As big players swallow competitors, INNOV-8 is built for the boutique, customer-centered approach
It’s not a far stretch to use battle analogies when speaking about litigation. It is, by its nature, an adversarial proceeding. That’s why the trend of large-scale groups eating up medium-sized competitors in the eDiscovery space is such a concerning one for Andrew Kent, Executive Lead, Operations & Growth at INNOV-8.
“We’re dealing with a situation a lot of people don’t even see: the big companies are buying up all that middle ground and rolling out a factory approach,” Kent says. “They’re saying the tool is so easy to use, AI can do everything for you. But in the ease of usage, they’re not arming you to ever defend yourself in an adversarial setting. They're not taking the time to mentor clients on usage.”
Like buying eggs from the grocery store
It seems counterintuitive to meet the increase of intense, more complicated technology with less support and training, but that’s exactly what Kent sees happening in the marketplace. There is a rise of the grocery store mindset — or selling the product right off the shelf with little to no direction.
If you buy eggs from the grocery store and ask the person bagging them for you what to do with them, they’re going to look at you confused, Kent explains. They might say, eat them? Whatever you want to do; they’re eggs.
Litigation at Innov-8 is not one aisle at a grocery store: it takes much more of a sommelier approach. The team is the one asking the questions of the customer to walk them through the process. Why do you need this? What do you need it to do? Where are you trying to go?
“We have a laser-like focus on forensics, eDiscovery, and review and we’re committed to our craft,” Kent says. “We don’t also sell some other technology over in aisle 3. We’re out there for our clients.”
The consolidation in the current marketplace leaves a huge opening for boutique consulting groups, and that’s the opportunity for lawyers looking to bolster their capabilities with an actual eDiscovery partner willing to go to battle with them.
The lawyer-led difference
Kent got into the eDiscovery litigation field over 20 years ago, when the area was gaining ground quickly. It wasn’t smooth sailing but that was “fantastic for problem solvers like myself,” he says.
“I like tinkering; I like thinking through workflows. I’ve always been a process guy, and it was such a great mental challenge to be figuring things out on the front lines.”
Kent was drawn to INNOV-8 because of the reputation of its founder, Marlon Hylton. He has what Kent calls “this great explanatory way about him — he teaches you up without making you feel like you’re lost in the wilderness.”
When you’ve been in the business long enough, Kent adds, you see that’s a rare talent. It’s easy to think you know something until you try to teach others and the way Hylton handles that knowledge transfer, whether to classrooms or clients, is indicative of how the company runs. Consulting, Kent says, is in INNOV-8’s DNA.
“I always do my homework,” Kent explains. “I went around to several of Marlon’s contacts and they all said the same thing about him. I started talking to him about his vision, and it was so inspiring. I wanted to be a part of it.”
The term gets thrown around a lot in the marketplace. But for Kent, lawyer-led should mean one thing: they’ve actually walked into a courtroom. Lawyers should look for people who understand that going before a judge or sparring with opposing counsel requires more than a tool that makes review faster.
“There’s another party spending big money for you to lose; they’re actively against you,” Kent says, adding that the factory-type approach doesn’t arm the client for that process.
Many companies have premier technology. But not every group is committed to walking clients through the details and building partnerships. Anyone can pull a tool off a shelf and have it; it’s a matter of how they’re using it. Anyone can host in industry-standard eDiscovery platform Relativity, but do you understand the tool and what clients want from it?
The difference shows up most clearly when something goes wrong. In the past, Kent has seen forensics groups respond to a failed search — can you find X, Y, and Z? — with a single word: no. That answer, he says, reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what litigation requires.
“What I need from you is a report detailing everything you’ve done, on what, how so, and that then the actual results,” he says. “I need that on paper. I need that to be portable so I can walk into court with it. Those things get lost — they forget our audience. They forget what our audience needs to do with that data.”
eDiscovery tools and sharper workflows bring down litigation costs, so that a party in a lawsuit isn’t bullied into a settlement. They can present the elements of their case, or as Kent likes to say, “go after the justice of it.” Forcing a conclusion because of prices is the opposite of a fair outcome and technology empowers people to pursue that.
“It’s that critical piece of our belief that if you don’t have a consulting group that actually understands the law, you’re being left out,” he says.
Built as a beacon
INNOV-8’s approach to client retention is the inverse of its competitors’. INNOV-8 educates fully — and trusts that a more informed client is a more loyal one.
“So many groups are almost teasing information to keep somebody coming back,” Kent says. “They’re afraid that if they train up the clients, they’ll go somewhere else. We think the opposite. The more we can teach them, the more they’ll rely on us and see us as a partner.”
At INNOV-8’s size, that partnership is tangible. With high-stakes litigation you can’t have your matter passed around between people you’ve never met. A generic workflow won’t suffice: you need a team that knows you and understands your needs.
That culture, Kent says, works like a beacon. INNOV-8 actively seeks people who believe they can change the world. Social justice impact work is on the horizon at the company, consistent with that mission.
“We’re a group inspired by the infinite possibilities of data,” he says. “We don’t want to sell a product. We want to educate clients and build partnerships.”
And that approach, he adds, is “scarily unique.”
“You don’t put in a tech ticket with us to have a support team come back to you in a few business days with an answer. You talk to a person — and likely one you know.”
This article was created in partnership with INNOV-8
