pr case study: dsi - the bradford group · these were used as handouts at events, as sales tools...

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PR case study: DSi

Earning an eDiscovery company its spot on the national stage by developing strategic media relations and establishing thought leadership

SITUATION

DSi began as a litigation support services company that provided imaging/photocopying services. Two years after the company was founded, it expanded to provide eDiscovery and digital forensics services to law firms – and eventually to corporations. Soon after this, company leadership decided that DSi was ready for growth and to be known as a major player in the eDiscovery industry nationally – and they hired the Bradford Group to help them realize these goals.

http://bradfordgroup.com

615.515.4888 • bradfordgroup.com 2

ACTIONS

We began by raising awareness of the company by generating publicity in business and trade publications, as well as identifying and nominating DSi for regional business awards that we believed the company could win. Our early local success provided the credibility needed to gain the company attention in other circles – including larger business publications, like Entrepreneur and Inc., while continuing to place stories in key trade publications, like Legaltech News.

Because a key piece of our strategy was establishing DSi executives as thought leaders, we shifted our focus from talking primarily about the company, its founders and offerings, to sharing company leaders’ insights into industry trends, technological advances and legal developments. To further position DSi as a true industry leader, the Bradford Group developed case studies and white papers to provide in-depth information on DSi’s knowledge, services and successes. These were used as handouts at events, as sales tools for DSi’s eDiscovery consultants and as content on the company's website.

Building on this successful national awareness and positioning campaign, we facilitated and managed continuing legal education (CLE) seminars in several cities that DSi co-hosted with a vendor. These seminars put DSi’s face in front of the right people in markets where it had team members or planned to expand.

DSi quickly saw the benefit of working with a full-service marketing and PR agency, transferring its in-house marketing work to us. We began taking on more tasks such as website copy, graphic design and the research, writing and design of DSi’s proposals. Working side-by-side with members from all departments of DSi’s team on a daily basis, we acted as another department of the company.

The next step was to add social media and inbound marketing to DSi’s marketing mix . We began building a following for DSi on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and we used Hubspot, and later Pardot, to capture inbound sales leads by creating landing pages, forms, calls to action and emails.

•

877-797-4771 • DSicovery.com

© 2011 DSi

eDiscovery Case Study

Merger and Acquisition

A Fortune 500 company was involved in a major merger/acquisition, requiring two separate phases encompassing collection, review and production of pertinent electronically stored information (ESI).

PHASE 1

DSi had a two-week timeframe to load, filter and produce pertinent emails from 26 different custodians. The client’s IT department was able to do all the email collection. DSi received the collected data on a Monday and had it loaded and ready for review the next day. After de-duplication, 485,517 documents remained (approximately 100 GB of data). DSi’s team of eDiscovery experts used proven search methods to cull the data down to only 106 pertinent documents, a 99% data reduction. Including time for attorney review and paper production, the Department of Justice’s deadline was met without a hitch.

Phase 1 Data Reduction

“Youguysareourheroes!”

September 9, 2011

Having the right information management policy in place can give your employees the power

to stop hoarding massive amounts of data and delete away. An information management, or IM, policy lays out what kind of data should be kept and what kind should be deleted, and establishes a sound, objective method to apply to company data. So, why should you have an information management policy? • To reduce IT costs. The purpose of an IM policy is to reduce the amount of data kept in the system, which can cut the cost of electronic storage, or at least, a reduction in the rate at which those costs are rising. • To reduce risk. If your company is sued, having an IM policy in place can help you withstand a claim that you deliberately destroyed data. • To reduce e-discovery costs. E-discovery is the use of sophisticated software running on powerful servers to search electronic documents for evidence during the discovery phase of a lawsuit. If there is less data to search, the cost of e-discovery should be lower. • To increase productivity. By forcing employees to categorize data, an IM policy leads to better organized data on the front end, reducing the lost productivity that results from searching for data in a disorganized system. Knowing these benefits, you can move forward to design and implement

a company-wide information management policy. These following steps provide a basic guide for getting started: • Take inventory. To establish a baseline, find out how much disk space is being used to back up and archive data, how many backup tapes are stored off-site, how much data each tape contains and how many paper files are stored on- and off-site. Once you’ve accounted for how much data your company has, take a sample of the data to get a rough idea of how much

qualifies for transfer and how much can be deleted. • Identify the types of records that must be retained. In general, records that should be retained fall within one of these four categories:

• Marketing plans and materials• Customer service records• Purchasing records• Financial records

• Institute a strict email retention policy. Create a policy that automatically deletes any email not moved to a folder within a certain time frame (90 days is a good starting point)—no exceptions. • Kick off and sustain your program with records retention week and periodic audits. Give each department a deadline for cleaning up their records, which culminates into a “Records Retention Week,” during which everyone goes through all data under their control — both electronic and paper files — and decides what to keep, archive and trash. • Prevent unauthorized data removal or archiving. An IM policy would be meaningless if data can be removed from the audit process, which is why companies wanting a strong IM policy should require that all data be saved on the company’s servers, not on individual desktop computers.

