Opportunity Knocks Blog

Six days after the kick off to the Q2 Leadership Breakfast Series in New York, David Cowen, Barclay Blair (Principal and Founder of ViaLumina) and I found ourselves at the City Club in Washington , DC. The group was a bit smaller, but the 30+ attendees were no less the thought leaders we found in New York. The topic remained the same, "Big Data: An Emerging Influencer for eDiscovery, Compliance & Information Governance Careers," but the conversation was a much different style than in New York. This was largely due to the fact that we had a secret weapon this time. We had already had this conversation once, and we teed up Washington in a much better manner taking the learning from the first go-around.

We discovered asking "What is Big Data?" is too broad. In an attempt to tighten the question and ultimately get to an answer, we reframed the question and asked: "What does Big Data mean to you?" We provided three options to the group: Risk, Cost, or Value. While most attendees initially raised their hand to only one of these options, I do not think there was anyone in the room that felt comfortable being pinned down by just one of them. We all recognized that each option competes for Big Data. The struggle comes in when attempting to quantify Big Data against them. The ultimate goals of the organization will place Risk, Cost or Value above the other, but setting out a plan and ROI to impact them is at times elusive. How you do you quantify this ROI, or as Steve Berrent of WilmerHale asked "How do you get a cloud in a cup and distill it down to a PowerPoint presentation?"

Adi Elliott of kCura has said multiple times during the Leadership Breakfasts in New York and Washington, DC that the best traction to the ROI goal is to show small tangible wins. The conversation ended with taking this thought one step further and stepping back to look at the big picture. The first step is asking what the goal is specific to the organization. Balancing the Risk, Cost, and Value of that goal and taking small bites at the apple. A few small bites, and small wins, translate to a PowerPoint presentation to argue for a chance to take a larger bite.

The last larger talking point that wove its way through the conversation looks at this from a career standpoint. Could this be the birth of a new profession, a Chief Data Officer (CDO)? This person would have to manage the multiple and sometimes competing goals of Risk, Cost, and Value as it relates to Big Data. The group determined the significant skill set needed for success in the role, wearing the hats of a marketer, technologist, sales person, ambassador and data scientist. The trend appears to be that more organizations are treating big data like an asset. So, we in the eDiscovery space, who have been talking about, working with, and analyzing Big Data for years, may be in the perfect place to capitalize on this trend and bring positive impact to an origination.

Next stop, Chicago (at least I don’t have to get on a plane).

Michael Boland is the Managing Director for Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC provides full life cycle eDiscovery consulting, technology, and project management services. In his current role, Michael has full managerial responsibility, operational control, and oversight of Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC. DDS works with Drinker Biddle & Reath clients as well as external non-firm clients to identify, preserve, collect, process, review, and produce data for use in adversarial proceedings. The DDS philosophy is to simplify eDiscovery and bring clients cost effective solutions by leveraging leading technology and processes driven by top tier project management.

Mr. Boland has worked for eDiscovery vendors, boutique and national consulting companies, practiced law relating to eDiscovery matters as well as worked in a consultative and project management capacity with AmLaw firms and Fortune 500 corporate legal departments.

Mr. Boland is a member of the American Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar. Michael received a BA from the University of Notre Dame, a JD from Golden Gate University and an MBA from the Ageno School of Business at Golden Gate University.

For more information about attending or sponsoring a TCG Event, contact Maribel Rivera at 212-661-0025 or maribel@cowengroup.com.

Permalink: http://www.cowengroup.com/?page=news.display&post=20130429-Breakfast

Last week, I was pleased to help lead the discussion at The Cowen Group's Leadership Breakfast in Manhattan. I've been spending a lot of time thinking and writing about Big Data lately, and jumped at the chance to hear what this community was thinking about it.

It was a great group of breakfasters—predominantly law firm attendees (partners, associates and directors), with a mix of in-house lawyers, consultants, and at least one journalist. The discussion was a fast ride through a landscape of emotional responses to Big Data: excitement, skepticism, curiosity, confusion, optimism, confusion, and ennui.

Just like every other discussion I have had about Big Data.

We spent a lot of time talking about what, exactly, Big Data is. The problem with this discussion is that, like most technology marketing terms, it can mean something or nothing at all. 

How can a bunch of smart people having breakfast in the same room one morning be expected to define Big Data when the people who are paid to create such definitions leave us feeling . . . confused?

Here's how Gartner defines big data:

Big data is high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making.

Here's how McKinsey defines it:

'Big data' refers to datasets whose size is beyond the ability of typical database software tools to capture, store, manage, and analyze. This definition is intentionally subjective . . .

