Technology Platform Design

Outdated, siloed tech stacks lead to high costs, slow processing, and compliance risks

Technology platforms sit at the heart of forensic capability, but poorly conceived infrastructures and fragmented systems can significantly undermine evidence integrity. From siloed data lakes to legacy tool stacks without validation or audit trails, weak platforms expose investigations to legal challenge, inefficiency, and reputational risk. Meridian Edge helps forensic and legal teams design robust, scalable platforms that preserve data integrity, enable consistent workflows, and align with defensible, compliant best practices.

Real-world Case Studies

National Crime Agency Transformation Programme (2019-2021)

A national initiative revealed the National Crime Agency was using 14 disparate forensic tools without interoperability, causing frequent evidence transfer failures and version control issues. Procurement lacked architectural planning, and analysts spent up to 40% of their time on administrative overhead instead of investigative work.

Source: National Crime Agency Annual Report (2020‑21)

National Forensic Evidence Storage Failures (2020–2024)

Between October 2020 and September 2024, over 30,000 criminal prosecutions collapsed across England and Wales due to lost, missing, or mishandled forensic evidence, including digital data. The majority of these cases were attributed to inadequate forensic processing, highlighting systemic failures in evidence storage management and governance by police units. Not only did this undermine public confidence, but also resulted in dropped cases and miscarriages of justice.
Source: The Justice Gap: Thousands of criminal cases collapse due to missing evidence (June 2025)

SFO eDisclosure Platform Failures (2024–25)

The Serious Fraud Office identified serious flaws in its document review tools, namely OpenText Axcelerate and its predecessor, Autonomy Introspect, that failed to correctly parse punctuation and search terms. The agency is now reviewing 60+ cases, with concerns that key evidence may have been missed. The issue has prompted external oversight and system overhaul.
Source: Financial News: Dozens of SFO cases face potential legal challenge after software failures (June 2025)