The document discusses MicroLink Company, an e-discovery consulting firm founded in 1998 that focuses on information governance, discovery, and management. It outlines MicroLink's approach to helping clients transition from reactive to proactive e-discovery through iterative solutions that prioritize reducing costs and complexity. The approach starts by understanding clients' problems and designing prototype solutions with predictable results.

1. From Reactive to Proactive E-Discovery
Emory Emrich
Senior Director, Information Governance

2. MicroLink Company Profile
• Founded 1998 – since December, 2009, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Autonomy Inc.
• Headquartered in Vienna, VA with offices
in New York, Raleigh, Chesapeake and Ann
Arbor
• Over 140 Consultants focused in:
 Information Governance through E-Discovery,
Archive Solutions and Records Management
 Information Discovery through Enterprise
Search
 Information Management through Content
Management, Portals and Collaboration, and
Business Intelligence

3. A Worst Case Scenario
• A Discovery Order is issued and the clock is
ticking
• I don’t have an E-Discovery policy, OR
• I don’t know where all discoverable data is, OR
• I don’t know if I could collect it all even if I did
• My Options Don’t Look Good
– Hire a vendor at any cost
– File a cost burden motion and hope for the
best
– Settle without a proper risk analysis

4. Prioritization Criteria
• Where is the greatest manual heavy
lifting?
• Where is potential for cost
reduction?
• Where is greatest technical
complexity?
• Where are the quick wins?

5. A Proven Solution Approach
Design and
Release with
Understand the prototype
predictable
problem incremental
results
solutions
…and then iterate

6. Jumpstart Unpacked
• Phases Informed by common scenarios.
Starting Points commonly are…
– Notification Management
– That plus Collection and Preservation
– EDD and Native Production
– Email Archive
– Retention Classification Automation

7. Proactivity Concentration

8. Focus on Front Side of EDRM
• Records Management Policy
– Retention and Disposition
• Classification Automation
– Meaning based computing
– Realization that manual processes can’t
easily keep up or aren’t followed at all

9. Thank You!
• For more information, contact me
– Emory Emrich, Senior Director
– eemrich@MicroLinkLLC.com
– www.linkedin.com/emoryemrich
• Member of the eDiscovery Group, eDiscovery
2.0, and the Autonomy Crew groups on
LinkedIn