George J. Socha, Jr., Esq    651.690.1739    george@sochaconsulting.com
 
 
 
 
2006 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey - 4th Annual
Survey Results
 

Back to 2006 Survey | Market Size and Growth | Top-Ranked Services Providers | Top-Ranked Software Providers | Search Provider Rankings | Independence & Disclosure | Sample | Purchase | Contact Us

 

The overview results of the 2006 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey Report are available here in summary form. The full report - 294 pages long - is available for purchase.

The public report was in the August issue of Law Technology News and is on LTN's website at Law Technology News.

Survey rankings can be searched at http://www.sochaconsulting.com/topproviders.php

 
Market Size and Growth
 
Our survey covered the 2005 calendar year. Based on our research, we estimate that 2005 commercial electronic discovery revenues were in the range of $1.295 billion - up 56% from 2004:
 
2005 Total Estimated Electronic Discovery Market
Tiers Estimated 2005 Revenues
Tier 1 $750M
Tiers 2 & 3 $455M
Do-It-Yourself $90M
Total $1.295B
 
Judging from consumer and provider expectations, we anticipate that the market will grow approximately 37 percent from 2005 to 2006; 37 percent from 2006 to 2007; and 29 percent from 2007 to 2008:
 
Projected Electronic Discovery Market Growth - Based On Consumer Expectations
Year Projected Market Size
2006 $1.768B
2007 $2.423B
2008 $3.134B
 
The chart below shows these estimates and projections, and compares them with estimates and projections from our earlier reports:
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Top-Ranked Electronic Discovery Service Providers
 
Overall | By Experience, Capacity & Law Firm Rankings | By Stage of Electronic Discovery (EDRM)
 
Once again we ranked electronic discovery service providers. This year, however, we added new listings. This year's lists are:
 
As with any top-X list, it is important to keep these lists in context and use them only as appropriate. You should not choose a provider based solely on these lists, or solely on the basis of any other top-X list. The factors we examined may not apply to your circumstances, and mostly likely will not apply with the specific weightings and ratings we used. In addition, you will have needs and considerations we could not have taken into account.
 
It also is important to note that our evaluation model relies heavily on information provided through interviews or questionnaires (spreadsheets). We recognize that there are other vendors with the qualifications to rank within the top X, however the data on them was not available to us. Some providers, including prominent ones, did not provide any data and others, including prominent ones, provided only limited information.
 
The Top 20 Electronic Discovery Service Providers - Overall
 

We ranked electronic discovery service providers based on a set of seven criteria:

  • Experience and reputation (10%)
  • Capacity (20%)
  • Types of services (20%)
  • Software usage (10%)
  • Law firm rankings (15%)
  • Corporate rankings (10%)
  • Revenue estimates (15%)

To arrive at our ranking, we gathered information for each of the criteria, rated the information, and weighted the results. Weighting of each of the seven criteria is based on our judgment of relative importance of each factor, with the goal of providing a result that rewards the “well rounded” providers.

We used a blend of criteria because we felt it would provide a more nuanced ranking than could be had using any single criterion, such as revenue.

In the lists below, (L) = the listing at the Socha Consulting vendor page, where you can see information about services offered, geographical coverage, and office locations.

According to our survey results, the top five market leaders in 2005 were, in alphabetical order:

 

Top 5 Electronic Discovery Service Providers
Based on 7 Criteria Sets - Alphabetical Order

Fios, Inc.

(L)

Kroll Ontrack Inc.

(L)

LexisNexis Applied Discovery

(L)

Renew Data Corp.

(L)

ZANTAZ Inc.

(L)
 
The next five after that were, in alphabetical order:
 

Top 6-10 Electronic Discovery Service Providers
Based on 7 Criteria Sets - Alphabetical Order

Deloitte

(L)

Electronic Evidence Discovery, Inc.

