Why our technology is much more stable than you think it is.
A Lucent perspective by Jud Holt
Perception & reality are not the same thing.
All you seem to hear about these days is how technology is constantly changing. But from my perspective on the front lines of eDiscovery, not only is technology not changing that quickly, it’s actually pretty stable and has been for more than a decade.
Ever since eDiscovery became a thing, new technology has been constantly rolling out new tools that claim to solve problems. I’ve seen several phases of this process – the tools are preceded by a hype cycle where everyone gets excited, but in reality, it takes a long time to gain acceptance in the marketplace. The majority of the hype we see these days is for or add-ons to the review platform. This is relevant because the platform has had a solid 20 years to mature and stabilize. It is now a known quantity with a set of expectations that must be met. This is the stable and core piece of technology in eDiscovery.
It’s our job to offer perspective to our clients. Sometimes it’s about what they need, often, it’s about what they don’t.
Jud Holt
Just look at the hype around generative AI. It is the only thing folks are talking about and the irony is that there is still not a proven and monetizable use case yet. In my mind, this proves the perception of change is greater than the reality. We believe that it’s best to let the technology mature and use cases to materialize, and this is especially true for Generative AI. It will be a task for an organization like Lucent to match the client need to the easiest and most direct solution.
This will take time. There are early adopters (both vendors and users) that are wading into the use of generative AI to help with motion practice, legal research and document review. However, there are so many different pieces of this that need to be worked out and like all early adopters, most of what’s currently being done is likely to disappear. As true use cases and more well-funded suitors move in to build on the previous failures and successes we will see how this technology actually enters the industry in a stable and helpful way.
The more things change…
It’s kind of a cliche, but it’s also true. The more things change the more they stay the same. Technology may come and go but the hype cycle remains the same. Right now, we’re in a period of stability even if it doesn’t feel like we are. That reality doesn’t make for exciting headlines, but it’s true.
One of the best things we can offer our clients is a little bit of perspective. We don’t need to chase fads or the latest unproven technology. We can offer clear, thought-out solutions to real-world problems that rely on proven technology. When a new tool emerges that is proven to work better than what we’ve got, we’ll use that instead. But we have a feeling it’s not going to be as big of a change as everyone seems to think it is.