Remote data collection could become the norm as e-discovery companies and their clients look for data collection alternatives amidst an increasingly dispersed and remote workforce.

"The legal community tends to adopt technology only reluctantly or is forced to by clients or circumstances," said X1 Discovery Inc. CEO Craig Carpenter. "A migration to remote collection had been happening for several years but relatively slowly. [With] coronavirus it will be expedited." 

X1 looked to capitalize on that migration with the recent launch of X1E Remote Collection On-Demand, a remote, cloud-based data collection solution.

"It can be remote collection on-demand as they need it. That's new and in response to the new remote-from-work mandate we all have," Carpenter noted.

To be sure, as COVID-19 has forced many to work remotely, the novel virus also makes the traditional e-discovery workflow of physically going to a data custodian's location and manually using forensic image software to capture their computer or device less practical, noted Infinnium co-founder and chief innovation officer Nirav Avaiya.

Earlier this month, Infinnium also released a remote collection feature for its information governance suite 4iG. Avaiya said that COVID-19 was the "motivation to speed up the process" of developing and launching the feature. However, the new feature was also in response to a broader trend of companies leveraging cloud-based solutions, such as G Suite, Office 365 and Slack, that made collecting data from hard drives less needed, he added.

Additionally, e-discovery providers collecting data on-site will likely overcollect data to avoid missing pertinent information, but that can put a provider's client at risk of violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and other regulations, Avaiya noted. E-discovery providers are also exposed to more risk if hard drives, and not select data, is mishandled, he added.

Remote collection introduces a new "modern" workflow that involves filtering out what is collected before the software copies the file, Carpenter said. He noted, "It's more surgical from the onset and that's why clients love it."

Still, remote collection comes with challenges when attempting to collect from certain devices, he explained.

"Cellphones are their own little universe with completely different [operating systems] and storage methodologies, so they are handled by very specialized tech like Cellebrite," he said. Similarly, tablets have unique operating systems that are difficult to remotely collect from.

While remote collection has its limitations, e-discovery vendors copying necessary files shouldn't bog down the client's internet, Avaiya noted. "[It] doesn't use the bandwidth of the organization, it can just use the open bandwidth of the data center or vendor and the company can work as usual without the slowness."

Ayaiya argued there aren't many challenges unique to remote collection that providers wouldn't face when traditionally collecting data for clients. Those common issues vary by client but can include encountering encrypted data and working with the client's IT and legal team to understand the company's data retention and backup programs.