TOKYO, May 15, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UBIC, Inc. (Nasdaq:UBIC) (TSE:2158), a leading provider of international litigation support and big-data analysis services, announced today that it launched a high-level analysis support solutions service for ad-hoc, independent committees in Japan charged with investigating corporate fraud and other cases of inappropriate practices. The new service uses the Lit i View® XAMINER digital forensic tool to increase the speed and accuracy of investigations and reduce their dependence on high-cost manpower.
For example, independent committees set up to investigate a fraud case would engage a digital forensic service vendor to identify and collect potential evidence materials from the corporation's electronic data stores and put a team of lawyers to work examining the selected data in more detail. This process requires a great deal of time, people and cost.
UBIC's new service can substantially reduce the time, labor and cost of a committee's investigation by simplifying and speeding up this process providing the committee access to an artificial intelligence (AI)-based evidence analysis system, via the cloud, that can perform very quickly and accurately functions including personal network analysis and Asian-language keyword search.
Growing Importance of Independent Committees
In Japan, when a private or public organization or government office is confronted with an allegation of fraud or other serious infraction, the organization typically does not investigate itself but an independent committee of outside experts is created to investigate the allegation and make recommendations based on its findings. Japan's investigative committees wield both the power and latitude to carry out investigations and conduct discovery broadly within named organizations.
A total of 127 listed companies established independent committees in 132 cases over a five-year period January 2007 through December 2011, according to survey results released by Teikoku Data Bank Ltd., Tokyo.
Typical of cases handled by independent committees are fictitious transactions, account manipulation, inflated profits and insider trading. And the role of independent committees is expanding beyond corporate investigations to cover probes of fraud and other inappropriate practices in a wide variety of fields including the world of sports.
Useful to Companies and Investigative Committees
From Jan. 2005 through Feb. 2014, UBIC provided support for more than 790 internal investigations. From this experience, UBIC learned that a major issue in the effectiveness of these investigations was the time, manpower and cost involved in analyzing very large volumes of electronic data to identify and select evidentiary materials with teams of lawyers.
Companies entangled in such investigations for a prolonged period of time often suffer serious consequences including a decrease in enterprise value and market capitalization, possible delisting from a stock exchange, a decrease in morale among employees among other possibilities.
To minimize the potential for such harmful outcomes, UBIC coupled its AI-based Predictive Coding technology, which makes it possible to leave most of the document analysis process to an automated analysis function, with a personal network analysis function called "Central Linkage."
Automated review with UBIC's predictive coding function carries out a sophisticated, highly accurate investigation and analysis very quickly based on the patterns of judgment and investigation used by experienced lawyers. The technology boosts review speed 4,000 times compared to human reviewers and at an accuracy rate that is greater than 90%.
UBIC's Central Linkage identifies personal networks by looking at email communications between individuals and analyzing communications on a company-to-company basis. Looking at email communications in this way makes it possible to quickly and efficiently identify relevant email communications to discover relevant personal relationships that would not be visible through a conventional approach.
Only a handful of companies provide such a high-level data analysis service and only UBIC offers a service fully capable of analyzing texts written in Japanese and other Asian languages.
Lit i View XAMINER, next-generation forensic tool
Introduced commercially in September 2013, Lit i View XAMINER enabled professional forensic investigators to make use of such valuable functions as Predictive Coding and Central Linkage no matter their level of IT skill.
By optimizing its Lit i View XAMINER digital forensic tool for use by Japan's investigative committees, UBIC demonstrates again that it can optimize its software platforms and tools to serve specific markets.
By reducing dependence on high-cost manpower, Japan's independent committees are able to drastically reduce the time spent on investigation and review of email and other electronic documents. Solutions provided through UBIC's new service will help resolve investigations and prevent recurrences by facilitating investigation, prevention and accurate information disclosure.
Lit i View XAMINER has already been supplied to domestic investigative and law enforcement agencies, and its easy operability and effectiveness have drawn praise from users. UBIC will provide operation training to investigators working for independent committees signing up for the new service as well as around-the-clock support service.
About UBIC
UBIC, Inc. (Nasdaq:UBIC) (TSE:2158) is a leading provider of e-discovery and digital forensic services for Asia and the world. UBIC has extensive experience working with electronically stored information composed in Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) languages and utilizes that expertise for clients involved in cross-border litigation, corporate investigations, intellectual property disputes and much more. At the forefront of e-discovery innovation, UBIC's proprietary Lit i View® platform is moving the industry from "fact discovery" to "future discovery" by allowing clients to analyze e-mail messages and digital communications found in big data to reveal patterns in human thought and behavior.
For more information about UBIC, contact us info@ubicna.com or visit http://www.ubicna.com
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the amount of data that UBIC expects to manage this year and the potential uses for UBIC's new service in intellectual property-related litigation, contain forward-looking statements. UBIC may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about UBIC's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: UBIC's goals and strategies; UBIC's expansion plans; the expected growth of the data center services market; expectations regarding demand for, and market acceptance of, UBIC's services; UBIC's expectations regarding keeping and strengthening its relationships with customers; UBIC's plans to invest in research and development to enhance its solution and service offerings; and general economic and business conditions in the regions where UBIC provides solutions and services. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in UBIC's reports filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. UBIC does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and UBIC undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.