New Price Model by RenewData Based on the Number of Custodians Processed

RenewData announced a new market-leading price model that will allow law firms and corporations to easily and more precisely estimate their costs at the beginning of an e-discovery project. The new price model is based on the number of custodians processed, which is a known factor early in the project versus the industry standard pricing model of gigabytes processed, which is often not known and is difficult to estimate until after the project has begun.

RenewData’s de-duplication, data filtering and culling, load file conversion, and iCONECT load services are all priced using the new per-custodian price model. This model will enable more predictability for RenewData’s clients, because unlike the number of gigabytes to be processed, the number of custodians is known when the project begins. Industry standard pricing has typically been based on gigabytes processed. A client may know the number of backup tapes to be processed, but since the amount of data on the media can vary widely, the resulting volume of data can be nearly impossible to correctly estimate. Conversely, when an e-discovery order is received, the number of targeted custodians is immediately known.

"With electronic discovery spending estimated to be in excess of $4B by the end of 2009, it’s crucial that the industry start coming up with more sustainable ways for organizations to predict and control costs," said George Socha, e-discovery special master and expert witness of Socha Consulting LLC. "RenewData’s approach to pricing indicates a change in the industry which could greatly simplify the entire electronic discovery process for corporations and law firms."

The goal of RenewData’s new price model is to make it as simple as possible for organizations to predict their costs early on and to avoid surprises at the end of the project in instances where there is substantially more data on the backup media than was first estimated. In these situations, the final costs can vary dramatically from what was estimated at the beginning of the project. This model gives organizations the ability to accurately estimate project costs based on the number of custodians associated with a given case, rather than trying to internally estimate the number of gigabytes contained on the backup media in question.

"We are seeing the e-discovery market evolving rapidly and feel this change is crucial to meeting the needs of our clients," said Steven Horan, CEO of RenewData. "Organizations are increasingly frustrated with difficult pricing structures and with invoices at the end of a project that aren’t consistent with the project proposals they received. They are demanding ways to make costs more predictable and consistent. Our new price model directly addresses these demands and enables organizations to more effectively plan and ultimately save costs on their e-discovery projects."