Tom Turner is president and founding partner of Document Solutions, Inc. He can be reached at [email protected].

Spotlight: TECH INNOVATORS

615.255.5343 • dsi.co

Getting a handle on your data

GUEST COLUMNISTTOM TURNER

Continuing legal education (CLE) seminars

Media coverage

White papers and case studies

NOVEMBER, 2010

Austin Maddox

615.255.5343 • document-solutions.biz

continued next page

Austin Maddox is a litigation technology consultant with Documents Solutions, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Effective e-Discovery on a Small-Firm BudgetBy Austin Maddox

Today, any firm that handles litigation must be prepared to analyze electronic data in the discovery process. But cost concerns keep many small firms away from cases that involve e-discovery—or lead them to accept less-than-satisfactory compromises.

In the past, small firms have partnered with larger firms that have the appropriate e-discovery resources, and have thereby sacrificed revenue or even some control over their case. Small firms have also attempted to do e-discovery themselves, but this can lead to data spoliation when electronic data is unintentionally mishandled.

But today there are tools that allow small firms to handle big e-discovery cases without purchasing expensive software.

Software as a Service Many firms do not manage enough e-discovery-intensive cases to make an investment in e-discovery tools cost-efficient. But if a case comes in that involves a large amount of data, having access to the proper e-discovery tools is critical.

One solution is Software as a Service (SaaS), also known as “cloud computing,” which gives a firm access, via a secured Internet connection, to sophisticated e-discovery software and a secure data facility without the firm having to purchase those applications or equipment.

SaaS is especially beneficial for small firms because it lowers costs and meets security requirements, such as encryption and data backup, when handling e-discovery. To use SaaS, a law firm pays a fee to the e-discovery vendor and receives all the same functionality and support services as if the software were on the firm’s own computers. This allows law firms of any size to play on a level playing field, regardless of the volume of data or the length of the time the e-discovery tools are needed.

Some of the many capabilities of SaaS include access to robust databases that allow the firm to determine levels of access rights, dynamically search data by keywords and/or concepts, and make notes on the documents, which is especially beneficial for legal review. SaaS allows even small firms to analyze documents just as larger firms with more resources can.

Yet unlike a large firm, which could easily spend $100,000 to $250,000 or more on e-discovery software systems, storage capacity, and the stable server environment necessary for effectively handling e-discovery in-house, in addition to at least one full-time litigation support specialist overseeing the system, SaaS can provide the same capabilities for a small fraction of the cost.

DSicovery.com | 877-797-4771

[email protected]

JUN/JUL 2014

Metadata can be valuable information for a court case, but it goes beyond standard electronic discovery data collection. If

you’re faced with a legal situation that involves metadata, you will need to know what it is, how it is collected and how to use it in litigation.

Metadata, by definition, is data about data. For computers and digital data, there are two main types of metadata. File metadata is stored within the file and includes properties that are visible to the common user. Typical metadata properties in a file include who created the document, when it was last printed and more. Most people understand this metadata as well as they understand the to, from and subject lines in an email program.

The second type of metadata is system metadata, which is stored with the content of the file. Think of a computer like a library. You can get information about a book on the physical book, but there is additional data in the card catalog. No matter how closely you look in the book, there will always be some information about it that cannot be found until you go to the card catalog. The card catalog is like system metadata, which includes time stamps associated with data, such as the date modified, accessed, created and entered (MACE). Similar to the book in the library, if you simply open a file, you will not know when it got to that computer or when it was moved to a certain folder, but those user actions can be determined with metadata.

Metadata is typically black and white and does not require a lot of interpretation. While all

systems have similar types of information stored as metadata, Macs, PCs and Linux units do have different metadata structures.

It is critical to have a digital forensics expert handle metadata collection and analysis. Forensics analysts always validate the time of the system, which is necessary to prove the metadata is accurate. They also understand the nuances of different systems. For example, in Windows 7, the creation date could mean the original file, this

How Metadata Can Affect a CaseBy Tom Turner

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE



With inbound marketing, we leveraged the content we were creating on a regular basis – such as white papers and case studies – to increase traffic to DSi’s website. We captured information about the site’s visitors and used what we learned about prospects’ values and pain points to refine our efforts, and we passed this business intelligence on to the sales team. We began promoting white papers and case studies via email blasts and automated email workflows, further strengthening DSi’s position as an industry leader. To supplement our inbound marketing efforts, maximize keyword integration and enhance SEO, we began blogging weekly for DSi.

