eDiscovery Shouldn’t Be an Afterthought; It Should Be Built In

When eDiscovery is treated like a “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there” task, the bill comes due fast. Legal teams scramble across point tools and data silos, IT burns cycles pulling data from endpoints and SaaS apps, and leadership absorbs the risk of sanctions, reputational damage, and operational disruption. That’s not a one-off headache; it’s a recurring, high-stakes cost of doing business in a world where data volume, variety, and velocity never stop growing.

The hidden tax of “afterthought” eDiscovery

Why does it get so expensive so quickly?

• Data sprawl: Relevant ESI is scattered across laptops, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, archives, and more, often with fragmented access and metadata.
• Manual collection and handoffs: Agent-based or ad-hoc pulls, plus per-source vendor charges.
• Per-GB processing + hosting: Culling, indexing, and dedupe add up, then you keep paying to host it.
• Human review: The biggest line item, driven by too much non-relevant data reaching reviewers.
• Risk multipliers: Missed deadlines or spoliation risks can trigger sanctions and rework.

Example of eDiscovery Costs

Based on typical unit costs across collection, processing, review, hosting, production, and project management, for a case with 10 custodians and ~1 TB collected, the all-in cost can approach $1M using traditional, tool-heavy workflows.

A better pattern: build eDiscovery into how you protect data

A modern approach inverts the model: you don’t stand up parallel eDiscovery infrastructure, you leverage the data that’s already protected.

Druva’s cloud-native eDiscovery is built into the Druva Data Security Cloud, operating at the data collection and preservation stages of EDRM. That means the data you need for cases, audits, and investigations is continuously collected and preserved, forensically admissible, and tamper-proof, without interrupting end users.

How Druva changes the math (and the risk)

• Continuous collection from endpoints + SaaS (M365, Google Workspace): eliminate one-off, reactive collection projects.
• Federated, metadata-rich search: Find relevant files, versions, emails — even deleted items — directly in protected data.
• One-click legal holds + APIs: Instantly preserve custodians’ data, orchestrate holds programmatically, and maintain a defensible chain of custody.
• Targeted collection: Filter by MIME type, file extension, folder, or date window, so only relevant data progresses downstream.
• Silent, forensically admissible operations: No user disruption; no tampering.
• Ecosystem integrations: With Druva’s extensive security integrations, plug into leaders like Exterro and OpenText for end-to-end case management.

The business case: fewer tools, fewer touchpoints, fewer bills

Druva customers commonly see 30–40% lower TCO versus traditional eDiscovery built on separate collection tools and manual workflows. 

Example Cost Savings with Druva eDiscovery

For our example scenario, moving from reactive collection to Druva’s built-in approach reduces the example matter from ~$990K to ~$691K, a ~30% improvement driven by elimination of siloed collection and a leaner downstream data set.

Don’t stop at litigation: strengthen governance upstream

eDiscovery outcomes improve dramatically when sensitive data is proactively governed. Druva’s Sensitive Data Governance adds that “shift-left” layer with:

• A centralized dashboard surfacing non-compliant files and emails (including subjects/attachments) across endpoints and SaaS.
• Prebuilt, customizable templates (HIPAA, GLBA, PCI, and regional variants) with automated scans and alerting.
• Actionable controls like quarantining risky files and initiating legal holds, reducing time and cost associated with eDiscovery requests.

By flagging and containing issues early, legal and security teams head off downstream review volume and reduce the chance that sensitive content ever becomes part of the doc set.

What your team feels day one

• Faster first-pass answers: Immediate, unified search over protected data with no new agents or collections to spin up.
• Defensible by design: Tamper-proof preservation and audit trails reinforce chain of custody.
• Less context switching: One platform for data protection, legal holds, targeted collection, and governance integrated with your review tools.
• Lower, steadier costs: Collection is “already done,” so your matters begin smaller and stay smaller.

The takeaway

eDiscovery becomes expensive and risky when it’s bolted on after the fact. Build it into your data protection strategy instead. With Druva, organizations move from reactive, tool-heavy, per-GB models to a cloud-native, built-in approach that delivers faster responses, 30–40% lower TCO, and a stronger legal posture without disrupting end users.

Read the white paper for a comprehensive look at Druva’s cost-saving capabilities for eDiscovery. Check out the datasheet and learn more about the solution on the website.