In their ongoing coverage of HP Discover 2013 in Las Vegas, John Furrier and Dave Vellante speak with Mike Sullivan in theCUBE. Sullivan is GM, Information Archiving & eDiscovery for HP Autonomy. The three discuss liabilities associated with security, big data and advantages of HP’s Autonomy technology.

Vellante begins by suggesting that Autonomy offers much integration and can be leveraged across different business units. Given that Autonomy allows companies to manage risks associated with large amounts of data, Vellante suggests Sullivan’s area may be considered the “liability management side” of technology. Sullivan explains that the technology that HP has – and in fact pioneered – helps companies stay on top of regulations and rules when it comes to messaging and data privacy. Vellante suggests the field has become more lucrative given changes in government regulations concerning data analysis and management. Sullivan notes that the issue his unit addresses is not “just an IT issue,” but also makes it to the boardroom.

Information governance is constantly evolving. In this shifting terrain, Sullivan explains that the real question is: how do you manage the risk that is involved in your activity? He outlines three main goals for companies using Autonomy. The first aim is to manage the dispension and risk of information. The second area is mining that information to understand what’s in there and what the risk is, while identifying the opportunity. The third focus is to respond when it’s appropriate. For example, if you’re a part of an internal audit, you have to produce massive amounts of information to the government in a certain format. Sullivan notes that this reflects “a very difficult standard to [meet].” Vellante notes that interests of companies have changed in the last few years from when companies aimed to keep records forever.

A major concern for companies is how to prove that they are going about data collection and analysis in a legitimate and defensible manner. Sullivan says it is important to maintain a clear audit trail, cover your tracks and show that you collected the data in a systematic, fair way.

Vellante also asks Sullivan, “How has big data changed what you all have been able to deliver?” He indicates that HP has been able to benefit from the new interest in its technology. Sullivan notes that even the government is benefiting from the R&D HP is developing. He adds, “The holy grail for companies is to be able to not pay those lawyers and automate it – you can’t automate it unless you have the technology that can understand the content. We can actually automate the process and put in a very defensible process that has been backed by court processes.”

Watch the full interview here.