And, when we learned the largest and most popular national conference in the eDiscovery industry – ILTA – was coming to Nashville the same year that DSi would celebrate its 15th anniversary, we suggested DSi hold a party that attendees wouldn’t forget. We helped plan and throw an incredible event at the home of country music star John Rich, literally putting DSi on the national stage. We worked with John Rich to create a video invitation, generating serious buzz as the invitations started going out to customers, prospects and influencers in the eDiscovery industry. It was an expensive party, but DSi leadership said it was worth every penny and more in terms of new business generated.

As DSi grew, executive management started focusing strongly on company culture, coining the company tagline “eDiscovery About People.” DSi leadership knew if they created a workplace where employees felt encouraged, supported, motivated and happy, the employees would be more productive and engaged in their work, therefore producing a better work product for clients. Recognizing the value of this defined company focus, we ensured that this key messaging was appropriately included in the content we created – from website copy to blog posts to social media. We also secured significant media coverage highlighting the importance of a strong company culture.

Further, we created an ebook showcasing DSi’s dedication to its culture and people. This comprehensive ebook contains everything from the benefits of a strong company culture to a breakdown of DSi’s culture initiatives. This exclusive content,

Landing pages, inbound marketing and blogs


[email protected]

OCTOBER 2013


[email protected]

It’s astounding how fast 2014 is flying by! It seems just minutes ago that we

were gathering in the snow for Lega!Tech New York, and now, we’re already home from the International LegalTechnology Association’s August meeting and planning for ARMA and ACC and EDI and Georgetown, and the other acronyms of our busy legal lives!

Kudos to the ILTA team. The universal response to the 2014 conference was that it was, hands down, the best one ever. And we’re not just talking about the parties—but speaking of parties, the 2014 best party prize absolutely goes to Catalyst Repository Systems and DSi (née Document Solutions Inc.).They cohosted an amazing event at the home of country singer John Rich.

A lot of folks have an ILTA rule—don’t go off-site for a party, because they don’t want to get trapped into a very long evening. But the organizers were savvy: shuttle buses ran every 15 minutes which made it a lot easier to commit to the event.

But this party was so good, hardly anyone split early. Rich’s home, in the hills with a stunning view of downtown Nashville, was designed both as a family residence and a performance space that can accommodate 200. That may sound like a lot of people but it was a surprisingly intimate environment.

Rich was charming and gave a rousing, fun music set that engaged everybody in the room. A highlight: John Tredennick, top dog at Catalyst, got to play drums with the band for a song. (He’s really good, too!)

Congratulations to both companies and their crews for a fabulous evening.

Check out this video: http://at.law.com/LTN1410m.

And that was just one of the parties at ILTA on the traditional Wednesday Vendor Night! Reports had it that severalother parties were top-notch as well, and that many attendees enjoyed post-party Nashville music long into the night.

Meanwhile, the days at the five-day conference were crammed full of education—panels, keynotes, product demos, networking and more.

In this issue, we bring you some of the highlights. Sean Doherty,our technology edi tor, and staff reporter Mark Gerlach worked tirelessly at the show, as you can see from their prolific coverage in this issue.

Of special interest are two articles addressing PACER issues. David Perla, the new president of Bloomberg Law, offers a provocative Vendor Voice essay suggesting that the private sector needs to stop whining about PACER and take it upon themselves to create technology that will help lawyers and the public capitalize on court data.

Meanwhile, Sean Doherty explores sev eral products that enhance the government’s courtroom tool, in his “Hash Key” column. And don’t miss his “Test Drive” assessment of Recommind’s Axcelerate upgrade.

I have to confess, I love TED Talks, and we used that format as a model for the “Stealth Disruption” panel, where five panelists got seven minutes to share how they flew under the radar to make changes at their organiza tion. Check out “Paradigm Shift” on page 58 for Joe Ulster’s insights.

Also in this issue is one of my all-time

favorite articles: Paul McVoy’s oh-so-true “A Buyer’s Guide” for vendors. He shares five ways that salespeople can completely alien ate law firm decisionmakers.It’s candid and fabulous advice for new and seasoned pro fessionals alike!

Of course, Big Data is front. center, backwards and forwards these days, so if you are concerned about privacy besure to read Benjamin Pring’s assessment of Internet Code Halos.

As always, LTN appreciates your input, ideas and even complaints! Don’t hesitate to email us with your feedback. Are there topics you would like us to explore? Are there areas that are overcooked? LTN is for you, so please drop me a note at [email protected]. And we are always looking for writers, so ping me.

