The technology categories of Relativity Fest's Innovation Awards “celebrate organizations that use the Relativity platform in creative ways—solving difficult or unique challenges within and outside of eDiscovery.”
I sat down (remotely) with our head of custom development services, Jed Cassinelli, to find out what makes this an exciting career, business, and “geek” opportunity for those in the Relativity community.
What is the most significant reason organizations should want to win a Relativity Fest Innovation Award in 2020?
Jed Cassinelli: Number one, above all else, is having the opportunity to hangout on stage with Drew and Shawn – the No.1 comedy duo at Relativity. :)
Besides that, it is really an opportunity for organizations to expand beyond the constraints of their wheelhouse and receive a ton of positive exposure for it. The Relativity community is really great about recognizing innovation and celebrating new ideas, and I think all the participants who submit come out looking sophisticated and forward-thinking just by participating. It’s a great reputation and credibility-builder in our space. (Plus, you might solve a really challenging problem and develop a wildly profitable new offering!)
If I can be a bit of a tech geek, it can also be personally rewarding to show off a great idea you’ve always had. There are a lot of people in our industry who are very passionate about development and want to try new things or go to the next level in their career – people who realize the power at their fingertips with Relativity who want to show the rest of their team what they can do – and this is one of rare events in our space that encourages that type of project.
Now is really a good time to start thinking about what you could submit for Fest 2020. We can help you make the business case and get the project going – or even point you towards a partner who is a better fit if you’re looking to do something outside our wheelhouse. We actually just had a great party with NSerio, another Relativity developer partner, during Legalweek in New York. Though that feels like a year ago already.
What categories of applications – or solutions – do you think will win a Relativity Fest Innovation Award in 2020?
JC: If I was a judge, I would love to see people who are thinking ahead about how their applications might interact with Relativity’s Aero UI. There’s so much excitement around it, and I’m curious to see how people will push it to new heights. Buh dum tss!
Another avenue of interest to our team is exploring new ways people take advantage of the power and capabilities that come free with the RDO framework. Recently, MCS launched MCS MessegerOne for the Relativity app hub. This is a messaging app that we helped with and I mention it because I like how it recognizes the versatility of the platform as an opportunity to solve problems that are outside the bounds of traditional eDiscovery.
MCS saw people were communicating about Relativity matters outside of Relativity and knew they could pull it back in easily with some objects and custom UI. That’s pretty fantastic!
You’ve been going to Relativity Fest for as long as the Innovation Awards have been around. Are there any past winners that stand out in your memory that you would point people to for inspiration?
JC: Applications that have a strong visual element are always really popular at Fest, but I’m definitely a form and function kinda guy. It’s cool to see the integrations and custom UIs that people have done to improve workflows and save time and money.
The first two winners from 2014 stand out for me, since we were lucky enough to be involved with both of those projects. However, last year, we presented a great round up of winners during our Fest session, Recognizing How to Apply e-Discovery Tool Sets Beyond Litigation. In that presentation, we talked about Bricker & Eckler's Petition Analyzer, which won a Relativity Innovation Award in 2018.
This app reviewed petition signatures with automated functionality, while also incorporating map functionality that made it easy to digest. The "need" scenario might be specific to B&E and their client, but what they recognized was how Relativity was the place to solve and house a solution. Now they have this great, multi-use functionality for cross-checking data inside Relativity and an award to show for it.
Thanks, Jed! One more quick question though. I’m really looking forward to Relativity Fest 2020; will you pull together another recap?
JC: No way! ;)