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Xerox, which has long wanted to be known as a technology company rather than simply an office copier maker, on April 8 expanded its legal services division by acquiring New York City-based e-discovery specialist Smart Data.
Terms of the deal were not released.
Xerox already had a relationship with five-year-old Smart Data, which provides hosted and on-site legal discovery services using specialized Viewpoint software. Viewpont is an all-in-one e-discovery platform developed by Lateral Data, which was acquired by Xerox in 2012.
Through its Litigation Services division, Xerox already provides managed data review and collection capabilities of enterprise documents. It is filling out its hosted and on-site e-discovery platform with Smart Data.
Smart Data will join Xerox’s current outsourced services that use the OmniX cloud-based review platform, the CategoriX technology-assisted review service, and on-premise e-discovery or managed services with Viewpoint. Customers also can utilize a hybrid approach using all or a few of the above choices.
“We acquired Smart Data because we wanted to bolster the organic growth of our managed services,” Manoj Sharma, executive managing director of Xerox Litigation Services, told eWEEK. “We’ve been doing managed services for the better part of a decade. It also is easier for our customers to work with one provider rather than two or more [vendors]. Plus [our legal customers] now have the full backing and reputation of Xerox.
“We’re blending key capabilities with market demand with this acquisition. Smart Data’s depth of expertise and customer-focused team will be a valuable addition both to Xerox and for our clients choosing to use Viewpoint to manage their e-discovery projects.”
Viewpoint enables corporate legal departments and law firms to manage the entire e-discovery lifecycle using a single product. By using one product instead of many to manage e-discovery tasks, including collection, processing, early case assessment, analytics, assisted review, review and production, the e-discovery process is more efficient and cost-effective, and reduces risk.
All the Smart Data functionality is integrated and does not require third-party software or plug-ins. Viewpoint also offers advanced capabilities for filtering and processing data that is up to five times faster than other e-discovery software.
Smart Data is used by Fortune 500 corporations, mid-market companies and some large law and boutique litigation firms. Smart Data’s management team and employees will continue to deploy, support and deliver Viewpoint managed services as part of Xerox Litigation Services, Xerox said.