Finally, Iwant to dedicate this issue of Law Technology News to Browning Marean. He was warm, gracious. generous and a true ambassador.We will miss him, he left us far too soon.

Continually,

Monica Bay [email protected]

NASHVILLE CATS

OCTOBER 2014


[email protected]

Being an entrepreneur means never having to be corporate. But growing companies can be susceptible to changes in their environment. How do you retain a startup culture as you continue to grow? We asked members of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization to share their experiences and insights regarding this topic.

Ensure the team comes first.“We celebrate our wins with champagne and cheeses, huddle up every Monday morning to discuss the previous week’s work, and go on annual team-building retreats, among other things. A big part of sustaining our culture is hiring people on the basis of our core values, and having leaders who emulate these values and beliefs--namely, have fun and enjoy the work. That’s where it all starts.”

Mark Shipley, EO AlbanyPresident and chief strategic officer, Smith & Jones

Start the day with action.“Our firm has an action-packed learning, recognition, and issue-driven 25-minute meeting every morning. We start the morning with a music video of one team member’s choice, and usually end it with a funny saying or video. We have found this meeting to be a big culture builder, because everyone

How to Act Like a Startup, Even When You’re Not BY EO

Just because you’ve grown into a big company doesn’t mean you have to let go of your roots

Apriil 11, 2014

ILTA party with John Rich

Media coverage



which shows how DSi differentiates itself via its focus on helping employees grow, has proven helpful in recruiting employees and selling new clients.

We also began nominating DSi for national business awards, which resulted in DSi winning Inc. magazine’s Best Workplaces Awards, which recognizes the top 50 places to work for in the country.

DSi’s national footprint grew tremendously, and they are now truly the leading eDiscovery firm they had wanted to be. They regularly secure major national clients and Fortune 100 companies, speak at national industry events and are featured in top publications.

70%website growth

over two years

147%increase in social

media interactions over one year

24%increase in blog views

over one year

52%increase in social

media clicksover one year

11%increase in

emails openedover one year

5+ stories per monthin local and national news media – generating millions of impressions

41%increase in social media followers

over one year

10%increase in email clicks

over one year

RESULTS




[email protected]

Tom Turner, an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) member from Nashville, is the co-founder and steward

of purpose of DSi, one of the nation’s leading providers of advanced electronic discovery and digital

forensics services. We asked Tom how company culture can help businesses generate new clients.

Here’s what he had to say:

In 1998, Enron executives wanted to entice investors with their newly created commodity trading

center, Enron Energy Services (EES). They played host to a group of Wall Street analysts who

How to Use Your Company Culture to Generate New Clients A positive and energetic culture around the office is not something you can, or should, fake.BY ENTREPRENEURS’ ORGANIZATION Tom Turner @EntrepreneurOrg

January 26, 2016

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MEDIA COVERAGE SAMPLE


[email protected]

Andrew Ostrovsky

Rob Lekowski, Legaltech News

September 1, 2015

2 Generations of TAR: What They Are and When to Use ThemTAR (in this context) is a process for prioritizing a collection of documents so the relevant ones rise to the top, thereby reducing time wasted reviewing non-responsive material.

July marked the 30th anniversary for

Legaltech West. Attorneys and in-house

counsel gathered to hear technology

assisted review (TAR) pioneers – John

Tredennick, Maura Grossman, Gordon

Cormack and Emi Ohira – lead a session

titled, “Taking TAR to the Next Level:

Recent Research and the Promise of

Continuous Active Learning.”

TAR (in this context) is a process for prioritizing a collection of documents so the relevant

ones rise to the top, thereby reducing time wasted reviewing non-responsive material.

Using a computerized system that harnesses human judgments on a smaller set of

documents, the technology extrapolates those judgments to the remaining document

collection.

The speakers discussed three TAR methods: continuous active learning (CAL), simple

passive learning (SPL) and simple active learning (SAL). It can be difficult to keep these

straight, but that doesn’t mean that some review processes aren’t better than others. I

continued next page

PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF ILTA52

The sophistication of mobile technology and the types of data stored on

mobile devices continue to evolve, raising

new issues in the e-discovery process.

Mobile devices now store email and

text messages and house social media,

pictures and videos. Much of these

data are new to the litigation field, and

understanding how to manage and process

them is of paramount importance for

attorneys.

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATIONMobile devices continuously collect

personal information. We know our phones

store things like images and messages, but

what about less obvious information, like

geographic information? Outside of typical

GPS uses, cell towers record the location of

every call, a phone’s camera automatically

geotags photos, Wi-Fi networks record

when and where you log on, and more.

Many downloaded applications —

including chat apps, games and exercise

monitoring apps — store geographic

information automatically. Social media apps

constantly record location data, too. One

can even allow a mapping application to

remember their home and work locations.

