One of the most successful acquisitions in the eDiscovery market has been Xerox’s acquisition of Lateral Data and its Viewpoint eDiscovery platform.

I wrote recently about how Xerox has supplemented that software acquisition by buying the eDiscovery services provider Smart Data. Xerox Litigation Services has followed that with the launch of a new all-in-one pricing model which allows companies and law firms to mix and match the use of Viewpoint software and related services with maximum flexibility. Whilst many companies and firms can predict the typical level of work every year, it is hard to fit the extremes into that – a large number of small matters, for example, or the burst capacity needed when several large matters coincide.

The Xerox mix of on-premises software, custom managed services and comprehensive fully-outsourced managed services brings this flexibility. The new pricing model makes it particularly attractive. The press release is here.

I spoke to Rachel Teisch, VP of marketing at Xerox Litigation Services. She sees the new model as being attractive both to existing clients and to those who have not yet found a comprehensive way of managing diverse eDiscovery needs – “diverse” implying equally a variety of case size, an uneven distribution of work and differing levels of skills.

There are three different subscription options based on anticipated volume. The same version of Viewpoint is available whether it is in the hands of a managed services company or used in-house. Clients may choose to take a processing-only licence, a review-only licence or both together, but within those categories the full range of data management and analytical tools are available, including Viewpoint Assisted Review.

Standardisation on a single product brings more than the opportunity to bring down the cost of software licenses. An overlooked component is the cost of training. Many software providers now claim, and in many cases with good reason, that the software is user-friendly, and Viewpoint is one of these. The ability to bring the same set of skills to case after case represents encourages high quality and represents a good use of a training budget.

The success of the Viewpoint acquisition does not diminish the value of the software and services products which Xerox Litigation Services had developed prior to the acquisition. Its hosted review application OmniX and its technology-assisted review program CategoriX continue to be developed to meet the needs of the client base which Xerox has always had, whilst Viewpoint is taking it into new markets.