There is a lot of talk about “innovation” or “disruption” especially when conversation turns to software. It’s no secret why everyone wants to be branded “innovative:” in a world of Moore’s Law, no one wants to be last year’s model. However, in the race to keep up, it’s easy to forget what innovation means. Inherent in the word is not just the idea of novelty, but also of utility and of commitment.
To claim to be “innovative,” companies and products must go beyond “new.” They must also:
1) Have Unique Ideas
Innovation is about more than just making incremental improvements; each advance should be part of a larger vision. It’s the difference between a marginal improvement, like slightly better fuel economy on your car, and a new way to approach the problem, like a Tesla Model S. That is not to say that all changes need to be rocket blasts; updates that begin as small, iterative improvements may result in a product that is more responsive to user needs. The distinction is that true innovation involves abstracting a problem or looking at it in a new light. In the ediscovery space, this can mean changing workflows or shaking up the EDRM model. Innovative legal products make an impact on the industry.
2) Make Useful Changes
Innovation should solve real, pervasive problems for end users. Releasing a succession of novel functions is not sufficient: they must also address pain points. For instance, if many law firms struggle with exhibits for teleconference depositions, then providing that service may be more useful that incrementally improving an existing product. As this chart demonstrates, good products improve the things done most often by the most users. When it comes to ediscovery, updates need to substantively improve the litigation process to be truly innovative.
3) Update Frequently
Innovation entails ongoing improvements, not maintenance of a stale product. Releasing an initial idea into an industry doesn’t remove the need for further progress. Leading the way on polaroids didn’t save Kodak from being left behind when digital photography exploded. In legal technology, this means that being a legacy tool does not – by itself – make you a market leader today. New technologies become available every day, and legal tools need to match this cadence of change, so lawyers can leverage the advances. Innovation doesn’t sleep.
There is one corollary to these definitions of innovation: transparency. It is always difficult to judge oneself fairly. Public scrutiny of all claims of innovation results in a more innovative industry, which means better outcomes for all.
In the interest of putting our money where our blog words are, we’ve summarized the past three and a half years of Everlaw product updates. The changes listed can be evaluated for uniqueness, and the dates can help gauge update frequency. Industry analysts and product users would be the best arbiters of the utility of these features. We’re looking forward to your feedback!
Release Date | Principal Release Changes |
---|---|
12/12/2016 | Added Self-Serve Uploads Added Self-Serve Productions Improved Search Term Reports (speed and use) Improved StoryBuilder Chronology |
8/27/2016 | Added Search Term Reports Improved Email Threading Added Search for Credit Card Numbers Improved Case Settings and Analytics Interfaces Added Keyboard Shortcut Improved File Format Searching |
7/22/2016 | Added Data Sharing Tool Improved Coding Presets Improved Search Preview Added Null Metadata Search Improved Document Family View Improved Canonical Metadata Improved Assignment Transparency Added “Message All” in Messaging |
5/13/2016 | Improved Predictive Coding Improved Two-Factor Authentication Improved Production Mode Added Australian Bates/Doc ID Support |
4/23/2016 | Added Unitization Added Search by Highlight Color Improved Related Document Labeling Added Print Single Page Improved Zoom Settings on Natives Added End Bates Column Added Search for Partial Social Security Numbers |
3/14/2016 | Added Canonical Metadata |
12/18/2015 | Improved Assignments Added Case Size Data Added Organizations |
10/29/2015 | Added StoryBuilder© Chronology |
08/28/2015 | Improved Text Redaction Added PII Highlighting Added Two-Factor Authentication |
08/14/2015 | Added Homepage Compact View Added Child Document Removal Added In-Tool Message Exporting Added Random Subset Generation Improved Help Center |
06/26/2015 | Improved Deduplication Improved Text Redaction Improved Image Interactivity |
05/01/2015 | Added Assignment Wizard |
04/02/2015 | Added Foreign Language Detection and Translation Improved Predictive Coding Improved StoryBuilder© Outlines Improved Batch Updates |
01/26/2015 | Added ‘Code as Previous’ Function Redesigned User Interface |
01/13/2015 | Added Automatic Deduplication Improved Audio and Video Viewer |
10/03/2014 | Added Custom In-Browser Spreadsheet Viewer Added Predictive Coding Improved Native Viewer |
09/10/2014 | Added Help Video Tutorials Added Support for More Special Characters Improved Document Conflict Interface Improved Image Loading Speed Improved Recent Case Activity Viewer |
07/18/2014 | Added Reviewer QA Added Search by Document Type Improved Keyboard Shortcuts Improved Results Table Improved User Profiles |
06/17/2014 | Added Document Previews Added Viewership Information Improved Hit Highlighting |
04/23/2014 | Added Hit Highlighting Improved Bates Search Speed Improved Context Panel Improved StoryBuilder© Outlines Improved Text Viewer Improved User Interface |
03/06/2014 | Added Context Panel Added Full Document Export |
01/24/2014 | Added StoryBuilder© Outlines Improved Search Interface |
11/22/2013 | Added Admin-Controlled User Groups Added Email Threading |
10/25/2013 | Added Admin-Controlled Expert Folders Added User Creation Improved User Interface |
09/11/2013 | Added Email Messaging Improved Review Table Improved Search and Sort Speed |
08/16/2013 | Added Document Grouping Added User Profiles Improved PDF Exports Improved Speed |
06/21/2013 | Added Auto-Complete for Metadata Searches Added Panel Resizing Improved Navigation |
05/29/2013 | Added Support for Touch Devices Added Real-Time Activity View |
05/08/2013 | Added Coding Rules Added Note Templates Added User Guides Improved Review Window |
04/12/2013 | Added Document Review Assignment Added Email Messaging Improved Document Sharing |
02/22/2013 | Added Batch Content Searches Added Multi-Batch Actions Improved Deduplication Improved Document Switching Speed Improved Exporting Improved Highlighting Improved Notes Formatting Improved Tag Tables |
09/10/2012 | Added Batch Notes and Undo Added Document Duplication Search Added Metadata Field Editing |
07/13/2012 | Improved Case Analytics |
05/26/2012 | Added Review History Added Search Preview Improved Search Interface |
03/23/2012 | Improved Batch Actions Improved Notes and Highlighting |
03/05/2012 | Improved Batch Actions Improved Review Table Improved Search Improved Tagging Improved User Interface |
12/14/2011 | Added Batch Actions |
11/22/2011 | Added Support for Mobile Devices |
11/09/2011 | Added Firefox Browser Bug Fix Added Task Manager Improved Tags Improved User Interface |
10/13/2011 | Added In-Browser Native Viewer Added Keyboard Shortcuts |
06/29/2011 | Improved Help Features |
06/05/2011 | Added Download Capabilities Added Support for IE 9 Improved Coding and Tagging Improved Results Table Improved User Interface |