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One of the biggest challenges facing any eDiscovery provider is the ability to articulate succinctly the value that it brings to customers. This challenge is magnified when eDiscovery vendors offer technology and services beyond traditional eDiscovery tasks or when they deliver offerings with new and innovative pricing and delivery models. Cohesive and complete messaging is critical if a provider is to break through the chatter and clutter of a highly competitive and competitor-rich market and get the attention of end users.
While there are common themes in most articulations of eDiscovery provider value that revolve around functional expertise, domain experience, and technology enablement, there does appear to be a need in most provider organizations for the establishment of a strategic framework for value to help guide offering development and messaging communication. This need is manifested in the prevalence of vendor offerings and messaging that lack substance and differentiation in relation to market competitors. Correspondingly, organizations that have taken the time to develop and follow a strategic framework for value appear to have substantive offerings and messaging that are easily differentiated from competitors.
Provided below for consideration and use is one example of a strategic framework for value that may be beneficial in helping eDiscovery providers consider offering and messaging development.
A Strategic Framework for Value
In developing a strategic framework for value, it is reasonable to first establish a core set of skills and service types to be included in the framework. These core services and skills generally include:
Core Service Types
- Assessment Services: Provide audits, evaluations, and assessments. (Where customers are.)
- Advisory Services: Develop programs to support requirements. (Where customers want to be.)
- Supervisory Services: Provide supervision for programs. (How providers can help customers get there.)
- Management Services: Provide management for programs. (How providers can get there for customers.)
Figure 1: Core Service Types
Core Skills
- Task Operationalization: Helping customers understand the best way to get things done.
- Task Accomplishment: Helping customers get things done.
- Technology Enablement: Helping customers leverage technology to get things done.
Figure 2: Core Skills
By taking the elements of these core skill and service types and combining them (Figure 3) into a basic strategic framework, eDiscovery providers can begin to establish an easily understandable and communicated value framework that can be used to explain and expand on the value in its offerings.
Figure 3: Core Service Types and Skills Framework
Additionally, by combining Task Operationalization and Task Accomplishment, one can refer to both of these core skills as Functional Area Expertise (Figure 4). Also, by breaking down Technology Enablement into services delivered via Customer or Third Party Infrastructure and services delivered by the eDiscovery Provider’s Infrastructure, one can highlight the two ways that Technology Enablement occurs. When added to the Core Services Types and Skills Framework, these two refinements complete the strategic framework for value.
Figure 4: Strategic Framework for Value
It appears reasonable that establishing a strategic framework for value to guide offering planning and messaging will help in making the value of eDiscovery providers easier to understand and easier to communicate. Additionally, by having all members of an eDiscovery provider’s team sharing from the same value framework, an eDiscovery provider’s value should be able to be communicated more efficiently (frequency+consistency=efficiency) with target audiences.
From Strategic Framework to Tactical Offerings
For a top-down strategic framework for value to succeed in shaping the development and messaging of offerings, eDiscovery providers must also effectively organize their offerings1 from the bottom-up to be easily understood as to what value they provide. One way that this can be accomplished is by defining and segmenting services into core and managed service categories and then further defining the possible services within those categories.
Defining Core and Managed Service Categories
The two primary categories of services delivered by eDiscovery providers today appear to be core services and managed services. A high-level definition of each of these categories of services is provided below:
- Core Service: A core service is the production of an essentially intangible benefit, either in its own right or as a significant element of a tangible product, which through some form of exchange, satisfies an identified need.2
- Managed Service: An offering that allows an organization to outsource the delivery, operations, and management of a service.3
From these two categories of services, one can further define specific services to build out the tactical offering portion of a strategic framework for value.
Defining Two Core Service Categories
Core services are the most common services delivered by eDiscovery providers and typically take the form of either a consulting service or a technology service. Short definitions of these services are provided below:
- Consulting Service: A service that consists of expert advice applied to a customer need and delivered as part of a report or recommendation.
- Technology Service: A service that consists of a combination expert advice, appropriate technology, and technology expertise applied to a customer need and delivered in the form of task accomplishment.
Defining Three Managed Services Categories
Managed services are a growing approach to service delivery by eDiscovery providers and often take the form of an infrastructure managed service, an operational managed service, or a departmental managed service. Short definitions of these managed services are provided below:
- Infrastructure Service: A service that consists of technology delivered to a customer for use by the customer in the accomplishment of a task or group of tasks on an ongoing basis.
- Operational Service: A service that consists of expertise provided to a customer for use by the customer in the accomplishment of a task or group of tasks on an ongoing basis.
- Departmental Service: A service that consists of a combination of experts and technology charged with the complete management and execution of a task or group of tasks on an ongoing basis.
Figure 5: Core and Managed Services Framework
While frameworks are important tools for developing offerings and messaging, they ultimately are only as good as an eDiscovery provider’s effectiveness in delivering value. Said in a different way, if eDiscovery providers deliver substantial value in their offerings, using a strategic framework for value and understanding how to position and differentiate between core and managed services may help them increase their marketing and sales effectiveness. However, if they do not deliver an offering with value, no strategic framework will be able to overcome offering deficiencies in the long run.
References:
1Stratifying eDiscovery: Baseline Considerations for Market Segmentation. (2015, December 4). Retrieved from http://www.complexdiscovery.com/info/2015/12/04/stratifying-ediscovery-baseline-considerations-for-market-segmentation/
2Defining Key Concepts: Products vs. Services. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/preservation/products/definitions/products-services.html
3Managed services – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managed_services