Forrester:

Big Data is the frontier of a firm's ability to store, process, and access (SPA) all the data it needs to operate effectively, make decisions, reduce risks, and serve customers.

Huh? No wonder we were confused as we ate our delicious bacon and eggs.

Big Data is a squishy term, and for lawyers without a serious technology or data science background it is even squishier.

The concepts behind it are not new. However, there are new elements. One is the focus on unstructured data (e.g., documents, email messages, social media) instead of data stored in enterprise databases (the traditional focus of “Business Intelligence.") Two is the technologies that store, manage, and process data in a way that is not just incrementally better, bigger, or faster, but that are profoundly different (new file systems; aggregating massive pools of unstructured data instead of databases; storage on cheap connected hard drives, etc.). Three is newly commercialized tools and methods for performing analysis on these pools of unstructured data (even data that you don’t own) to draw business conclusions.

There is a lot of skepticism about the third point—specifically about the ease with which truly insightful and accurate predictions can be generated from Big Data. Even Nate Silver—famous for accurately predicting the outcome of the 2012 US Presidential Election with data—cautions that even though data is growing exponentially, the "amount of useful information almost certainly isn't."

Big Data is many things to many people. But what is it to eDiscovery professionals?

I think there are three pieces to the Big Data discussion that are relevant for this community.

1. Is Data Good or Bad? In the world of Big Data, all data is good and more data is better. A well-known data scientist was recently quoted in the New York Times as saying, "Storing things is cheap. I’ve tended to take the attitude, 'Don't throw electronic things away." To a data scientist this makes sense. After all, statistical analysis gets better with more data. However, eDiscovery professionals know that storage is not cheap when its full potential lifecycle is calculated, such as a company spending "$900,000 to produce an amount of data that would consume less than one-quarter of the available capacity of an ordinary DVD." Data itself is of course neither good nor bad, but eDiscovery professionals need to help Big Data proponents understand that data most definitely can have a downside. I wrote about this tension extensively here.
2. Data Analytics for eDiscovery. Though not often talked about, I believe there is serious potential for some parties in the eDiscovery process to analyze the data flowing through its process and to monetize that analysis. What correlations could a smart data scientist investigate between the nature of the data collected and produced across multiple cases and their outcomes and costs. Could useful predictions be made? Could eDiscovery processes be improved and routinized? I have some ideas, but no firm answers. We should dig into this further as a community.
3. Privacy and Accessibility. What does "readily available" mean in our age—an age where a huge chunk of all human knowledge can be accessed in seconds using a device you carry around in your pocket? Does better access to information simply offer speed and convenience, or does it offer something more profound? When a local newspaper posted the names and addresses of gun permit holders on an interactive map in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, there was a huge outcry—despite the fact that this information is publicly available, by law. This is a critical emerging issue as the pressure to consolidate and mine unstructured information to gain business insight collides with expectations of privacy and confidentiality.

Simply put legal and eDiscovery professionals need to be at the table when Big Data discussions are happening. YOU bring a critical perspective that no one else offers.

Barclay Blair is a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, software and hardware vendors, and government institutions, and is an author, speaker, and internationally recognized authority on a broad range of policy, compliance, and management issues related to information governance and information technology. Barclay has led several high-profile consulting engagements at the world’s leading institutions to help them globally transform the way they manage information.
ViaLumina has a range of additional consultants and project managers with deep experience in the IT, Legal, Records Management, and Business aspectsof information governance.

For more information about attending or sponsoring a TCG Event, contact Maribel Rivera at 212-661-0025 or maribel@cowengroup.com.

Permalink: http://www.cowengroup.com/?page=news.display&post=20130424-Blair

Big Data and Eggs indeed! What a great start to the Q2 Leadership Breakfast Series.  As is often the case with all of these events, we all knew that the conversation would be wide-ranging, and end in a much different place from where we started. But, as expected, at the end, I could not wait to to pick the discussion back up with a different group of professionals in Washington DC next week.  The attendees in New York yesterday were 50+ of the senior thought leaders in the eDiscovery and information governance space from top corporations and the AmLaw 500, and it was a pleasure sharing the room with each of them.  My only disappointment was that I did not get the chance to meet everyone.

 

For the start of the conversation, we dove straight into the 'Big Data: An Emerging Influencer for eDiscovery, Compliance & Information Governance Careers' topic.  We set the stage, spoke about the fact that this is not really a new topic, just couched differently with new stakeholders seated at the table (i.e. knowledge management, security, regulatory, analytics, etc...).  We discussed how 'big data' does not refer to a large discovery matter, but is a broader topic regarding the growing volume, velocity and variety of electronic data, that impacts each organization differently from multiple directions.  Not too far in, it was Monica Bay from LTN who attempted to put some framework around everything.  'What is the definition of Big Data?' she asked the room.  This question focused the room and we moved forward in a much more concise manner from there.

