How AI-powered eDiscovery and Data Supervision Drive Compliance in 2025

Inefficient eDiscovery systems are one of the biggest contributors to this type of unsupervised data failure, and yet, firms know that it’s more important than ever to rapidly and accurately retrieve their information.

So, learn about how to take advantage of the AI-powered eDiscovery that already exists, and put it at the heart of your firm’s compliant, low-risk and efficient operating process.

The importance of eDiscovery and Data

eDiscovery is the process of searching through stored electronic records to find the right information for legal cases, including regulatory reviews.

This forms part of an overall communications monitoring strategy, which certain firms are required to perform for compliance purposes.

Above and beyond regulatory reasons, though, proactive communications and compliance monitoring for financial services can be beneficial for early detection of issues like insider trading and bribery. Early detection has a profound knock-on effect – it can help firms get ahead of an issue before the damage is done, minimizing the risk of reputational damage and financial losses.

From a compliance perspective, FINRA Rule 3110 is one of the most relevant rules in place – known as the supervisory rule where firms must supervise and record the activities of their associated persons. Similarly, SEC Rule 17a-4 involves record-keeping requirements for broker-dealers and GDPR asks that firms log the data held on employees and customers.

In each of these cases, an organized eDiscovery unit or system are must-have, to both record the data in the first place, and then make it easy to sort through when you need to retrieve it.

Despite this, the cost of eDiscovery on a global scale might surprise you. It’s estimated to cost between $12,000 and $24,000 per year for 100GB of data storage. But it’s worth noting that in the 2010s, litigation review was estimated to cost approximately 80% of total spending for legal cases. So while the numbers may sound expensive, the efficiency benefits actually end up saving money in the long run.

Challenges in eDiscovery and Data Supervision

Here are some of the most common challenges:

• Slow data retrieval
• Managing large data volumes
• Detecting non-compliant communications

Slow data retrieval

During adverse events or high-risk situations, the last thing you need is for the technology to be slowing you down. In fact, success against threats like cyberattacks is sometimes measured by the speed of response.

That being said, multi-channel data is complex and can take a while to wade through, especially if you’re searching for something specific. To overcome this challenge, a strong categorization and labeling system is key. And there’s a clear winner when it comes to technology, because the combination of lexicon and semantic algorithms is the current best method on the market for providing accurate results in archived data searches.

Managing large data volumes

Companies operating at enterprise level will be dealing with hundreds or even thousands of terabytes of data each year. To put that into perspective, it would take approximately 1 million floppy disks to store a single terabyte of data.

As such, managing large data volumes can slow down operating systems and affect overall performance. Devices are drowning in data, slowing interfaces and ruining the user experience.

But if there’s an emergency or an ongoing threat at work, reaction time (and more specifically, minimizing the reaction time) is key.

Strong data archiving policies and practices are a good solution. By archiving dormant data, organizations can free up their systems to operate more quickly, improving efficiency. Archiving does not say goodbye to the data forever – it can be pulled back at any time for inspection​​, just like eDiscovery provides.

Detecting non-compliant communications

No matter where your company operates, being subject to regulatory compliance means keeping records of communications. And firms must place importance on getting their compliance right via appropriate policies, systems, and procedures.

For example, the SEC’s books and records rule imposes a critical regulatory duty on all investment advisers to record and preserve their communications (in particular, recommendations) with customers.

Similarly, the UK and EU are both subject to GDPR, which requires firms to retain the personal information of their customers for specific purposes and amend or delete that information upon request.

Poor processes can place your compliance at risk, as 16 Wall Street firms found out in 2022 when they were fined a total of $1.1 billion. These firms ultimately broke the trust of their customers by failing to supervise and record messages discussing business matters on personal devices.

Benefits of AI-Powered eDiscovery and Supervision

Working with eDiscovery can be a time-consuming, intensive, and high-pressure process, but it doesn’t have to be. Firms that leverage the power of AI can let it do all of the administrative heavy lifting, freeing up auditors, risk managers, and response teams to focus on what really matters to them.

Increase operational efficiency and mitigate risky

AI-powered data supervision can improve speed across archive, retrieval, analysis, and investigation. For organizations in crisis, this can be the difference between complete reputational damage and the world being none-the-wiser.

For example, Global Relay’s Surveillance goes beyond normal ‘search capabilities’ because users don’t need an exact keyword match to find the document they’re looking for – instead, the algorithm relies on contextual clues to anticipate the correct output.

Cutting down eDiscovery retrieval time in day-to-day life leads to general efficiency benefits, especially because AI can automate much of the archiving work to place the data in eDiscovery in the first place. But this feature really shines during risk events, because it gives investigators the information that they need in real-time. Promoting a fast response and minimizing the damage of an attack means that AI-powered eDiscovery effectively works as a risk management tool, too.

Data format is auditable for regulatory reviews

Spitting out the right document is only the beginning, because we must be able to fully understand the data to ascertain its relevance, and importance in a regulatory review. Fortunately, AI-powered eDiscovery solutions can help to tell that story.

Flexible formatting enables users to ask for information in certain ways; such as in a huge spreadsheet versus segmented by common characteristic. AI programs can join up the dots by automatically formatting the data in the way that users would like it, generating a more intuitive user experience and making it easier for users like regulatory auditors to navigate vast volumes of data.

This can help prove compliance quickly, because a more user-friendly data format saves time on document retrieval and presentation to auditors. Ultimately, this helps firms move onto value-generating activities.

Choose Global Relay for AI-powered eDiscovery solutions that you can trust

After the regulators’ last big warning in 2022, many firms weren’t expecting to see more sweeping charges so soon. But if the 2025 penalties tell us anything, it’s that firms need to do more – not only to supervise their communications, but to apply the rules in a wider context than just the traditional workplace setting.

And with the majority of firms relying on digital programs for legal documentation and analysis, AI-powered eDiscovery is a natural fit to the suite.

Global Relay provides next-generation AI-powered eDiscovery solutions for compliance, enabling teams to gain deep insight from the documents you hold, and help employees work more efficiently. See why 20,000+ customers worldwide trust us when you book a demo.

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