Records and Information Management

Smart Sort

Sort, organize, and manage physical files at scale

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

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Featured resource

Explore another legacy records cleanup solution:

Smart Reveal

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

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Benefits of Iron Mountain 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

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How Iron Mountain Smart Sort works

Learn More About Smart Sort

Frequently Asked Questions

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Iron Mountain Smart Sort

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Iron Mountain Smart Sort

Video

IM employee holding mobile scanner, with IM warehouse backdrop

Take control of your records inventory with Smart Sort. The Smart Sort process follows Iron Mountain’s secure procedures with vetted and trained employees.

panoramic view of IM boxes spanned on rows of shelves

Smart Sort processing centers are prepped and ready to meet the specific requirements of your project.

closeup of an IM employee using a mobile scanner

Smart Sort is a technology-enabled solution that uses information from your core business application and records retention schedule to make instant decisions on file disposition.

an IM employee scanning a barcode with a mobile scanner

We start the Smart Sort process by capturing the unique file ID found on the outside of the file. We do that with a scan of a barcode or by hand-keying in the file ID.

Once the file ID is captured, using data extracted from your core business application and records retention schedule, Smart Sort tells us instantly-in real time-the outcome for that file, and we sort and re-box accordingly.

You decide how you want your records to be sorted. For example, sort by destruction eligibility year, record type, a unique identifier, or whatever you require.

For files that have met retention requirements and can be defensibly destroyed, the boxes are wrapped in black and clearly labeled for destruction.

Iron Mountain's employees have specialized training on the Smart Sort process and will expertly execute your project.

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

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Learn how Smart Sort helped these organizations

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

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.

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Healthcare Provider Uses Smart Sort To Reduce The Cost/Risk Of Records Storage

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?

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Iron Mountain Smart Sort clears the way for a corporate 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.

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Related resources

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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 centres.

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 digitisation

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

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 centres.

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 digitisation

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

Learn More

Smart Sort

Sort commingled files

Unmingle the commingled with Iron Mountain Smart Sort

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Featured resource

Explore another legacy records cleanup solution:

Smart Reveal

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Benefits of Iron Mountain Smart Sort

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How Iron Mountain Smart Sort works

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Make instant disposition decisions with Smart Reveal

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Featured resource

Learn how Smart Sort helped these organizations

Read the full story

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

Loading component...

Read the full story

Healthcare Provider Uses Smart Sort To Reduce The Cost/Risk Of Records Storage

Loading component...

Read the full story

Iron Mountain Smart Sort clears the way for a corporate divestiture

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Related resources

Explore additional services

Offsite records storage

Secure shredding

Document imaging and digitisation

Dedicated professional staffing

Offsite records storage

Secure shredding

Document imaging and digitisation

Dedicated professional staffing

We make it easy to get started.

Thank you for reaching out

We're here to help.

Unmingle the commingled with Iron Mountain Smart Sort

Explore another legacy records cleanup solution:

Smart Reveal

Benefits of Iron Mountain Smart Sort

How Iron Mountain Smart Sort works

Make instant disposition decisions with Smart Reveal

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

Healthcare Provider Uses Smart Sort To Reduce The Cost/Risk Of Records Storage

Iron Mountain Smart Sort clears the way for a corporate divestiture