Earlier generations of eDiscovery software focused on the mechanics of the eDiscovery task – the assimilation, culling, analysis, search and production of data.

Newer generations of software recognise that electronic discovery is not just a technical process nor merely a legal process but a business process, and that clients and their lawyers need to need more information about projects in order to make business decisions about them.

Recommind has added new functionality to Axcelerate 5 which gives visibility into the time, cost and quality of document review, showing everything from project expenses to staffing levels and performance, resource allocation and other factors fundamental to business decision-making.

There is a press release about the new version here. As David Horrigan of 451 Research says in the press release, industries use business intelligence to balance risk against cost. Quite apart from the wider business context, these are the elements of proportionality, part of the information needed to persuade an opponent or the court whether an exercise, or a phase of an exercise, is worth doing.