Gain control of your records inventory with legacy records cleanup and Smart Sort from Iron Mountain.

Records and Information Management

Smart Sort

Sort, organize, and manage physical files at scale

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.

How Iron Mountain Smart Sort works

Learn More About Smart Sort

Frequently Asked Questions

How Iron Mountain Smart Sort works

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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Learn how Smart Sort helped these organizationsmountain ranges

Relocate an onsite record center

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%.

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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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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.
  • For more information, please read Smart Sort provides a path to defensible disposition.

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