Too Little, Too Late?
By Craig Ball
October 2008
Law Technology News
A client recently asked what it would cost to convert 5 million images of scanned documents to
searchable text. I had a good idea, but when you're multiplying by millions, pennies matter. So I
went to the marketplace. I'd lately been wondering what solo and small firm lawyers face when
they seek e-discovery help. This seemed an opportune time to find out.
Would a neophyte first call his or her court reporter or copy service, head to a big box office
retailer, or try it online? Then, I remembered all those press releases touting vendor standings in
the 2008 Socha- Gelbmann E-Discovery Survey. What better place to start! I zeroed in on the top
five providers.
What I relate with a touch of levity is exactly what I encountered, and it's not all pretty. And yes, I
used my real name when I made the calls.
Anyone can have an off day — and these experiences may not necessarily be indicative of a
vendor's overall performance — but this renewed my appreciation for the deal-killing power of
bad first impressions, and opened my eyes to how invisible you may feel if you're not a Fortune
500 corporation or Am Law 50 law firm. For reasons that will be clear, I've changed names to
protect the innocent … and stupid.
Fios Inc.: (877) 700-3467. The Portland operator transferred me to a cell phone in Las Vegas
answered by a pleasant fellow I'll call "Bob Jones." He listened to what I needed and indicated he
was the wrong person, but assured me someone would call me back from Houston within 15
minutes.
Five minutes later, Jones phoned to tell me he'd been shunted into the Texas representative's
voicemail but he'd contacted a higher-up to insure someone would respond.
Twelve minutes later, the Texas representative called from his car, took details and promised to
return with a quote in 30-45 minutes. Three hours later, he called back, and politely explained that
Fios doesn't do OCR conversion and would have to outsource the job.
He thoughtfully offered to bow out as the middle man to save money and volunteered to give my
contact information to the other company. A dead end, but professionally handled in a way that
would make me want to do business with Fios again.
LexisNexis: (972) 442-3027. Drilling down through the bewildering variety of services offered on
the LexisNexis website, I found the number for the Applied Discovery "E-Discovery Specialist"
covering the 11 state region including Texas. I left a message detailing the service I sought. The
call wasn't returned. No doubt the rep was so excited by the opportunity, he or she was unable to
dial. I missed the call when returned the following noon, but soon calls from an unaffiliated vendor
revealed that the LexisNexis rep handed off my contact information and a description of the work
to them. A bit cheeky perhaps, but I appreciated the effort to get me in the right hands ASAP.
FTI Consulting Inc.: (212) 247-1010. The first challenge with FTI was navigating its impenetrable
website. There was no listing for e-discovery services other than "Readiness." Enough foreplay,
I'm ready! An abrupt receptionist shunted me directly to voicemail. I tried again, explaining I
preferred to speak with a person, and my call was quickly transferred to a fellow with a "can do"
attitude.
I explained that I needed OCR conversion of 5 million Group IV .tiffs at 300 dpi.
He offered, "I'm sure it's something we can do, but I'm not sure if we're the right people to do it."
He said he would need to speak to sales and that someone would call me to see if it was "a good
fit."
I recognized this as code for "Your project is small potatoes." But, coupled as it was with an
expressed willingness to steer me to someone better suited to the engagement, this prelude to a
brush off was so deftly and courteously handled it seemed like a hug.
Soon, a sales representative left me a voicemail. I left him a voicemail. He remained "it" until later
that evening when I got a phone call quoting the price, along with a candid explanation that FTI's
processing services generally go hand-in-hand with its consultancy, such that it wasn't feasible to
be more competitive on the pricing for what was likely a oneoff task. Clearly, it wasn't work they
wanted, but I left hoping that someday, I'll handle something big enough to interest these nice
people.
Autonomy Zantaz Corp.: (877) 243-9955. The receptionist asked my name and state (I briefly
considered "liquid" or "gaseous," but opted for "Texas"), then transferred me directly to the Texas
EDD expert's voicemail. With "Texas" at lunch, I asked for the EDD expert in the state where my
client and the data were located.
Speedily transferred to someone I'll call "John," I thus began my slow descent into madness. I
introduced myself and told John what I needed. He asked what firm I was with. I think I actually
heard his interest deflate when I told him — pffft.
I again explained what I was seeking, and John rejoined, "We don't offer quotes. We must come
in and do a demonstration first." Though I'm sure the .tiff-to-OCR demo would be a real barn
burner, I reiterated what I needed and suggested we might forgo the demo. He again asked,
"What firm are you with?"
Either John had short-term memory issues or he was grasping for a reason why he was still
speaking to someone from a firm he'd never heard of. Maybe he thought if I said my name three
times, I'd disappear like Beetlejuice.
"Do you have an existing contract with us?"
"No," I countered, "Don't you take new customers?" Now, John became the maitre d' who
suspects I can't pay the check.
"Do you have a specific budget?" he probed.
I managed not to laugh. "No, I was kind of hoping you would tell me how much it costs.
"We don't work for organizations of less than 5,000 seats," he sniffed.
I performed some impromptu mental arithmetic and, even with the patio furniture and the stuff in
storage, I fell woefully short of 5,000 seats.
"And the minimum training we require costs $10,000," he continued in a "where would you
possibly get ten thousand dollars" tone of voice, but graciously stopping short of adding,
"peasant!"
For the fourth time, I reiterated that all I sought was OCR conversion of 5 million single page
Group IV .tiffs and offered to dispense with the training.
Then I couldn't help myself and asked John if he knew what a single page Group IV .tiff was. He
confessed he had no idea. "I'm in business development," John explained. "I'll need to refer you
to someone else, an account executive." He again asked my name- — and my firm —and
promised to get back to me. I can't wait. In fact, I'm still waiting.
Kroll Ontrack Inc.: (800) 872-2599. I called the local number in Austin, and hit "4" to choose
Kroll Ontrack EDD services. The helpful gentleman who answered turned out to be at Kroll's
Eden Prairie, Minn. headquarters. He listened as I described what I needed. "It's not primarily
what we do," he said, "but we may be able to do it." He explained that I'd been sent to "the wrong
department," but took my name and proceeded to add all my contact information to the company
database, assuring me that the right person would get back to me.
Forty minutes later, I received a call from "Rona," an electronic evidence consultant who clearly
understood the project and gently pursued an upselling opportunity. She offered to respond by a
formal written quote or a faster phone or e-mail reply.
I opted for the latter and, two hours later, an e-mail from "Rona" quoted exactly the services I'd
sought. he took the initiative to price hosting services, too, something anyone juggling 5 million
.tiff images probably should consider. Kroll's quote wasn't cheap (they're not known as the low
price EDD provider) but they understood the job, didn't treat it as beneath them and seemed
eager to move to get it done for a no-nonsense price.
PICK IT UP
Some of these vendors may squawk that, "The small firm lawyer who cold calls us isn't our
market." Okay, everyone wants Microsoft Corp.'s business, but processing 5 million .tiffs isn't
exactly detailing my car!
A smart operator will realize that if you have 5 million images to process, you're probably involved
in something bigger than a dog bite case. It's an upsell opportunity and a relationship builder. And
it's a pretty easy $100-150 grand for a task that's almost completely mechanized. As they say in
the heartland, "If a hundred thousand dollars fell through a hole in your pants pocket, mister, don't
cha know you'd bend down to pick it up!" Some will. Some won't.