(L)

First Advantage

(L)

KPMG

(L)

OnSite E-Discovery

(L)
 
Ranking 11-20 were, in alphabetical order:
 

Top 11-20 Electronic Discovery Service Providers
Based on 7 Criteria Sets - Alphabetical Order

Capitol Digital Document Solutions

(L)

CaseData

(L)

Cataphora, Inc.

(L)

Cricket Technologies

(L)

Daticon

(L)

DOAR Litigation Consulting

(L)

Encore Legal Solutions

(L)

Ibis Consulting, Inc.

(L)

RLS Legal Solutions

(L)

Xact

(L)
 
(top) (Top-Ranked Electronic Discovery Service Providers)
 
The Top Electronic Discovery Service Providers - By Experience, Capacity & Law Firm Ranking
 
For the first time, we are disclosing service provider rankings by top-level category for three of the sets of criteria we used - experience, capacity and law firm rankings:
 
1-5 =   6-10 =   11-20 =   (L) = Listing at Socha Consulting vendor page
 
Provider
Experience*
Capacity
Law Firm Rankings
Aaxis Technologies
(L)
Altep, Inc.
(L)
Capitol Digital Document Solutions
(L)
CaseData Corporation
(L)
Catalyst Systems (formerly CaseShare Systems)
(L)
Cataphora, Inc.
(L)
Compulit
(L)
Computer Forensic Services
(L)
Cricket Technologies
(L)
Deloitte
(L)
Discovery Mining Inc.
(L)
DOAR Litigation Consulting
(L)
DocuLegal LLC
(L)
DTI Global
(L)
Electronic Evidence Discovery, Inc.
(L)
Elijah Technologies, Ltd.
(L)
Encore Legal Solutions
(L)
Fios, Inc.
(L)
First Advantage
(L)
Guidance Software, Inc.
(L)
Ibis Consulting
(L)
IE Discovery, Inc.
(L)
Integreon Managed Solutions, Inc.
(L)
Iron Mountain
(L)
KPMG
(L)
Kroll Ontrack
(L)
LexisNexis Applied Discovery
(L)
nMatrix
(L)
OnSite E-Discovery
(L)
Renew Data Corp.
(L)
RLS Legal Solutions
(L)
Stratify, Inc.
(L)
Xact
(L)
ZANTAZ
(L)
 
 
(top) (Top-Ranked Electronic Discovery Service Providers)
 
The Top Electronic Discovery Service Providers - By Stage of Electronic Discovery (EDRM)
 
In another first, we have ranked service providers based on the Electronic Discovery Reference Model stages:
 
1-5 =   6-10 =   (L) = Listing at Socha Consulting vendor page
 
Provider
Aaxis Technologies
(L)
Capitol Digital Document Solutions
(L)
CaseData Corporation
(L)
Catalyst Systems (formerly CaseShare Systems)
(L)
Cataphora, Inc.
(L)
Cricket Technologies
(L)
Deloitte
(L)
DOAR Litigation Consulting
(L)
DocuLegal LLC
(L)
DTI Global
(L)
Electronic Evidence Discovery, Inc.
(L)
Encore Legal Solutions
(L)
Fios, Inc.
(L)
First Advantage
(L)
IE Discovery, Inc.
(L)
Integreon Managed Solutions, Inc.
(L)
KPMG
(L)
Kroll Ontrack
(L)
LexisNexis Applied Discovery
(L)
OnSite E-Discovery
(L)
Renew Data Corp.
(L)
RLS Legal Solutions
(L)
SysInformation, Inc.
(L)
Xact
(L)
 
(top) (Top-Ranked Electronic Discovery Service Providers)
 
Top-Ranked Electronic Discovery Software Providers
 

We ranked electronic discovery software providers based on a set of seven criteria similar to the ones we used for service providers:

  • Experience and reputation (10%)
  • Nature & scope of software offered (20%)
  • Capacity (10%)
  • How extensively consumers used the software offered (20%)
  • Law firm rankings (15%)
  • Corporate rankings (10%)
  • Revenue estimates (15%)

To arrive at our ranking, we gathered information for each of the criteria, rated the information, and weighted the results. Weighting of each of the seven criteria is based on our judgment of relative importance of each factor, with the goal of providing a result that rewards the “well rounded” providers.

