Iron Mountain Total Offsite Record Solution for Law Firms

With law firms under pressure to
control costs and improve client service, many are looking at how
they store, manage and access their paper records to realize these
savings and service gains.

In response, Iron
Mountain Inc. announced the Total
Offsite Records Solution for law firms, combining offsite records
storage and document scanning. With the solution, firms can gain
office space and efficiency in the management of their records by
moving them to an Iron Mountain facility for storage, management and
scanning. As a result, law firms can make better use of their real
estate and enable attorneys to access information from desktops and
mobile devices, improving productivity and client responsiveness.

"Law firms all agree that
‘going digital’ will give them faster access to files and lower the
cost of records storage and management," said Brian
McCauley, director of Information Governance and Matter Management at
McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
"There’s little consensus on the best way to go about doing
it, however, and it’s hard for information governance professionals
to ensure the firm is following a single set of rules for this
process when the scanning isn’t centralized. Iron Mountain’s solution
gives law firms the ability to standardize their digitization process
by moving paper records offsite for secure storage and easier
scanning. Firms should embrace strategies like this to go digital
cost effectively, freeing up premium office space for adding
attorneys and gaining better security and governance over their paper
records."

As reported in the July 15, 2012,
edition of the Wall Street Journal, a number of law firms have begun
to pursue strategies for optimizing their use of office space (one of
their biggest fixed costs), prompting many to rethink the practice of
maintaining onsite file rooms and records personnel. To reduce these
costs and reclaim onsite storage rooms for revenue-generating
activities, many law firms are digitizing their paper – swapping hard
copy for electronic records and making it easier for their attorneys
to find and access information in the process. It’s a costly and
time-consuming project that can fail to deliver the desired savings
and productivity gains unless firms have policies for record
retention and overall governance.

Total Offsite
Records Solution comprised of two pieces:

• Dedicated Offsite Records Center:
  Law firms can move both active and inactive records to a records
  center, freeing up office space for activities and allowing
  information managers for the firm to focus on strategic governance
  activities. Law firms gain storage capacity; document security; and
  space for preparing and viewing scanned records than they have
  managing records on-premises.

• Go Digital Smart: The company
  designs a digitization strategy based on the law firm’s culture and
  practices to ensure attorneys have access to information. Plus,
  through a partnership with DocSolid
  Inc. firms can enter documents scanned by Iron Mountain into
  their existing document management system. This integration ensures
  records are indexed and accessible from anywhere.

"Like other organizations, law
firms are looking for ways to control costs and adopt new operational
strategies to run their business more efficiently," said
Matt Kivlin, director of product management, Legal Solutions for Iron
Mountain. "Our Total Offsite Records Solution helps law firms
to lower their records management costs and find additional
efficiencies through digitization. Law firms not only gain an
operational and performance edge; they also strengthen their ability
to manage information. This ‘two-for-one benefit’ supports many
firms’ efforts to go digital and advance records staff to information
governance and compliance roles."