The eDiscovery global market ostensibly surpassed the US$10 billion mark in 2015, and is expected to grow at a clip 9.8 per cent compound annual growth rate until 2019 when it is forecast to reach US$14.7 billion, according to market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

The Americas are leading the surge, while Europe and Asia are beginning to see an uptick in demand for eDiscovery services. Europe is expected to comprise nearly 23 per cent of the market while Asia just over seven per cent by 2019, foresees IDC.

The sheer volume of electronically stored information, coupled with increased regulation and litigation, are the driving forces behind the increased growth in eDiscovery, according to Sean Pike, an IDC program director. So too is growing data governance concerns.

But trying to calculate the opaque size of the eDiscovery market amounts to “wild ass guesses,” warned George Socha, of Socha Consulting. Attempting to size up the market based on the overall number of cases and average eDiscovery cost per case is incorrect because no two cases have similar eDiscovery costs, Socha told Bloomberg News. Adding to the murky nature of the market is the fact that many users still demand custom eDiscovery solutions, which in turn leads inaccurate estimated average costs per case, added Socha.

And that’s not taking into account that law firms and corporate law departments are likely to record costs for eDiscovery software differently. A case in point: many software provide both cybersecurity and eDiscovery solutions – and the costs could be recorded under either account. Then there’s the vendors, who often measure and define the eDiscovery process differently, with some companies including paper scanning as eDiscovery while others do not.

“The biggest problem is there’s no transparency into eDiscovery costs in general,” Socha said.