eDiscovery: Microsoft Office 365 and Cloud-based eDiscovery – Office 2013

eDiscovery: Microsoft Office 365 and Cloud-based eDiscovery – Office 2013

Author: Eric Everson, MBA, MSIT-SE, *JD Candidate

 

 

About the Author: Eric Everson (Twitter: @iamtechlaw) is a software engineer turned legal scholar that has been published by a variety of technology, business, and law mediums.  A core focus of his works are the intersection of business and technology with the law.  He is available as a consultant for matters of eDiscovery (domestic and international), business legal strategy, and technology law (new products/ services analysis, risk assessment, cyber security, intellectual property, and more).    

Admittedly, as a software engineer now well consumed by the law, it is the highly complex areas of modern litigation that bring me the greatest delight.  With a focus on technology law, I regularly spend time assessing the global impact of new technologies and the legal frameworks in which they encounter.  One area that is increasingly expanding is international eDiscovery.  In this field, not only does one have to fully understand the technologies but especially the laws that regulate the production of Electronically Stored Information (ESI).  The introduction of Microsoft’s subscription-based Office 365 opens the door to a variety of complexities in eDiscovery with a heavy emphasis on cloud-based eDiscovery.

First, it should be acknowledged that Office 365 presents a shift in business model for Microsoft in two important ways.  The first way is that while standalone pricing lingers, the company has put a heavy emphasis on commercial users to transition to their new subscription model.  To propel this forward, Microsoft has limited standalone pricing to one machine, while subscription users will be able to use the services on up to five computers.  The second shift for Microsoft with Office 365 is the heavy emphasis on cloud-based computing.  For those of us who have stuck with Microsoft’s Hotmail over the years, we are already accustomed to SkyDrive and all of its work sharing capabilities.  For those less accustomed to this offering, the software takes full advantage of the interconnectivity of the web file sharing and collaborative file creation. 

Next, let’s look at the evolving landscape of software which is ever-pushing towards a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) model.  This model is especially effective for computing devices (netbooks, tablets, handhelds, etc) with limited processing resources as the machines rely on a connection to the internet to create, change, and save documents.  With Office 365, the applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) are based on a SaaS platform and storage is complemented by SkyDrive.  The upside is that I can be a few miles off the coast of Grand Cayman relaxing in the hull net of a catamaran while collaborating on work product with an engineer in her Chicago office.  The downside… eDiscovery.

For the past several years, eDiscovery software vendors have been playing catch-up to the pace of technology (which happens to be light years ahead of the law in many regards).  Just as of now for example, social media for example is being able to be properly preserved and authenticated (of course supported by its own distinct line of case law).  Office 365 turns the now existing eDiscovery software on its head and forces us into the cloud for attempts at preservation.  The cloud however is not as pretty as a normal computer with regard to the way files are stored, archived, and shared. 

In the cloud, file encryption often comes standard adding an extra layer of penetration for eDiscovery software and global backups literally parse files into smaller data packets that are often stored on remote servers all over the globe.  There are tens of thousands of data centers around the world, a number that is only set to grow.  The line of current case law ends with the physical site of the server for purposes of establishing jurisdiction, which is archaic compared to the advances that cloud data storage have brought about.  It is very likely that a file created on a local machine in Florida could be saved only to be stored, divided into packets, and mirrored in several data warehouses that pepper the globe.

Cloud computing, especially by way of the new Office suite, pushes eDiscovery into international territory at an accelerated rate.  The new Office suite is a dream for a virtual office owner, but represents the greatest fears of eDiscovery professionals everywhere.  As a sidebar, I love Win8 so far and appreciate the global production capacity that this technology combined with Office 365 represents for a geographically diverse work team.

Increasingly, technology law is the practice of trying to force the law to keep pace with technology.

                               

About the Author: After completing the Marketing Innovative Technologies Program at The Harvard Business School, Eric Everson became the co-founder of the mobile security software company MyMobiSafe.com.  While managing and growing the startup he completed his masters in software engineering and his MBA.  He is now an emerging leader in technology law and corporate governance.  From litigation to leveraging buyouts, he is comfortable in business, technology, and the law.  *In May, 2013 Eric Everson will graduate from the Florida A&M University College of Law.

Tags: eDiscovery, Office 2013, Office 365, Microsoft, Cloud, Cloud Computing, Cloud eDiscovery, Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Preservation, Social Media, Technology Law, Technology, Win8, Windows 8, @intleDiscovery, @iamtechlaw