Katie's Corner #050108

At EDD Update, we link fairly regularly to vendor resources--websites, podcasts, webinars, white papers.  There are tons of these, and many are very useful.   But just a few years ago, a vendor website as a source of information might have been regarded with suspicion, if not dismissed outright.  Wouldn’t it just be self-promotion? 

Yes, of course. There’s self-promotion to a large extent.  But these sites can’t--and shouldn’t--be dismissed out of hand.  Given the hundreds of EDD companies out there, some companies have been looking for a way to be heard above the internet white noise--and providing valuable information to potential customers is one such way.  The result?  The customer wins.

http://www.kroll.com/ As Robert J. Ambrogi pointed out in this recent post, discoveryresources.org, from Portland, Ore.-based Fios Inc., has undergone a makeover.  It is a solid (and voluminous) EDD resource.  It has listings of EDD news, featured articles, columns, “Week in Review,” an “open mike” section, reviews, white papers, and more. It offers lots of EDD advice and guidelines, and links to news and articles from a huge variety of sources. 

And it features some EDD stars, lending it further credibility. Anchoring the main page is attorney Mary Mack’s e-discovery blog, “Sound Evidence.” Mack is technology counsel and director for Fios, and her blog (with the tagline “E-Discovery Simplified” is jam-packed — with 19 topics, ranging from cases to voice recording.  Currently, the main page highlights an article, “Thinking E-Discovery,” by EDD denizens Dennis Kennedy, Evan Schaeffer and Tom Mighell, tackling the topic of incorporating EDD into your depositions.

If anything, discoveryresources.org has too much information. 

So while promotion is a motive, it doesn’t mean that the site isn’t offering valuable content of genuine interest to the EDD community.  In fact, if the company is serious about the concept (and clearly, Fios is), then they had better do it right; doing it poorly would undermine them, and be worse than not doing it all all. 

For the company, such websites aren’t just about attaching their names to an educational resource.  Fios’ website broadcasts confidence — a message of “We can provide you with educational information, and once you’ve learned about EDD, we’re confident you’ll choose us. The more informed our clients are, the better.”  A company’s confidence can inspire confidence in the consumer. And the fact that the company can produce that sheer quantity and level of educational material reinforces that impression.

And what makes it even better for the customer?  Other companies, including Kroll, LexisNexis’ Applied Discovery, and Merrill Corp., all also provide strong online educational resources.  Competition can only make them stronger.