The next several years will bring about an explosion of digital data. Yes, we’ve heard this before, but the latest stats are no less stunning. The amount of new data created in the next five years is projected to exceed the entire previous decade’s worth of data. Put another way, according to IDC’s Global DataSPhere Forecast 2023-2027, approximately 291 zettabytes (ZB) of digital data will be generated in 2027, the equivalent of watching the complete Netflix catalog 663 million times.
Data Hosting: Cloud Storage Innovation Continues to Lag
Where are we planning to store all this data? Even now, the volumes continue to outpace economies of scale available with cloud hosting platforms. Then there’s the costs of cloud storage management. While per GB or per TB fees have diminished over time, hosting models still revolve around traditional monthly fees. Reducing storage costs generally requires constant monitoring of matter activity and a manual process to move workspaces to lower-cost storage options (nearline, cold storage, archive export).
Some software providers are testing new cloud utility pricing models that allow users to pay hourly for hosting when sites are active and turn off sites when they are not in use. However, these models are not currently supported by industry-leading cloud eDiscovery software providers, and they still require manual input from users to “turn off the lights” when they’re finished working in a database.
Even when litigation support teams identify matters with low user activity through continuous manual reporting, it’s often challenging and time-consuming to obtain the necessary approvals from case team leads to archive workspaces. The result of these inefficiencies in cloud data governance is months, sometimes years of unnecessary active storage costs absorbed by end clients.
The Importance of Archiving
Data archiving relocates data no longer being actively used to a separate device for long-term storage. Archived data is on a lower-cost storage tier, reducing primary storage consumption and related costs and lowering the amount of data needing backup. Removing seldom-accessed data from the backup data set subsequently improves backup and elevates performance.
But despite advances in matter management, the fundamental administrative task of managing database hosting and user costs across an extensive portfolio of matters still involves a great deal of manual reporting, data archiving, and/or export and migration, which frequently results in the accumulation of significant eDiscovery expenses. An automated archiving solution can provide both automated reporting on user activity within individual workspaces and rules-based automation based on user activity to manage large portfolios of eDiscovery-hosted matters and control storage-related costs.
Why Automated Archiving?
As data grows, companies face more significant challenges in managing storage and archiving across a network. Although data storage media types have advanced, the remnants of old technologies can be found amid new technologies, and as a result, data governance has become increasingly complex.
Automated archiving solutions allow companies to retain and access archived data and avoid the high cost of maintaining the original infrastructure. From a single, secure, centrally managed repository, multiple types of unstructured information are stored, indexed, preserved, expired, and reviewed for eDiscovery. Structured content (such as data stored in document management systems or active content on users’ desktops) can also be integrated with the archive.
Elevate Data Management with CDS Vision AutoArchive
Fortunately, CDS has a lightweight solution for legal teams for automate their eDiscovery cloud data governance. CDS Vision AutoArchive enables automation of the Relativity ARM and Cold Storage processes based on user activity and other pre-set criteria. The result: immediate and significant cost savings across the eDiscovery matter portfolio.
To learn more about implementing AutoArchive and the CDS Vision Analysis + Automation Suite on your next CDS RelativityOne matter, contact us at