There are also services, like Google

Now for Android, that identify and track

the physical location of a phone. All an

investigator would have to do to retrieve

the location information is access the

user’s Google account — and that can be

done with or without the actual device.

Geotagging for an application can generally

be turned off in a phone’s settings, but

many people aren’t even aware these data

are being captured.

For attorneys working on a case

involving mobile phones, this wealth of

geographic data can be an advantage. For

example, if you need to prove someone

was in a location at a specific time, digital

forensics experts can examine the phone

and plot its movements — possibly even

linking photos to the locations and time

taken — providing attorneys with detailed

information and ammunition for their

cases.

ALTERED AND DELETED DATANearly everyone owns and carries a phone

or tablet these days. When a crime is

committed, it’s likely that a mobile device

can provide some form of evidence, such

as a cellphone geotagging a location. At

the same time, with mobile technology on

the rise, the average person is becoming

FEATURES

peer to peer MAGAZINE


[email protected]

July 2, 2014

In the bad old days before e-discovery, when lawyers had to read through thousands of pages of paper, distribution lists and phone logs determined who was in the loop and who was unaware of issues material to a case. In the same way that e-discovery allows attorneys to find that needle-in-a-haystack document, the use of forensic analysis of the metadata associated with those documents can show who put the needle there, when it was placed and who knew ahead of time.

And while a certain amount of metadata and its uses are well known to lawyers, such as using creation dates to filter document discovery

requests, there is much more to metadata than what you can find by looking at the “properties” tab in Microsoft Office.

The evolution from paper review to e-discovery and electronic review has led to the availability of a broader spectrum of information in the metadata. Forensic analysis is being employed to establish relationships between the data and users that can help to identify ownership and intent.

In a recent case, a health-care company acquired another health-care company to form a new company we’ll call HealthCorpA.

3 Rules for Using Metadata in Litigation

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

FROM THE EXPERTS

John Burchfield, Corporate Counsel


[email protected]

Legaltech NewsOctober 27, 2015

INFOGRAPHIC: What You Need to Know About E-Discovery PricingOne of the biggest challenges for law firms and organizations is the lack of consistent e-discovery pricing language.

By 2020, the digital universe is expected to reach 40 zetabytes, or the equivalent of enough data to fill more than half trillion 32GB tablets. In the world of e-discovery, more data equals more costs. One of the biggest challenges for law firms and organizations is the lack of consistent pricing language.

Specifically, there is often difficulty comparing prices across vendors—each presents and bundle its services differently, making it almost impossible to compare apples to apples. However, two e-discovery pricing models have emerged: line item pricing and total cost pricing. Understanding the options is key to selecting the best choice for your next case.

DSi, which provides litigation support services, e-discovery and digital forensics, recently created an infographic that breaks down both pricing options and provides a list of questions to ask your e-discovery vendor.

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DSi University offers a way to introduce new people to the company’s corporate culture and offer established employees a way to continue connectingwith the company and its goals.

CONNECTING WITH COMPANY GOALS

DSI UNIVERSITYSUPPORTS STRONGCORPORATE CULTURE

For businessowners, itcan be adelicatebalancingact: main-taining thecohesiveculture and

teamwork of a smallbusiness when you’reno longer small. Specifi-cally, how do you growrapidly — say 35 per-cent to 40 percent everyyear, as our companyhas — and still maintaina company culture inwhich communicationis vibrant and everyoneshares in the companyvision and understandseach person’s role inattaining that vision?

We’ve found that youstart by listening toyour employees’ needs.Then you figure outhow to meet thoseneeds in the context ofyour growing compa-ny’s long-term goals.

When we listened topeople at our fast-mov-ing tech company, onething we learned is thatthey weren’t alwaysaware of what theircolleagues were ac-complishing in otherdepartments. To meetthis need, we instigateda companywide focuson interdepartmentalcommunication, and theresult is an innovative,online program thatuses interactivecourses, videos and fun

quizzes to educate ourteam members.

It’s called DSi Uni-versity. More than atraining tool, it’s a wayto introduce new peopleto our corporate cultureand offer establishedemployees a way tocontinue connectingwith the company andour goals. Built withsoftware that is expand-able and upgradable asnew technologies andtools come online, ourprogram includes videomessages from theexecutive team aboutthe company, devel-opments in the industryand information abouteach department andour companywide cul-ture-building activities— and more.

Curious about whatanother departmentdoes? You can watchvideos that show you.Want to know about ourcompany history andfuture goals? You canhear it directly fromour leaders. Interestedin our corporate cul-ture? You can see all thethings we’re doing andsign up to get involved.Are you a new hire?You can spend yourfirst day on the joblearning about DSi andyour fellow team mem-bers through DSi Uni-versity. Thinking abouttransferring or movingup? You can take quiz-zes to test your aptitude

workforce that is bettertrained, more informedand highly in tune to thebig-picture goals of thecompany.

