An article appearing on Corporate Counsel’s website this week caught my attention. Titled Disconnect Between Legal and IT Getting Worse, Survey Finds, the author Thomas Huddleston Jr. comments on research recently released by Recommind. The survey indicates a growing rift between in-house legal and the IT department in large corporations…specifically as it applies to eDiscovery.

The survey of corporate IT personnel indicated that only 26% considered eDiscovery a high priority, while 43% of the same respondents believe eDiscovery is a high priority for the legal department. But when it comes to buying authority, 78% of the respondents indicated IT was significantly involved in their organization’s eDiscovery purchase decisions, while just 32% of the respondents answered that the legal department was significantly involved. Only 28% of the organizations responding have a litigation support manager, and nearly 23% of the respondents report that IT and legal departments never meet to discuss eDiscovery.

In this year’s survey the percentage of respondents describing the relationship between IT and legal as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ has dropped from 67% to 54%. As I thought about this phenomenon, it occurred to me that the economy and staffing reductions may be at the heart of this issue. Corporate America has not been immune to cost-cutting efforts. Everyone is being asked to do more with less. Is it possible that in the process these important relationships are suffering? Going forward, how will this growing disconnect impact the ability of IT and legal to effectively and efficiently do their work? And, how does it affect the companies that provide technology products and services?

Increasingly, the Corporate market has emerged as the target of many eDiscovery vendors. It’s almost impossible to find an eDiscovery company that isn’t targeting corporate customers. Understanding the psychographics of the decision making and influencing process is critical not only to sales teams but to those developing strategic plans and budgets.