Seven years ago this month, BIA co-published on edrm.net the industry's first eDiscovery Maturity Model. The model was designed to help organizations better understand how they were handling eDiscovery and how they can improve their processes and reduce costs over time.

As the effects of the Great Recession were still being felt, corporate and organizational leaders were looking for ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs, and the eDiscovery Maturity Model helped outline a path for organizations to do just that. And then when the spotlight on data security began to grow even brighter, the impetus to truly take control of the organization's data and eDiscovery process became even more important, and the model helped there, as well.

Back in 2010, most organizations still found themselves ranked in the lower levels of the model, with the majority still outsourcing nearly all of their eDiscovery needs to their law firms or other service providers, with little to no oversight or involvement. But over the past seven years, things have changed at an increasing pace, with more and more companies starting to take control of their eDiscovery processes, and thereby moving up the levels in this model.