Iron Mountain InSight improves Life Sciences Companies' information management for operational efficiencies, cost savings, and business benefits

Iron Mountain InSight is an information management and content services platform that supports digital transformation at life sciences companies. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform makes an organization’s physical and digital content accessible on one central, secure system of record for faster searching, clearer understanding, and more effective leveraging of data. With InSight, life sciences companies can realize benefits such as employee efficiency, process automation, revenue generation, and cost savings.

Iron Mountain commissioned Forrester Consulting to interview four representatives and conduct a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study to better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with Iron Mountain InSight.¹ All interviewed decision-makers had experience using InSight. Among interviewees, the senior director of IT operations was at a life sciences organization. This abstract will focus on the use of Iron Mountain InSight in the life sciences industry.

All of the interviewees noted that their organizations had large amounts of data in various forms prior to using InSight. These were primarily digital and paper files but their archives also included legacy formats, such as microfilm, microfiche, tapes, disks, and CDs. Organizations siloed information management as they relied on disparate systems and manual methods, and they lacked a central solution that brought organization and easy access. These environments resulted in employee inefficiencies, uncertain security standards, and vast data that was costly to retain yet underutilized.

After the investment in InSight, the organizations’ extensive content was more accessible and secure, processes were more efficient and automated, and data was more actionable.

Investment drivers for life sciences companies

Prior to adoption of InSight, the senior director of IT operations’ life sciences organization struggled with challenges in its legacy environment, including:

• Data access and efficient processes. The interviewee described how disparate systems and processes across their organization made data management difficult. The absence of a centralized and easy-to-search system made it challenging to access data that was in various formats. With a myriad of data that lacked easy access and clear organization, employees at the interviewee’s organization often needed to engage in manual and time-consuming processes when it came to core tasks like locating, retrieving, sharing, and understanding and leveraging data.
• Need to understand and effectively use data. The senior director of IT operations shared that it was difficult for employees to effectively leverage data for the organization’s various use cases since it was poorly categorized and tagged. The interviewee said that their organization sought a platform “to determine classifications for our data and help us with business decisions.”
• Compliance with rules and regulations. Meeting high security standards and complying with all applicable laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) remained a top priority for the interviewee’s organization but posed challenges. It required a highly secure system that could manage access permissions and data retention policies and readily adapt to any legal changes. Additionally, since internal and external auditing was common, it needed an accurate and efficient tool for audit-related work.