We used a blend of criteria because we felt it would provide a more nuanced ranking than could be had using any single criterion, such as revenue.

In the lists below, (L) = the listing at the Socha Consulting vendor page, where you can see information about services offered, geographical coverage, and office locations.

According to our survey results, the top five market leaders in 2005 were, in alphabetical order:

 

Top 5 Electronic Discovery Software Providers
Based on 7 Criteria Sets - Alphabetical Order

Attenex Corporation

(L)

Dataflight Software, Inc.

(L)

Electronic Evidence Discovery, Inc.

(L)

Guidance Software, Inc.

(L)

ZANTAZ Inc.

(L)
 
The next five after that were, in alphabetical order:
 

Top 6-10 Electronic Discovery Software Providers
Based on 7 Criteria Sets - Alphabetical Order

CT Summation, Inc.

(L)

DocuLex, Inc.

(L)

iCONECT Development, LLC

(L)

MetaLINCS Corporation

(L)

Stellent’s Outside In Technology Group

(L)
 
As with any top-X list, it is important to keep these lists in context and use them only as appropriate. You should not choose a provider based solely on these lists, or solely on the basis of any other top-X list. The factors we examined may not apply to your circumstances, and mostly likely will not apply with the specific weightings and ratings we used. In addition, you will have needs and considerations we could not have taken into account.
 
It also is important to note that our evaluation model relies heavily on information provided through interviews or questionnaires (spreadsheets). We recognize that there are other vendors with the qualifications to rank within the top X, however the data on them was not available to us. Some providers, including prominent ones, did not provide any data and others, including prominent ones, provided only limited information.
 
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Independence & Disclosure
 
The 2006 Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey is an independent survey conducted by two independent consultants, George Socha and Tom Gelbmann.
 
We are not affiliated with any provider or consumer of electronic discovery services or software. Although we always are open to suggestions about how to improve our survey, we do not allow any provider or consumer to participate in the construction of the model we use to gather and evaluate information about the electronic discovery market. We do not allow any provider or consumer to assist in gathering data, other than as interviewees or by completing spreadsheet files sent to them at their request. We also do not allow any provider or consumer to assist in evaluating the data we obtain or in preparing any of our reports.
 
Since 2003, Socha Consulting has provided paid consulting services to, has received software at no charge from, or has been reimbursed for travel expenses) by 14 of the 43 electronic discovery services and software providers named in this report. Additionally, Socha Consulting has provided consulting services to a number of services and software providers not ranked in this report, including potential electronic discovery providers, electronic discovery consumers, venture capital groups, private equity firms, and others.
 
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Sample
 
To go to a PDF file containing the 2006 Survey report table of contents, table of tables and table of figures, click here.
 
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Purchase
 
The discounted purchase price is $1,000. The Survey report is available as a PDF file.
 
To purchase a copy of the full survey or to find out more about the survey, please send an email message to 2006survey@sochaconsulting.com or call 651.690.1739 (George) or 651.483.0022 (Tom).
 
The Survey is for internal usage only and not for redistribution.
 

Thank you,

George and Tom

 

George J. Socha Jr., Esq.
Socha Consulting LLC

1374 Lincoln Avenue
St. Paul MN 55105
Tel 651.690.1739
Cell 651.336.3940
Fax 651.846.5920
george@sochaconsulting.com
http://www.sochaconsulting.com

Tom Gelbmann
Gelbmann & Associates

Tel 651.483.0022
Fax 651.483.5938
tom@gelbmann.biz
http://www.gelbmann.biz

   
 
 

© 2003-2008 Socha Consulting LLC. All rights reserved.