Tier 3

Delivering Scale and Security for E-Discovery Leader

As the recognized leader for legal governance, risk and compliance management software solutions, Exterro helps legal teams control risks, reduce costs, enforce compliance and streamline processes. The pioneer of electronic discovery workflow management technology continues to expand its innovative suite of applications, with the Tier 3 Enterprise Cloud Platform.

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  • Challenge

    Exterro operates in an information-intensive industry where the ability to service customers with a reliable, high-performing application is a business necessity and keeping information private and secure is paramount. The firm needed a secure, enterprise-grade platform that could strategically enhance its go-to-market position.

  • Solution

    Exterro looked to Tier 3 for a cloud platform that easily integrated with the firm’s existing processes and service levels, yet was scalable to flex and grow along with it. The e-discovery pioneer continues to realize the high level of security and privacy needed for the sensitive legal information that it manages.

  • Impact

    Exterro runs all of its operations in a secure, enterprise grade cloud that allows it to pass on enterprise-grade service level agreements to its own customers, while also allowing it to spin up quickly and scale effortlessly as their customers’ litigation needs change. The company has also significantly lessened its QA workload while enhancing its ability to serve customers in new ways, and reach out to new markets.

Strategic Enhancements to the IT Function

Exterro develops software that its legal clients rely on 24/7. Operating in an information-intensive industry where keeping information private and secure is of utmost concern and the ability to service customers with a reliable, high-performing application is a business necessity, Exterro found itself reexamining its IT strategy. It needed a viable IT enterprise management option, but assumed its options were limited to purchasing on-premise servers or offsite rack space.

"We knew we needed help managing our expanding IT infrastructure and business," says Eric Dahl, Exterro’s operations analyst, "but we didn’t know what was out there past metal boxes and rack space."

What Exterro needed was a secure, enterprise-grade platform that could strategically enhance the firm’s go-to-market position and transform its internal operations into a well-oiled machine that could manage the company’s rapid growth.

"We grew dramatically from two employees in 2004, to 140 employees working in three locations worldwide," says Dahl. "We were hitting critical mass, and needed a platform that could be flexible enough to handle that kind of growth, and to scale up with us."

Sending Critical Functions Into the Cloud

Searching for a partner that could bring its IT functions up to speed, Exterro wanted extended IT functions that went beyond bare metal boxes, and that operated in the cloud. The software developer was looking for an IT partner whose platform would integrate well with the firm’s existing business processes, service level agreement and facility management functions. "We wanted to be a 24/7 shop," says Dahl, "and we needed a partner that could operate at the same speed that we do."

Exterro
The e-discovery pioneer also needed a scalable platform that could flex and grow along with it, and that could provide a high level of security and privacy for the sensitive legal infor- mation that it manages. "There was no room for compromise on the security side," says Shashidnar Angadi, Exterro’s chief technology officer. "We needed - and our customers demand - enterprise-level security that was SAS 70 II certified."
 
Also on Exterro’s "must have" list was the ability to provide affordable, multi-tenancy cloud-based solution to the small to midsized business market. It found that option in the Tier 3 enterprise platform. "That gives us a huge advantage over other e-discovery providers," says Dahl, "who can’t serve those smaller customers with an enterprise-grade solution like we can."
 

Enterprise-Grade Security and Operational Agility Together

Integrating the Tier 3 platform was such an important change for Exterro that the software developer transformed its internal operations in order to take advantage of all of the solution’s benefits. The payoff has been significant. Exterro gained the ability to serve small and medium enterprises with an affordable cloud application; the confidence to sell to customers of all sizes thanks to the inherent security of the platform; and a true customer value proposition in a competitive market.

Today, Exterro runs all of its operations in the cloud, and in a completely secure manner.
 
Having an enterprise cloud means Exterro no longer has to host, install and get applications up and running. "Tier 3’s SAS 70 managed services model eliminated a lot of our IT worries," says Angadi, "and allowed us to focus on building e-discovery solutions for the legal industry, instead of building data centers and buying servers."
"Tier 3’s SAS 70 managed services model eliminated a lot of our IT worries and allowed us to focus on building e-discovery solutions for the legal industry, instead of building data centers and buying servers."Shashidnar Angadi, Exterro CTO

Tier 3’s solid business model allows Exterro to pass on enterprise-grade service level agreements to its own customers, while also allowing it to spin up quickly and scale effortlessly as their customers’ litigation needs change. The company has also significantly lessened its QA workload while enhancing its ability to serve customers in new ways, and reach out to new markets. Says Dahl, "All of a sudden, we could deliver software and machines, and literally have QA templates within 30 minutes."

Using the Tier 3 platform, Exterro can get machines online within 10 to 15 minutes, and then save the associated configurations for QA software functionality testing at a later date. "The ability to test for three hours and then make the system dormant for later use, and without being charged for an entire month of use, was critical," says Dahl. "Then next month, I can bring that same box on and retest under the same configuration. I have six or seven configurations and they can all be saved as templates and I can bring them online at the touch of my fingertips. When you shop around for service, nobody else seems to be able to give that same flexibility."
 

Partnering for Success

Exterro and Tier 3 are strategic partners that have created numerous synergies and opened new doors for one another. "Working with Tier 3, we’ve been able to provide high-availability systems to our own users," says Angadi. "The relationship has definitely added business value for our customers."

With the electronic discovery market expanding at a rate of 40 to 50 percent annually and expecting to reach $1.5 billion in 2013, Exterro anticipates widening its relationship with Tier 3 as its business grows. "They’ve played a key role in our IT operations, and in the overall success of our company," says Dahl. "We expect that to continue."

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