If Microsoft, as rumored, were to buy Autonomy, there would be a seismic ripple felt through eDiscovery-related markets.  First, Microsoft would own two of the leading search products in the market (Autonomy and FAST).  Second, Microsoft would have applications to provide value on top of a SharePoint infrastructure:

 - iManage document management – which has a huge law firm and corporate legal installed base
- Meridio records management – which just so happened to be developed to provide RM functionality for SharePoint environment
- Cardiff BPM – which would give Microsoft advanced process management capabilities (all the better to build out more eDiscovery workflow, for say, legal holds?? )
- ZANTAZ archiving – which will enhance the archiving that will be native to Exchange 2010; the on-premise EAS will give Microsoft its own offering for the first time and the hosted Digital Safe will add to the Frontbridge offering Microsoft already has

And – scarily enough – that is just a smattering of the value that Autonomy would bring to Microsoft.  Not hard to see why the rumor mill has Microsoft paying a 75% premium for the Cambridge, UK-based company.

To any eDiscovery vendors out there I say, “be afraid...be very afraid.”  If Microsoft moves into the market, the following players have a lot to lose:


- Email archiving vendors – if Microsoft offers archiving natively, it almost certainly spells the beginning of the end for pure-play arching vendors; what value will they offer beyond what Microsoft will certainly offer for much less $$$? 
- eDiscovery collection vendors – Microsoft will be able to offer an infrastructure for proactive eDiscovery management; customers won’t need specialized tools to collect information in the wild (or at least won’t need them as much)…and Autonomy can offer some of the functionality necessary for managing the wild already.
- Early Case Assessment and legal hold vendors – Microsoft can turn Autonomy’s Introspect and Aungate offerings into enterprise-grade ECA and legal hold application.
- eDiscovery service providers – if customers can deploy the combined Microsoft / Autonomy product set successfully (a big if, I know), there will be less data to be processed by these service bureaus…and Microsoft will look to offer its own hosted review in the cloud. 

Interestingly, this rumor is getting almost zero play in the US, but has been discussed overseas.  I do think there would be potential anti-competitive implications, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome.

If this happens, watch out world!

I've ranted a good deal about the "head in the sand" attitude that many organizations take when it comes to eDiscovery.  Even with the Amendments to the FRCPs (which squarely place the burden on organizations to be able to find and manage electronically stored information), there are an inordinate amount that simply ignore the requirement and then play dumb.  There are organizations that felt protected because they were rarely in federal court.  Well...now more and more states are adopting similar eDiscovery rules.  Really?  Didn't see that coming (insert copious amounts of sarcasm here).


The fact is that technology exists to find and manage all types of electronically stored information.  Ignorance = sanctions.  Ignorance = huge processing and review costs.  Ignorance is unacceptable.  The call to action is clear - get your information management house in order.  I know - it's not easy; information management is a long-term initiative with multiple players (IT, legal, information workers) and tons of change management.  But, it's gotten tenable.  It's possible to put in place mechanisms for more efficient information collection, legal hold, and early case assessment that provide fast ROI.  It's also possible to make long-term plans for better information management infrastructure and understand how to make the business case for it.


I hope that we don't need a daily news story to reinforce the fact that deploying eDiscovery technology is a no-brainer.  In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes on the headlines...let me know what you think.