Case Studies

Mazars LLP Partners with AccessData – an Exterro Company – in Migration of E-Discovery Software Platform to the Cloud

Mazars LLP is an international firm specializing in audit, accountancy, tax, legal and advisory services. The company is structured with a unique, integrated international partnership that features a network of correspondent partners and joint ventures with firms worldwide. Founded in 1940, Mazars is headquartered in Paris and currently employs more than 20,000 professionals in 86 countries through its member firms.

Situation
One of Mazars’ leading practice areas is its global Technology and Digital Solutions Practice, which is headed up by London- based partner Nicolas Quairel. This group provides IT advisory services across various industries that include technology forensics, cyber security services, data privacy (GDPR) and data management services, and in-depth implementations of cloud migrations.

In recent years, Mazars has been working with clients interested in migrating some or all of their data storage to the cloud, with a particular focus on serving the needs of clients in the document-intensive legal services industry. Indeed, one survey found that 56 percent of The AmLaw 200® firms now use some form of cloud computing and Legaltech® News reported last year that “cloud adoption is approaching a tipping point” in the legal services marketplace.

“The challenge is daunting within the legal sector, however, due to the high-stakes implications of moving highly sensitive client data to the cloud—and perhaps the most dynamic area of technology innovation for cloud migration has taken place in the area of e-discovery,” explained Quairel. “This niche in the litigation world is responsible for substantial costs and information risk management requirements, so the opportunities for improved efficiencies from the cloud are significant.”

The industry data backs up Quairel’s observations. One survey by Ari Kaplan Advisors found that 50 percent of corporate counsel and 67 percent of in-house administrative e-discovery leaders prefer to access their future technology solutions solely in the cloud.

With this market need so clearly demonstrated, the Mazars team went in search of an e-discovery software partner that was capable of supporting their clients who sought to undertake the cloud migration for these tools.

Solution
The concept is as simple as it is daunting: by migrating litigation data and software applications to the cloud, an organization’s data is stored on high-capacity servers and made accessible to authorized professionals via the Internet, as opposed to an on-premises network.

“This immediately raises concerns about data security, cost-effectiveness and platform stability, so it was essential that we identify a reliable partner before risk averse professionals—such as attorneys and their outside advisors—would be willing to embrace the concept of moving sensitive data off their premises and into some unseen storage destination,” said Quairel.

After the Mazars team did all of its homework and received the green light to proceed with choosing its preferred cloud-based e-discovery software platform, they set out to evaluate and test a number of products. Naturally, there were a number of vendors out there with no shortage of encouragement for Mazars’ clients to jump to the cloud, but little practical advice to help them determine what approach was best for their clients’ unique requirements.

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