Shredding is a "document management" service (?)

I’ve always found it interesting to explore different industries and to see how different companies, companies who compete with one another, “present” and talk about their services and products.

SERVICE POINT

While visiting Service Point’s (the SP USA division’s) web-site, I noticed that SP lists “document shredding” as one of its services. However, after clicking a bit deeper into that particular service, this is what came up:

Secure Document Shredding + Recycling
Service Point professional partner Cintas, a national organization and certified member of NAID (National Association for Information Destruction), provides confidential document destruction and recycling services for our clients.
-Locked receptacles are supplied, conveniently placed for collection in multiple offices or floors of your business as needed.
-A variety of materials may be placed in receptacles for processing: paper documents (small and large format), CD’s, tapes, film, etc.
-Staples, rubber bands, paper clips, etc. do not need to be removed.
-Receptacles are regularly collected and emptied, with pick ups scheduled as required.
-All materials remain securely locked in Cintas trucks for destruction off-site at secure shredding centers or are shredded on-site in specially equipped trucks.
Shredded material is delivered to a recycling center to be turned into future products.

So, while SP advertises “document shredding” as one of SP’s services, SP, apparently, does not provide shredding services itself, but, rather, refers customers to its “partner” who does shredding, Cintas Corp.

CINTAS
So, after I visited Service Point’s web-site, I went to Cintas’ web-site. Cintas is a publicly-traded company.

Cintas’ products and services (per information found on Cintas’ web-site):
-Uniform and Apparel
-Facility Services
-First Aid and Safety
-Fire Protection
-Document Management
-Cleanroom Resources
-Flame Resistant Clothing
-Promotional Products

After I saw the list of Cintas’ products and services and did not see “document shredding” listed as a service, I clicked on “document management,” and, lo and behold, this is what appeared:

Cintas’ Document Management Services:
Each year improper document management costs businesses like yours millions of dollars in liability and lost productivity. Let Cintas help you choose the proper document shredding, imaging, and storage program to ensure:
-Data privacy and security
-Regulatory compliance
-Control and access to information
-Cost control associated with information processing

So, shredding is a “document management” service. (!) (?)

Until I read about Cintas’s document management services, I did not know that Cintas was in the “imaging” business or in the “storage” business.

IRON MOUNTAIN

I first heard about Iron Mountain around 1985, when one of the guys at the investment bank that took my former company public, asked me what I knew about “document storage and retrieval services” and “do you know about a company called Iron Mountain?” So, since then, I’ve on-and-off followed Iron Mountain. Way back then, their business was “storage and retrieval” of “hard-copy” documents, but, since then, IM has morphed into a multi-faceted company (Warren Buffet reportedly is an investor in IM stock), and IM offers “shredding services” and other services that are truly “document management” services.

Iron Mountain’s services (per information found at “what we do” on Iron Mountain’s web-site):
-Document Management Solutions
-Health Information Management
-Digital Archiving
-eDiscovery
-Online Backup
-Records Management and Storage
-Secure Shredding
-Data Protection and Recovery
-Storage-as-a-Service
-Disaster Recovery
-Technology Escrow Services
-Consulting and Professional Services
-Records Management Compliance
-Marketing Production and Fulfillment Services
Pick-and-Pack Fulfillment
eCustomize
Digital Printing
Customized Kitting and Booklet Creation
Lead Response Fulfillment
Print Management
-Film and Sound Archiving
-Products and Services A-Z

SHRED-IT

Though a few keystrokes in Google, I also came across “Shred-it”. Shred-it does not mention or refer to “shredding” as a “document management” service, but, all the same, since they compete with the others who offer “shredding” services, I thought I’d mention them in this post. Particularly, because where a couple of their key management team members toiled before joining Shred-it.

About Shred-it (per what they say about their services, as per their web-site):
Shred-it specializes in providing a tailored document destruction service that allows businesses to comply with legislation and ensure that the client, employee and confidential business information is kept secure at all times. Through our strict chain-of-custody processes, reliable on-time service and a global network of local service centers, Shred-it provides the most secure and efficient confidential information destruction service in the industry.

Interesting to see where a couple of their key management team members came from:

Vincent R. De Palma
, President and Chief Executive Officer
Vince joined Shred-it in August 2009, bringing over 25 years of executive experience to the company. He became well acquainted with business to business services in his past roles as President of Pitney Bowes Management Services, and as President of Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Benefit Services. Vince has also held senior management positions at Petroleum Heat & Power Company and McKinsey & Company.
(A visit to Pitney Bowes’ web-site revealed this: Pitney Bowes does not indicate that it offers “shredding” services, but Pitney Bowes does sell document shredders. I guess that Mr. De Palma decided that there was more money in doing the actual shredding than there was in the one-time sale of shredders? Well, even if that’s not the case, its certainly much more fun to shred documents than it is to deliver and install a shredder.)

Robert Guice
, Executive Vice President, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)
Robert joined Shred-it in 2004. Robert is responsible for overseeing Shred-it's sales, services and operations in the European and Middle Eastern markets, which includes 30 branches in six European countries and two branches in the Middle East and Africa region.
Mr. Guice has expertise in sales, sales management and business management. Prior to joining Shred-it, Robert served as Sales and Marketing Director for the UK branch of an international records and information management company. He has also held management positions in the United Kingdom and internationally in the telecommunications, and IT industries. Robert has managed global accounts and led multi-discipline teams in his previous roles.
(Could it be that Mr. Guice was previously with Iron Mountain?)

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For reprographers who are looking for ways to supplement their revenues and who are already involved in providing “document management” services, perhaps you should consider adding “document shredding” as one of the services you provide???