Ride the Lightning

DEJA VU: VENDOR CODE OF COMPETITION

March 27, 2009

I guess I'm exercising the eternal right of women to change their minds. Having declared this thread closed, I received a thoughtful response to my March 11th post that deserved the light of day. So, herewith:

Sharon,

This is a really late response to your post from 3/12/2009.  Regardless, I still feel compelled to respond.  First, I am stunned by the fact that firms threaten other firms for doing any type of competitive marketing comparison.  Do you have any understanding of why these firms even consider this type of action?  Are certain firms incorrectly portraying another’s firms capabilities?  This type of behavior seems so counterintuitive  to my I/T security cultural upbringing.   I typically seek out this type of comparison whenever I am tasked to research, evaluate, recommend, purchase, and implement a solution for our business. 

In principle, I agree that CEOs of EDD firms should agree on a vendor code of competition.  I don’t think it should be mandatory (or even possible to make it mandatory).  It appears that the  RFP+Sub-Group of Sedona Conference has attempted to do something similar with their RFP Guidelines (http://www.thesedonaconference.org/ediscovery_html).    I do see a potential marketing opportunity for EDD vendors that not only sign a vendor code of competition, but also release information in a standardized manner.   

Bottom line, I think that consumers of EDD services will need to demonstrate their dislike for a lack of transparency and comparability of EDD capabilities by not selecting them.  In addition, the consumer needs to complete a “forensic analysis” of the marketing material from EDD firms.  Specifically, I recommend consumers utilize the RFP and RFI processes to help obtain standardized \ comparable answers and help find out the true capabilities of the EDD vendor.  The RFI process can build a short-list of preferred EDD firms, while the RFP process can be utilized to select the right firm for a given case.

I have used the following sources for creating RFIs and RFPs

·         Sedona Conference (2005)  Navigating the Vendor Proposal Process – Best Practices for the Selection of Electronic Discover Vendors (http://www.thesedonaconference.org/dltForm?did=RFP_plus_july05ver.pdf)

·         Merrill Corporation  (2007/2008) How to Avoid the Five Critical Mistakes Made in the E-Discovery RFP Process

I enjoy your blog and hope that business is going well.

Robert Rost MA CISSP GFCA  GSEC Security+

I/T Security Consultant

Information Security

Banner Health

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Thanks for writing Robert. OK, now this thread is officially closed. Unless I open it again. 

Hope to see many of you next week at ABA TECHSHOW!

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