even group chats via non-traditional workplace apps like WhatsApp or Kik Messenger. Such a company will need to back up conversations from all these platforms; hence, communication becomes disjointed. Let’s say the day starts with all employees texting on a WhatsApp group before having a video conference via Google meet. At the end of the meeting, the manager sends an official email to all staff via Outlook. In the above scenario, communication flow and chain move across multiple applications; the conclusion of the video conference via Meet could be part of the email content on Outlook. At the end of the day, everyone discusses it on the WhatsApp group. Suppose the data for WhatsApp, Meet, and Outlook are all stored individually. In that case, it becomes disjointed, incoherent, and too confusing to use in e-discovery. It is also worth mentioning that these individual social media platforms have varying methods of storing and retrieving data — some better than others. Some of these platforms have limited data retrieval. Some platforms can only efficiently retrieve text information, and other forms of fragmented communications in spreadsheets, gifs, stickers, and emojis may be obscured. In that case, there is a possibility of missing out on vital evidence due to improper archiving of ESI due to the platform’s inefficiency. Handling colossal volumes of data is slowly becoming a problem in archiving ESI. In 2020, International Data Group reported that small to medium-sized businesses were managing around 47.81 Terabytes of data, with that volume set to grow by 50% over the next 12-18 months. Of course, because of the ease of e-communication, coupled with the rise in remote offices, a single individual may generate hundreds or thousands of documents in a single day, many of which could be simply transitional. However, since existing systems have no way of determining the relevance of this transitional information, they are forced to keep every bit of information. On top of that, many organizations have policies prohibiting employees from deleting any emails, even if they’re no longer needed. As a result, an investigator may need to find a needle of information in a haystack of several years of old emails. This unavoidable huge volume makes it herculean, expensive, time and manpower-consuming to track down potentially relevant pieces of information during litigation or investigation. How do Electronically Stored Information (ESI) Challenges Affect Electronic Discovery? The new forms of ESI increase in number and variety, thus, making e-discovery more challenging than ever before. Different applications can include billions of data points for attorneys to sift through in court proceedings. As a result, keeping up with facts becomes difficult; an attorney may even be utterly oblivious to the information available to an opposing party despite having the same documents in e-discovery. This shift from traditional paper files to electronic records has left many questions unanswered. > How does a firm locate and review massive amounts of data? > How do they search and preserve content that may be scattered across multiple systems? > How do they ensure critical data isn’t overlooked when so many other things compete for your attention? The answers to these questions will go a long way in solving the challenges posed by ESI to legal departments during e-discovery. In addition to the technical challenges above, new forms of ESI also impact e-discovery due to financial constraints and a lack of technical savvy on the part of the legal departments. Financial constraints on legal departments One reason why e-discovery can be challenging is that budgets are typically tight. In many cases, there isn’t a large budget available to do things such as hire technical assistance and experts or do anything in terms of technology upgrades. This financial constraint means that much of what must be done comes at no cost. As a result, e-discovery can often become a time-consuming process and certainly leaves little room for error when it comes down to it. In addition, ESI presents a unique challenge where typically hundreds if not thousands of different sources are involved in one project alone, and with each source usually containing tens if not hundreds of files ranging from small Word documents to huge .jpeg images, there is an enormous number of possible files that can be involved with just one single project involving electronically stored information. As can be imagined, having too few resources could lead to communication problems, whereas having too many could cause e-discovery issues. This often leads to unavoidable delays and extensions, as both ends of a legal battle need to delay court proceedings due to missed deadlines. As a result, e-discovery has become one of the most complex legal processes today. Safe to say, there is a dire need for a solution that allows limitless communication without worrying about possible incoherence of ESI in case of litigation. Lack of technical