For those that don't know, this is the model by which electronic discovery is generally conducted today: http://edrm.net/
It's over a billion dollar market and there are plenty of enterprisey vendors that have positioned themselves into every box on that EDRM chart. Lawfirms and corporate counsel will happily pay for this stuff because the amounts at stake in litigation are so huge.
Actually, the EDRM model is only one model, and it is rapidly falling by the wayside. For example, ECA - early case assessment - is becoming a very important part of ediscovery but you can't fit ECA into the EDRM as the EDRM is essentially linear and doesn't allow for loops.
I admit that my understanding may be off, but it seems like ECA is just using the same EDRM model and iterating faster upfront. I feel that it's more of a vendor buzzword than a new way of conducting electronic discovery.
The industry is full of buzzwords, hype, and snakeoil, alas. ECA is one example, and I'd argue that the EDRM is another. The EDRM was good a few years ago but hasn't really evolved to reflect current, and developing practices.
ECA describes a part of the process that was hard to do in the early days because the tools didn't support the faster iteration upfront. As people realized the value of that iteration, the tools improved and the term gained power and marketing presence.
Second place in a market can still allow a company to be profitable and growing. Second place in a lawsuit can impact not only profits and growth but viability.
It's over a billion dollar market and there are plenty of enterprisey vendors that have positioned themselves into every box on that EDRM chart. Lawfirms and corporate counsel will happily pay for this stuff because the amounts at stake in litigation are so huge.