The road map for thefuture of DSi Univer-sity includes the poten-tial of allowing clientsto log in in order to findanswers to commonquestions, watch em-ployee-created videosabout how the companyworks and learn aboutour various platformofferings. Such a client-inclusive version wouldnot only be convenientfor our clients, it wouldgive our project man-agers more time towork on our clients’behalf.

Through initiativeslike these that promoteour corporate culture,we are able to encour-age our people to belifelong learners — tocontinually discovernew things — whetherthat’s an innovativeapproach to TechnologyAssisted Review or thefirst steps in learningcomputer forensics. Wewant our focus to be onthe people behind thetechnology.

By listening to ouremployees and un-derstanding theirneeds, we have deviseda means to lower turn-over rates, increaseproductivity and createhappier people. Thethings our team mem-

bers learn from DSiUniversity makes themmore efficient andopens up new opportu-nities for advancementas we evaluate theirtalents and skills. Itprovides a method forcommunicating newquarterly goals andrewards and remindspeople to keep theireyes on the bigger pic-ture.

The balancing act iseasier to maintain wheneveryone is workingtoward the same goaland has a clear pictureof what that goal is. Thecompany can’t help butmove forward as ourpeople get better andbetter at their jobs andbecome more fulfilledin their personal lives.

This is a highly com-petitive industry, andour employees are ourcompetitive edge.We’ve found that ourcultural initiatives andother efforts to help ouremployees achievetheir personal goals aremore than worth theeffort and allow us toachieve our growthtargets without sacri-ficing culture.

Tom Turner is co-founder andpresident of DSi, a Nashville-based litigation supportservices company that pro-vides advanced eDiscoveryand digital forensics services.

TomTurnerfor The Tennessean

for and knowledgeabout different areas inthe company. Managersget reports on partici-pation and results,which in turn givesthem a way to open up adialogue about newopportunities for ad-vancement and greaterfulfillment.

DSi University alsoincorporates broaderphilosophies that are apart of DSi’s culture,such as the “Rockefel-ler Habits” developedby business guru VerneHarnish. To followthese “habits,” we meetquarterly to agree oncompany and personalgoals, as well as once ayear to choose annualgoals. We also use soft-ware and visual themesto track progress andparticipation. The re-sult is that each em-ployee has a stake inhelping the companymeet these goals, andevery person has aclear understanding ofwhat can be done on anindividual level to helpachieve them.

By establishing acompany culture thatvalues people, we en-sure our employees arehappy and fulfilled.That means a loyal

2D TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 business

A Nashville-based develop-ment entity has bought 3.06acres on Highway 70 South inBellevue for $1 million withplans to build 42 townhomes.

Construction should startwithin a month on the $8 mil-lion project, said Victor Bisha-ra, spokesman for the buyingentity, 7301 Highway 70 LLC.

The former church proper-ty is a mile from the largelyempty Bellevue Center Mallsite, which separate develop-ers plan to redevelop into amixed-use project.

Bishara said the startertownhomes will include 1,400-square-foot, two-bedroomunits for around $199,000 and1,700-square-foot, three-bed-room units for around$225,000.

“There’s a demand for town-homes in Bellevue in the$200,000 price range,” he said.“There’s hardly anything avail-able.”

The property is alreadyzoned for 60 units, Bisharasaid. The seller was 7301 High-way 70 South LLC, whose presi-dent is William R. Hostettler.

In a separate transaction, anentity in which Hostettler is amember has sold 91 rentaltownhomes at Lincoya BayTownhomes near J. PercyPriest Lake in Donelson for$13.16 million. The buyer is anaffiliate of Maleno Develop-ment, an Erie, Pa.,-based fam-ily-owned real estate firm.

The deal is the first in Nash-ville for Maleno, which ownsand manages apartment build-ings but also builds homes andmanages other properties.

“We’re continuing the oper-ations as is,” said James Wash-burn, the firm’s controller,about its plans for the 91 town-homes on Lincoya Creek Drive.

That deal didn’t include thenine owned units at LincoyaBay Townhomes.

Reach Getahn Ward at 615-726-5968and on Twitter @getahn.

Developer plans Bellevue townhome projectBy Getahn [email protected]

SUBMITTED

This rendering shows the townhomes planned for a site at 7301 Highway 70 S. in Bellevue.

The Budweiser puppy didwhat the Seattle Seahawkscould not — it won back-to-back Super Bowls.

