Records and Information Management

Smart Sort

Sort, organize, and manage physical files at scale

Jump To:

Overview
How it works
Use Cases
FAQ

Unmingle the comingled with Iron Mountain Smart Sort

Commingled files and disorganized records aren’t just a nuisance. They’re a liability that can inflate storage costs, increase discovery and litigation risks, and stymie the flow of critical information.

But what if you could efficiently unmingle your commingled files and know what to retain, defensibly destroy, digitize, or provide for a divestiture, legal matter, or other business need? And what if you could do it all without a complex, labor-intensive discovery project? With Iron Mountain Smart Sort, you can.

Featured resource

Solution Guides

Iron Mountain Smart Sort

As you accelerate digital transformation, you want to reduce cost and risk by destroying paper records that are no longer needed. Unfortunately, this is often not as simple as it sounds.

Explore another legacy records cleanup solution:

Smart Reveal

Reveal what you have—and potentially who is the rightful owner of each records box

Why use Smart Sort?

Find records quickly and accurately
Make defensible decisions about what records to keep, destroy, or digitize
Reduce the cost and risk of records storage
Support office reconfigurations and closures
Accelerate digital transformation
Navigate mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures quickly

How Iron Mountain Smart Sort works

Make instant disposition decisions with Smart Reveal

When boxes of records are stored with little or no descriptive information, it's difficult to take action on your inventory.

With Iron Mountain Smart Reveal we'll provide the information you need to make instant disposition decisions.

Learn More

Featured resource

Solution Guides

Discover what’s hiding in your record storage boxes with Smart Reveal

Identify and make defensible decisions about your records inventory with Iron Mountain Smart Reveal

Learn how Smart Sort helped these organizations

Relocate an onsite record center

Read the full story

Customer Success Stories

Hospital reduces records storage costs and improves visibility and compliance with Iron Mountain Smart Sort

Learn how a hospital gained visibility across its records inventory and established a process for defensible disposition.

Learn how a major US medical center freed up space for patient care by relocating their paper records offsite. They leveraged Iron Mountain Smart Sort to sort, reorganize, and cull their files prior to the move. This resulted in enhanced visibility across their inventory and savings of over $1 million in storage costs.

Get in Touch

Read the full story

Healthcare Provider Reduces Costs and Risks of Records Storage With Smart Sort

Customer Success Stories

Healthcare provider uses Smart Sort to reduce the cost/risk of records storage

Learn how a healthcare organization leveraged Smart Sort to create an ongoing process for defensible disposition.

Learn how a large private healthcare provider used Iron Mountain’s Smart Sort solution to sort and reorganize their entire records inventory, establishing a process for defensible destruction of all current and future records.

The result was increased compliance, improved inventory accuracy, reduced risk, and a decrease in storage costs of 40–50%.

Ready to get started?

Read the full story

Customer Success Stories

Iron Mountain Smart Sort clears the way for a corporate divestiture

Learn how a major insurance company took advantage of smart sort to quickly identify the policy files required to fulfill the terms of the divestiture.

Learn how a large insurance company involved in a major divestiture relied on Iron Mountain Smart Sort to quickly determine what business records to keep and what to turn over to buyers. Using Smart Sort, the project was completed in less time and at lower cost than would have been possible using in-house resources.

Related resources

View More Resources

Coworkers talking and looking at a tablet

Premium

Whitepaper

Smart Sort provides a path to defensible disposition

Sort records in a way that not only supports defensible destruction but also allows you to more efficiently search for them and find what you need, whenever you may need it.

Records Management Best Practices for Oil and Gas Companies - Shaking hands

Infographics

Take control of your records inventory with Iron Mountain Smart Sort

Iron Mountain Smart Sort provides a simple and cost-effective solution to sort and organize physical files.

Whitepaper

Closing a file room?

Don't just move risk, mitigate it

View More Resources

Frequently asked questions

Smart Sort is a simple and budget-friendly solution to help you finally gain control of your records inventory.

Is Smart Sort only for records stored at Iron Mountain?

We can execute a Smart Sort project at your facility or ours.

What if I have records stored in multiple locations or with various vendors?

We will consolidate the inventory at an Iron Mountain facility and then conduct the Smart Sort project. At the completion of the project, we store only those records that are required to be retained. The Smart Sort process identifies files that have met retention requirements and can be defensibly destroyed. With a cleaned-up inventory, you can reduce your costs by paying to store only those files that need to be retained for compliance requirements.

What does it take to start the Smart Sort process?

We need information from your core business application (master patient index, policy or loan management system, case file management system, etc.) and an up-to-date records retention schedule.

Does Smart Sort support multiple records retention policies and record types?

Yes, each project is customized to your records retention policies and specific requirements.

What record types are recommended, and which are not, for a Smart Sort project?

● You will benefit most from a Smart Sort project with core business records that carry event date retention rules (loans, policies, claims, patient records, case files, human resources records, etc.).

● Corporate and business records are not recommended (payroll records, invoices, etc.).

Am I required to use Smart Sort on my entire inventory or can I proceed with a phased approach?

You select how you want to proceed, and the project will be customized to your requirements, objectives, and budget.

I need a defensible process for records destruction. How can Smart Sort help?

● The Smart Sort process leverages your retention schedule and rules to create a standardized methodology for file review and processing. This rules-based approach allows us to deliver a consistent and defensible output.

● At the end of the Smart Sort process, we will provide a report that gives you file-level visibility and the corresponding disposition for each file. This report enables you to defend the actions taken on each file.

Explore additional services

Offsite records storage

We can execute a Smart Sort project at your facility or ours. And once the project is complete, we will store your records in one of our secure and compliant records centers.

Learn More

Secure shredding

Through the Smart Sort process, we’ll isolate records that have met retention requirements and are eligible for defensible destruction with Iron Mountain’s secure shredding service.

Learn More

Document imaging and digitization

Smart Sort will help you make informed decisions and select which records to digitize so that you can accelerate your digital transformation journey.

Learn More

Dedicated professional staffing

Managing your legacy records can be a challenge, and oftentimes you’ll need extra help. Iron Mountain offers a range of dedicated records management professionals who can support you on a full- or part-time basis, at your offices or remotely.

Learn More