No general counsel wants to hear he or she has to request employees preserve data in anticipation of litigation. But it's a fact that sending out these legal hold requests is a unfortunate part of a GC's job description. The best the legal and IT departments can do is just be ready for what comes their way.

E-discovery software company Zapproved Inc., with the help of marketing analysis firm Steinberg Group, recently asked more than 400 professionals overseeing legal holds and preservation at their organizations what are their best practices in these areas. The resulting 2015 Legal Hold and Data Preservation Benchmark Survey reveals that as preservation and collection challenges are on the rise, more and more companies are using automated solutions to make processes smoother and more legally defensible.

The potential benefits of automated hold processes for many companies are pretty straightforward: they make legal holds faster, more repeatable and easier to defend in front of opposing counsel or in court. And it looks as though the survey's respondents are catching on. Some 45.7 percent said they are using automated hold processes, a substantial change from just two years ago when only 36.2 percent were using automation.