For the 27th consecutiveyear, USA Today’s Ad Meter’sconsumer panel of 6,703 vot-ers rated the Super Bowl ads—61commercials that cost ad-vertisers up to a record$4.5 million per 30-seconds ofairtime.

Finishing second was astereotype-bashing spot for anunlikely Super Bowl advertis-er, the Always feminine prod-ucts brand from P&G. It aimedto make viewers rethink whatit means to act “like a girl.”

Third was a humorous FiatChrysler commercial about anamorous, elderly Italian manwho loses his iconic, blue Viag-ra-like pill at just the wrongmoment.

Puppy steals showIn the Budweiser “Lost

Dog” ad, a puppy gets lost, butmakes it back home after be-ing saved from a wolf by hispals, the Budweiser Clydes-dales.

Yes, it was a sequel to the“Puppy Love” commercialthat won last year’s Ad Meterand Bud used the same strate-gy to build buzz. “If it ain’tbroke, don’t fix it,” said BrianPerkins, vice president at Bud-weiser. He said the companyagain released teaser contentweeks in advance and then un-veiled the ad itself lastWednesday.

It was a heart-tugger, saysAd Meter panelist Kelly Von-Drehle. “I have my own littledog, and seeing the Clydes-dales save that sweet, preciouslittle angel brought a slighttear to my eye,” said VonDreh-le, 30, who works in marketingcommunications at TexasA&M University in CollegeStation.

Ads embracetouchy-feely side

Many of the spots were thecommercial equivalent of ahug. McDonald’s literallyshowed hugs in its ad promis-ing free food to random cus-tomers who bestow acts ofkindness. Coca-Cola showedhow snarkiness and hate onthe Internet turns positive andhappy thanks to a bottle ofCoke.

It also was the NostalgiaBowl. There was Snickers pay-ing homage to “The BradyBunch.” There was Bud Lightliterally bringing Pac Man tolife. And BMW brought backthe early days of the Internetwith help of Katie Couric andBryant Gumbel.

These advertisers appar-ently saw that the times noware right for optimism, fun,even silliness.

But not sex. Arguably,there wasn’t a national ad tooracy for kids’ eyes.

In fact, several of the spotswere downright inspirational.Toyota lauded paralympicsnowboarder Amy Purdy withan uplifting speech by a youngMuhammad Ali. The voice ofJohn F. Kennedy talks of hu-manity’s connection to the seain a stylistic spot for Carnivalcruises.

Lost puppySuper Bowl adnamed tops By Bruce HorovitzUSA Today


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BLUETOOTH: JUST HOW SECURE IS IT?by: Rob Lekowski May 23, 2016

Most of us connect to something via Bluetooth every day, whether it’s our HVAC systems, TVs, smartphones, fitness trackers or even our cars. By 2017, the average consumer will own at least five connected devices, according to Cisco’s 2013 Visual Networking Index, so it’s important to take a look at the security issues associated with Bluetooth now before it’s too late.

When it comes to wireless communication, we have to be careful about what we’re transmitting and who can receive it. Chances are, your devices are more discoverable than you think.

Have you ever noticed when you’re at a coffee shop or in a crowded area and you go to connect your wireless mouse to your laptop, you see a list of other, unfamiliar

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Working with remote teams can present challenges with communication and building company culture. We asked several members of the Boston and Nashville chapters of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) to share tips and tricks on how they overcome these hurdles. Here’s what they told us:

Be Sensitive

“Try to be sensitive to time zones. People in Asia don’t mind joining your 9:00 a.m. ET call when it’s 7:00

p.m. there, but if you make the effort to start at 7:30 or 8:00 a.m., they will probably be more productive

(and happier) at the end of their long day. Also, understanding accents can be challenging, as well, if

a call has participants from all over the world. Speaking slowly, being patient and explaining yourself

again when needed tend to be effective strategies on these calls.”

Luis I. Cortes, EO Boston

Head of Partner Marketing, Red Hat JBoss Middleware

How to Overcome the Daily Challenges of Working in a Remote TeamWorking within a remote team is a unique way to build your company from the ground up.BY ENTREPRENEURS’ ORGANIZATION @EntrepreneurOrg

February 1, 2016

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An information management policy clearly lays out what kind of data should be kept, what kind should be deleted and establishes a sound, objective method to apply to company-wide data. So, how do you get started? The following steps can provide a basic guide for

setting up your information management policy.

1. Take Inventory. To establish a baseline, find out how much disk space is being used to back up and archive data, how many backup tapes are stored off-site, how much data each tape contains and how many paper files are stored on- and off-site. Once you’ve accounted for the amount of data your company has, take a sample of the files to get a rough idea of how much qualifies for transfer to a Safe Harbor folder—the area to keep electronic documents that meet the company’s criteria for retention—and how much can be deleted.