savvy While talking about ESI and the challenges it brings to e-discovery, it’s worth mentioning one of the primary reasons e-discovery can be challenging: lawyers lack technical savvy. The issue stems from a lack of technical savvy and inadequate hardware. Many companies have multiple storage levels: A worker may store a document in a shared drive, which other workers may access through search. As a result, many companies still rely on litigation hold notices and paper discovery—instead of an integrated discovery technology platform—to find relevant documents for e-discovery purposes. It takes a lot of technical skills to effectively mine and sort through all that electronic data. In addition, ESI includes a massive array of information, such as unstructured data (emails, instant messages, and letters), transactional data (sales orders, invoices), voice recordings, and video recordings. Naturally, this increases complexity in any legal matter; it will take more time and resources to effectively do an electronic search than if hard copies were the only things being searched. To make matters worse, new forms of electronically stored information continue to emerge, increasing the chances of missing crucial evidence. A recent survey found that only 15% of law firms have staff with technical expertise. As a result, when clients produce data in new formats, it’s typically up to their attorneys to figure out what they need to do with those records. In other words, even though many law firms now realize they need to get more tech-savvy, few have people on staff capable of handling complex e-discovery projects. For example, if an email message is received with a PDF attachment, the IT department might know precisely how to go through it—but the legal team will likely struggle. If there are no IT experts on hand, they will need to be hired. If the firm cannot afford to hire them, they would need to at least work closely with outside consultants who can help sift through all of the ESI. Solving the Challenges posed by ESI to E-discovery To remain competitive, firms, corporations, and organizations must consider the archiving process of ESI as vital. E-discovery is as crucial as any other litigation procedure. Hence, without adequate technology, a firm could quickly become irrelevant when handling significant cases or multiple clients who require such services frequently. Hence, the situation begs for a solution; therefore, it is essential to find a digital archiving solution that fulfills the following functions. > The ability to handle large volumes of data. > The capability to synchronize information in real-time across several social platforms, ensuring communication flow is not lost. > Excellent data retrieval techniques that help to ensure no information loss even in fragmented communications. > The capability of sorting information for attorneys; hence, requiring them only to have basic computing knowledge. > AI-powered ESI archiving helps save time, financial, and human resources during e-discovery. Ensuring that your organization has a proper ESI archive is as vital as generating revenue. At Grotabyte, our unique value is providing you with a platform that delivers a centralized, search-ready ESI archive powered by Artificial Intelligence. Hence, no matter how bulky they are, no information is wasted, misrepresented, lost or incoherent; our data collection technology is automated in real-time across all social platforms. Therefore all communication across several media is arranged synchronously. Our solutions are based on retention policies that can be specified or mirrored from the source to guarantee that data is only kept for as long as needed. Grotabyte is economical, easy to use, and ultimately effective. ​ REQUEST A DEMO NOW​

CHALLENGES POSED BY 21ST CENTURY COMMUNICATION TOOLS ON INFORMATION ARCHIVING
The growth of the internet and web protocol has seen corporate offices and companies move from writing several communication memos to communicating with email and other social apps for team communication like Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google meet, and so on. However, despite the many benefits of using these e-communication tools, it brings about difficulties in archiving communication. With the traditional memos, it’s pretty easy to compile all communication into a huge database sorted by dates. Hence, anyone could access past communication in a jiffy.

The growth of the internet and web protocol has seen corporate offices and companies move from writing several communication memos to communicating with email and other social apps for team communication like Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google meet, and so on. However, despite the many benefits of using these e-communication tools, it brings about difficulties in archiving communication. With the traditional memos, it’s pretty easy to compile all communication into a huge database sorted by dates. Hence, anyone could access past communication in a jiffy.

