AI-powered digital mail transforms shared services efficiency

When Iron Mountain deployed its Digital Mail solution powered by Iron Mountain InSight® DXP, it reduced document cycle times, lowered costs, strengthened compliance, and unlocked unexpected operational and customer benefits across its Global Business Services and Shared Services organisations.

A modern challenge for a distributed workforce

As remote and hybrid work became the norm, Iron Mountain faced increasing challenges in managing physical mail across its North American shared services operations. More than 50,000 documents per month—including invoices, contracts, checks, and sensitive correspondence—were processed manually through decentralised mailrooms.

This legacy approach resulted in long cycle times averaging 10 days, limited auditability, and geographic dependency on physical offices. Delayed access to critical documents increased operational risk, drove inefficiencies, and threatened compliance. Supporting future growth and a distributed workforce required a faster, more scalable solution.

Building a digital-first intake strategy

To address these challenges, Iron Mountain’s Global Business Services (GBS) organisation implemented a phased Digital Mail solution powered by Iron Mountain InSight, its AI‐driven content intelligence platform. The objective was to establish a fully automated, centralised intake channel capable of rapidly classifying and routing correspondence while supporting global scalability.

The Digital Mail initiative was launched as part of Iron Mountain’s IM Proven program, which encourages teams to adopt and evaluate Iron Mountain technologies internally as customers. By applying its own solution, the organisation aimed to improve efficiency, reduce cost‐to‐serve, and strengthen compliance across shared services.

Automating mail with intelligence and security

With Digital Mail in place, all incoming physical and digital correspondence is routed through centralised mail processing locations. Each document is digitised upon arrival and analyzed using Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) and machine learning models trained on Iron Mountain’s document types.

AI-powered classification and routing automate approximately 70% of initial document handling, routing mail to the appropriate teams within hours rather than days. Exception-based workflows enable employees to focus on validating high-priority documents and managing outliers rather than manual sorting and scanning.

The solution integrates directly with enterprise ERP and CRM systems, ensuring documents are securely delivered to the right stakeholders with complete audit trails. Role-based access controls and secure digital storage have significantly reduced risk.

Delivering measurable results

The implementation of the Digital Mail solution yielded immediate, quantifiable results that met or exceeded all initial targets.

• 60% reduction in document processing cycle time, shifting routing from days to hours
• 25% reduction in document handling cost-to-serve
• 40% improvement in audit trail completeness, strengthening compliance
• $750,000 in annual cost avoidance, eliminating the need to hire 15 additional FTEs
• 20% reduction in operating costs across impacted mail operations

The implementation successfully transformed two high-volume North American mail centers into fully automated, centralised intake operations, creating a scalable foundation for future expansion.

Stronger relationships. Empowered teams.

Beyond operational efficiency, Digital Mail delivered unexpected relationship benefits. Automated identification of returned invoices, checks, and correspondence now enables proactive outreach to vendors and customers to correct outdated addresses and prevent recurring delays.

By eliminating manual scanning bottlenecks, Digital Mail has saved teams across Finance, Legal, and Customer Operations hundreds of hours previously spent handling paper. Multiple stakeholders can now access the same information simultaneously, improving collaboration and accelerating decision-making.

The solution also supported Iron Mountain’s shift to remote work by removing dependence on physical offices. Teams such as Accounts Receivable can now operate fully remotely while maintaining secure, real-time access to incoming correspondence.

From internal transformation to customer impact

By deploying Digital Mail, Iron Mountain established a scalable, secure, and intelligent intake foundation that delivers measurable efficiency, cost savings, and compliance improvements across shared services. Importantly, the initiative enabled a broader transformation—shifting various functional Iron Mountain teams away from manual, transactional work and toward higher-value, customer- focused activities that support long-term growth, as in our new customer setup process (NCSP). InSight DXP remains a key tool for addressing internal challenges, allowing Iron Mountain to develop and implement GBS solutions. From digital mailroom and contracts to new customer onboarding, these innovations streamline operations within GBS while creating meaningful value for our customers.