2. Identify the types of records that must be retained. This will vary by industry, so you will need to determine what rules apply to your company. In general, however, records that should be retained fall within one of these four categories:

• Marketing plans and materials • Customer service records • Purchasing records • Financial records

Another method for determining retention criteria is to convene a committee of people throughout the organization. The criteria decided by this committee are then subject to final review by company

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The 7 Steps to Building an Information Management Policy

April 16, 2013

What solutions will give the best performance for

an enterprise-wide document management

strategy?

Enlightening producers of transactional/customer

communication documents

DOCUMENT Strategy Forum 2013

InsIde:

fitting the document management puzzle together

2013 Media

Kit

DOCUMENTmedia.com 2013 Media Kit

by Tom Turner, DSi


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Online data explosionOnline data explosionbrings new forensic

collection techniques

Evidence Technology Magazine • March-April 2013www.EvidenceMagazine.com

6

Written by Gary Torgersen

SOCIAL MEDIA and webmailare so popular and so easy tonavigate today that even your

grandmother could use it. And if sheis like billions of other people in theworld, she already has a social net-work profile (2.4 billion) or an emailaccount (3.1 billion).

With almost everyone—from smallchildren to great-grandparents—usingsome form of social media or emailon a daily basis, online data is grow-ing at an exponential rate, and thishas clearly affected the electronic dis-covery (eDiscovery) and digitalforensics process.

Take a look at the statistics on thefacing page. It only makes sense thatsome of this online information couldbe essential to a lawsuit or an investi-gation.

The Evolution of eDiscovery While the young industry ofeDiscovery and digital forensics has

brings new forensiccollection techniques

These days, it seemseveryone is online.

The ability to gather datafrom the myriadonline sources

is increasingly criticalfor investigators.

Online data explosionbrings new forensic

collection techniques

www.DFInews.com FALL 201412

When it comes to metadata as part of a litigation strategy, we mostly see it used as supporting information about the data. It is unusual, but not unheard of, to see metadata used directly as evidence. When the data is black and white, you don’t need to depend on metadata to make your case.

That is likely to change as more people understand the role metadata can have in developing legal strategy. With proper forensic analysis, metadata can help highlight patterns, establish timelines, and point to gaps in the data. Most importantly, metadata can connect data to a particular user, opening the door to proving knowledge and intent.

For example, let’s say you have an employee, “Phil,” who supervises five other workers. One of the workers, “Sue,” files a claim for prejudice. Metadata can show if Phil accessed or revised Sue’s files more often than her colleagues’. While this by itself doesn’t prove bias, it can help establish a pattern of behavior that can support bias.

Having a list of metadata in context can point to patterns of fact-specific activities among individuals. A forensic specialist will have the experience to do the common sense things that otherwise might be overlooked, such as validating the time stamp on the systems. He or she will usually submit one of two types of reports: a factual report cataloging the data in context or an opinion-based report, which requires the expert to form an opinion of the case based on the evidence. In rare cases, the expert may be required to testify.

If Phil claims not to have seen a particular file before a certain date, metadata can corroborate or disprove that claim by showing when Phil first accessed the file or when that file first appeared on Phil’s computer. That is the goal of forensic examination of metadata: associating the data with other pieces of information—a user who accessed it, a file directory where it was stored, the last time it was copied, etc.—all of which can be vital to a case.

Metadata can produce circumstantial evidence to support a case. You can look at how files were accessed, in what order, and by whom. For example, metadata could show that “Franklin” accessed a computer from 9 to 9:20 a.m. It also could show that a flash drive was connected to Franklin’s computer at 9:12 a.m. Finally, it could show that certain files were accessed from an external device between 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Logically, we would suspect that those files were copied to the flash drive by Franklin.

Just about any action you take with a file changes some aspect of its metadata. Typical e-Discovery filtering strategies such as deduplication and date filtering would be more effective with a better understanding of how metadata affects these actions.

Think of a computer system as a library. The file system, the structure that allows for the identification and location of files, is the card catalog. The catalog potentially contains metadata not available in the book, such as who checked out the book, when they

With proper forensic analysis, metadata can help highlight patterns, establish timelines, and point to gaps in the data.

Andy Spore

Using Metadata in Litigation

Just about any action you take with a file changes some aspect of its

metadata.


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You and your team have data that must be protected

No matter your industry, you likely have information somewhere, be it a smartphone or laptop, that is sensitive. Maybe it’s credit card transaction data, perhaps it is client contracts or applications, maybe it’s something as simple as a confidential document shared casually between coworkers.

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How employees can steal your sensitive data and try to mask the theftNovember 17, 2015 | AG Staff

TECH NEWS