So here begs the question. Should we ignore the new era of e-communication and return to the good old method that facilitates an easy paper trail? NOT. Hence, there is a need for optimal archiving solutions for companies and organizations across all sectors; manufacturing & production, medicine & health, banking & finance, and many other industries. Organizations should be able to communicate with their preferred social platform(s) with the assurance of a business solution that archives all business communications to keep a record of interactions in compliance with state regulations. What is Information Archiving? Information archiving involves collecting old and inactive information in various formats and moving it into a secure location to be retrieved if needed, such as in data forensics. With a versatile, search-ready archive, you can save time and money finding, protecting, collecting, and exporting potentially relevant material. Essential Requirements of a Compliant and Legally Defensible Archive Just as we have numerous methods to safely archive memos and physical documents, there are different options for archiving electronic conversations and documents. However, regardless of the archiving solution you choose, here are some critical standards your archive must follow to remain compliant and legally defensible: 1. Long-term Preservation: Long-term preservation implies system independence. Data cannot be linked to a specific technology set that will be obsolete soon. It must be stored in a standardized or industry-standard format that can be publicly accessible. The system will be able to convert archived data to these formats while tracking standard metadata to provide context for the communication. The software must be capable of transferring data from one medium to another as needed. This ensures that data is preserved over time, regardless of what happens to hardware, software, or software vendors. Data should be system-agnostic and not bound to a vendor because it is expected to be readable for years, if not decades. As a result, vendors who lock data in their systems are considered legitimate archives providers. 2. Data Integrity: Integrity refers to the ability to preserve content in its original form, and archiving systems must be built on this foundation. First, the content must remain unchanged. This requirement is heavily reliant on storage. Different forms of media, such as physical and logical WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) and fixed and removable media, are defined by standards. These are storage areas where you can write stuff but not edit it once it’s been written. The system should also date the material and offer a signature or hash to verify that it hasn’t been tampered with. In most cases, the storage will provide excellent security to reduce the possibility of tampering. To ensure archive integrity, the capture method must be well described. Similarly, the destruction procedure must be established, and audit trails must be preserved after destruction. 3. Data Security: There is nothing mystic about maintaining data confidentiality and privacy. To allow for full user authentication, relevant systems must be in place. Users must also have access to data access controls, allowing them to choose who has access to what. This involves verifying the authenticity of access via multi-step authentication technology. Verifying confidentiality requires an audit trail of what has been accessed and by whom. It is necessary to report on these audits to know who accessed what. Because archives must be accessible at all times, the systems that support them must also be. 4. Traceability: Traceability begins with a system that records all operations performed on archived documents with a precise timestamp. The system must be able to give a full lifecycle trace on archived files, from capture through views to destruction. Policy-driven time stamping is required, allowing for the establishment of verifiable procedures for the entire lifecycle of documents. Any modifications to these procedures and rules should also be traceable. When these four requirements work together, your digital archive becomes legally defensible, helping your organization achieve compliant archiving. Yet, surprisingly, not many solutions available today map to these requirements. Benefits of Archiving Data Archiving is vital for information management and can give your company greater control over its information processes. As your business grows, employee interaction will increase, generating more communication data – that needs to be appropriately managed and monitored. Without an appropriate archiving system that lasts long, companies can find themselves on the wrong end of a legal battle with no proof, ruining years of hard work. When data is not archived, it becomes difficult to locate important information when needed, negatively impacting business functions and overall productivity. Here are the top benefits of archiving your business communication. 1. Data protection: The digital archive has an extremely high level of security that protects the fidelity of archived information. First, secure authentication protocols can be enabled for authorized users to ensure secure access. This secure protocol provides role-based login, meaning that each authorized employee can be assigned different access privileges (A low-level officer cannot access managerial-privileged information). Also, user activity and logins are recorded in trace logs; hence, there is a record of everyone who tried to access information from the archive at any time. Finally, when it comes to data transit, encryption technology can be used to protect private information. 2. Environmentally-friendly business activities: “Sustainable business development” shouldn’t be a mere catch-phrase on your company’s website; a modern corporation that wants to attract customers and investors must prioritize sustainability. The most crucial aspect of sustainability is that even small initiatives count. Adopting paperless habits of storage is a fantastic place to start. The digital archive is your go-to tool for eliminating paper and adopting environmentally-friendly practices. You can save much paper and implement restorative practices simply by replacing paper with a digital archive for document storage and control. 3. Preventing human errors: As humans, we occasionally make mistakes while sorting and archiving physical data; a piece of information could be wrongly sorted, causing many problems. However, it is well known that computers do not make mistakes, especially with AI technology that reduces the need for a manual computer operator; the system automatically handles data archiving and presentation, avoiding document damage or loss due to human error. 