 

We also touched on what the continuing discussion around big data in the corporate and law firm space means to eDiscovery professionals.  We concluded that eDiscovery’s desire for use and management of big data does not have to be at odds with other uses of that same data pool within an organization (such as customer service or sales). In fact, our skill sets and definitions for dealing with and analyzing big data, sets us up well to transition and expand our roles, to provide leadership where there is no clarity.

 

In the end 'Big Data' is a topic that gets the conversation started.  This topic is broad and requires a tight definition to reach any conclusions.  It also looks to be the topic de jour for the next cycle in our space.  I am looking forward to hearing what guests in Washington DC have to add to the conversation as well as seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones.

Michael Boland is the Managing Director for Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC provides full life cycle eDiscovery consulting, technology, and project management services. In his current role, Michael has full managerial responsibility, operational control, and oversight of Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC. DDS works with Drinker Biddle & Reath clients as well as external non-firm clients to identify, preserve, collect, process, review, and produce data for use in adversarial proceedings. The DDS philosophy is to simplify eDiscovery and bring clients cost effective solutions by leveraging leading technology and processes driven by top tier project management.

Mr. Boland has worked for eDiscovery vendors, boutique and national consulting companies, practiced law relating to eDiscovery matters as well as worked in a consultative and project management capacity with AmLaw firms and Fortune 500 corporate legal departments.

Mr. Boland is a member of the American Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar. Michael received a BA from the University of Notre Dame, a JD from Golden Gate University and an MBA from the Ageno School of Business at Golden Gate University.

For more information about attending or sponsoring a TCG Event, contact Maribel Rivera at 212-661-0025 or maribel@cowengroup.com.

Permalink: http://www.cowengroup.com/?page=news.display&post=20130423-Boland

Cowen, "Big Data," and Eggs: Tastes Good and Great for Your Career

I attended my first Cowen Group Leadership Breakfast in Chicago in 2009.  Since then they have been a staple in my eDiscovery learning, networking, and career development.  Rarely in this space do you find events that provide a casual environment, free of overbearing sales influence, with such a strong mix of educated participants.  Each event I have been to has been different.  The organic nature of the conversation-style panel, along with the willingness and openness of the attendees, always creates a great discussion.  So, when David asked me to participate in the 2013 Q2 Leadership Breakfast Series, I enthusiastically accepted.

This quarter's topic, "Big Data: An Emerging Influencer for eDiscovery, Compliance, and Information Governance Careers," is both broad and specific.  The new industry buzz around the topic, "Big Data" means different things to each person's role, and to each organization.  But it provides great opportunity for those of us in the eDiscovery space.  Big Data does not just impact eDiscovery, it impacts an organization's security, regulation, analytics, archiving, information governance, etc… This means that there are more people at the table talking about the same issues we in the eDiscovery industry have been discussing for years.  It opens those doors for us to have a creditable positive impact on an organization as the voice of experience in people, process, and technology challenges and simultaneously creates new career paths for us.

I am looking forward to sharing some of the struggles my team has encountered—both internally and what we are seeing at clients across various industries and regions—beginning April 18th in New York. I am also looking forward to walking away from each event having learned something from fellow attendees. It is nearly impossible to sit at a TCG events with such a high quality group and not walk away feeling energized with all your wheels turning.

Michael Boland is the Managing Director for Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC a wholly owned subsidiary of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC provides full life cycle eDiscovery consulting, technology, and project management services. In his current role, Michael has full managerial responsibility, operational control, and oversight of Drinker Discovery Solutions, LLC. DDS works with Drinker Biddle & Reath clients as well as external non-firm clients to identify, preserve, collect, process, review, and produce data for use in adversarial proceedings. The DDS philosophy is to simplify eDiscovery and bring clients cost effective solutions by leveraging leading technology and processes driven by top tier project management.

Mr. Boland has worked for eDiscovery vendors, boutique and national consulting companies, practiced law relating to eDiscovery matters as well as worked in a consultative and project management capacity with AmLaw firms and Fortune 500 corporate legal departments.

Mr. Boland is a member of the American Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar. Michael received a BA from the University of Notre Dame, a JD from Golden Gate University and an MBA from the Ageno School of Business at Golden Gate University.

For more information about attending or sponsoring a TCG Event, contact Maribel Rivera at 212-661-0025 or maribel@cowengroup.com.

Permalink: http://www.cowengroup.com/?page=news.display&post=20130409-Boland