Gartner predicts growth, consolidation in e-discovery market.

• Position: E-DISCOVERY

Double-digit growth and continued consolidation are likely in the global e-discovery market over the next few years, according to Gartner Inc.'s Magic Quadrant for E-Discovery, published in June.

Gartner expects the market to grow by about 15% annually, from $1.7 billion in 2013 to $2.9 billion by 2017. This growth will be largely attributable to two factors: increasing volumes of litigation and regulatory investigation; and the growing volume of content and data that must be searched in support of these activities.

The majority of this market growth will reside with U.S. vendors, but the increasing awareness of e-discovery issues in Europe and Asia will drive growth there, eroding the U.S. share of the total market from 81% in 2012 to less than 70% in 2017. In addition, software vendors in adjacent markets, such as enterprise content management, will likely extend their offerings to include e-discovery functions, and vendors already in the e-discovery market will acquire additional capabilities from the content analytics or workflow sectors, for example.

While revenues grow, the number of firms claiming to have e-discovery products and services is expected to shrink by 25% during the next two...