4. Increased information processing: You can forget about sifting through many documents in a physical storage facility for a long and exhausting search. Instead, all of your data is collected and stored in a digital archiving system for as long as you need it. As a result, you can access information no matter how old it is by jotting down a key phrase or the date the document will be saved. 5. Automated document disposal: After the customer contract expires, to protect their privacy, the corporation must destroy all client information, according to GDPR standards. Dealing with paper documents might be difficult because you must physically shred piles of paper and ensure it is done thoroughly. Archiving lets you delete information with a single click of a button, saving you time and preventing customer data from being compromised. According to GDPR standards, the system must delete old information without leaving a trace. 6. Protection from physical damage: When actual paper documents are stored, they become vulnerable to water, temperature changes, and other types of harm. When you archive documents in a digital environment, you don’t have to be concerned about what might happen to them. Unlike a physical archive, a digital archive may be updated with the newest security software and other technologies that help protect your data. In addition, as all data is stored on the cloud, the information will remain intact even if you damage one of the devices. 7. Reduced storage space and human resources cost: Handling sensitive client information necessitates excellent attention to detail. You must provide security and storage capacity and find employees to administer the archive, audit data, and ensure everything is in working order. This adds much extra expenditure, and as the firm grows and the amount of documents grows by the day, the work gets increasingly difficult. Because the digital environment can hold many files without additional staff or physical space, an electronic archive saves you time and money. In addition, every authorized employee has mobile access to data and may control it. 8. Legal Requirements: It would help if you archived data for risk mitigation and legal reasons. Unfortunately, many businesses accidentally get rid of vital data and documents that they should keep legally. With an effective archiving system, company-specific retention schedules are strictly followed, regardless of each employee’s knowledge, saving the company significant amounts in penalties and legal settlements. 9. Faster audits: Most companies regularly conduct data audits to verify the safety and security of all their data. Doing this can be tedious using manual archiving tools because the paper is more prone to deterioration and damage, not to mention the time wasted checking all the files. A digital archive can be tailored to your business processes so you can conduct data audits as and when due. In addition, such a system processes data faster, misses no details and alerts you if something is missing. Challenges Facing Electronically Stored Information (ESI) and Information Archiving Communicating with electronic means is now commonplace, even in a corporate setting. Confidential company details are shared via emails and other social applications. As said previously, change is constant; hence, archiving information now focuses on getting Electronically Stored Information (ESI) rather than paper trails from documents and memos. Despite the widespread breakthrough achieved by many software solutions, Archiving ESI still poses significant challenges for agencies, particularly in; · Handling voluminous data, Filtering bulky transitory information, and Collection of incoherent data. Since the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, E-communication has increased even further. Many companies have adopted a remote-first approach, conducting meetings via conference calls and handling team tasks with other software; this has increased communication volume, causing many software solutions to fail. It becomes herculean having to monitor the details or a video conference and several transitory information that may not be significant in the long run. For example, if a manager mails their employee, telling them to “use the company’s official car to run an errand,” the software has to archive this information. Whereas, without a remote approach, this conversation may be made in person, reducing the load on software systems. Several transitional information makes the already increasing volume bulkier. Many software solutions have difficulty filtering this information to maintain only relevant ones. Also, with a remote-first approach, nearly all communication is done electronically; as a result, people can use GIFs and emojis to convey their messages efficiently. Using GIFs, emojis, and voice messages midway through communication can confuse a software solution because many older software solutions aren’t optimized to interpret information for easy understanding when accessed. It is also worth noting that companies/businesses communicate over several social applications, with never-ending data encryption and privacy updates. Hence, each social platform has its unique challenges when it comes to archiving ESI. Is there a Solution? Finding a digital archiving solution that functions well is essential; regardless of whether the company runs a fully-remote or physical office, ESI must remain archived without the fear of a failing system due to the abovementioned challenges. A poor archive system can expose businesses, leaving them with a lack of proof in case of litigation. Hence, ensuring that your organization has a backup of all communication and ESI is as vital as generating revenue. At Grotabyte, our unique value is providing an integrated platform that delivers a centralized, search-ready information archive powered by Artificial Intelligence. Hence, no matter how bulky, no information is wasted, misrepresented, lost or incoherent; our data collection technology is automated across all social platforms, despite individual challenges. Hence, information is collated to highlight the focus of every conversation, saving time and money. Our solutions are based on retention policies that can be specified or mirrored from the source to guarantee that data is only kept for as long as needed. Grotabyte is economical, easy to use, and ultimately effective. REQUEST A DEMO NOW

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