H5, a leading provider of eDiscovery and compliance services and technology, today released a report analyzing the results of a survey that examined current trends relating to corporate investigations and the outlook for the future. The report, “The Investigations Landscape: Findings from the H5 2019 Corporate Investigations Survey,” includes data collected from more than 300 individuals directly involved in internal corporate investigations at companies in the financial services, healthcare, technology, and other industries.
Corporate investigations, which can be triggered by any number of events, have become a fact of life for most companies. The survey focused on the nature of investigations companies face and the concerns that drive them, the tools and methods utilized in their pursuit, and the challenges associated with conducting investigations. Among the key findings:
- A majority of respondents (63%) expect the number of investigations to increase over the next three years.
- A majority (67%) also indicated that their companies proactively monitor networks and electronic data for suspicious activity, although that is not the most common trigger for an investigation. The most common impetus, cited by 45% of respondents, is a private or public complaint by a consumer, employee or competitor.
- Nearly half (47%) said their companies face more than 50 potential investigations per year, with one in five putting the number at more than 100.
- The most prevalent type of investigations undertaken by respondents’ companies were employee/workplace investigations (43%) followed by regulatory/ governmental investigations (24%) and due diligence investigations (11%).
- 59% of respondents included analytics technology as one of their top three areas of spend.
- One in three respondents were somewhat or very dissatisfied with their company’s approach to finding key documents that could constitute evidence in an investigation.
“This corporate investigations survey illustrates how complex and pressing the investigations landscape has become globally,” said Sheila Mackay, H5 Managing Director, eDiscovery. “It shows that in-house teams are facing an increasing number of investigations that not only incur significant potential risk but also challenge available resources. Understanding how to better leverage appropriate tools and methods to successfully handle investigations requires the kind of insight into the issues that we hope this survey helps bring to light.”
Of the 317 individuals polled, nearly half identified as attorneys in companies’ legal or compliance departments, and the remainder as non-lawyer/administrator/other legal professionals responsible for investigations. Sixty percent of respondents’ companies have revenue of over $100 million, and 15% of companies are based outside of the U.S. H5 worked with Above the Law to conduct the survey in July and August of 2019.
The Investigations Landscape: Findings from the H5 2019 Corporate Investigations Survey can be downloaded here (https://bit.ly/H5InvestigationsReport).
About H5
H5 helps corporations and law firms find and manage the documents that matter in litigation and investigations by providing expert-driven, technological solutions to address the complex challenges created by electronic data. With expertise in eDiscovery, compliance services and technology, technology-assisted review and search, H5 is committed to helping clients find and manage the information they need to win cases, meet regulatory requirements and address risks by providing creative products and solutions that ensure fast, accurate, cost-effective results.
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