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Iron Mountain: Protecting critical data and assets with the help of Google Workspace

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Iron Mountain leverages the collaborative capabilities of Google Workspace to efficiently operate a hybrid workplace and more securely manage digital and physical assets.

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Iron Mountain stores and manages billions of digital and physical assets in over 1,400 highly secure facilities worldwide. More than 225,000 organizations trust Iron Mountain with sensitive data, critical business information, as well as treasured cultural and historical artifacts.

Features used
AppSheet
Google Meet
Google Voice
Jamboard
Calendar
Google Chat
Drive
Sheets
Docs
Slides
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Iron Mountain leverages the collaborative capabilities of Google Workspace to efficiently operate a hybrid workplace and more securely manage digital and physical assets.

Google Workspace Results

Reduces video conferencing help desk tickets by 90%

• Increases productivity by more securely enabling seamless user experiences across all devices

• Reduces operational costs by replacing legacy VoIP systems and unifying disparate video equipment on a single solution

• Builds a digital-first culture that supports a more efficient, secure, and productive approach to hybrid working

Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain is a global business dedicated to securely storing and managing digital and physical assets. Iron Mountain maintains facilities in over 50 countries, employs 25,000 people and provides services to almost all Fortune 1000 companies. Although COVID-19 prompted a rapid, unexpected shift to a hybrid working model, Iron Mountain enabled its employees to securely connect, create, and collaborate with Google Workspace while continuing to support their customers worldwide.

Replacing legacy on-premises business tools with Google Workspace

“Even before COVID, we wanted to change the way our employees connected, created, and collaborated. In just a few months, Google Workspace helped us break down geographic silos and transform our workplace into a digital-first culture that is more secure, mobile-friendly, and efficient.” -- Gene Molloy, VP of IT End User Technology at Iron Mountain

Iron Mountain began its journey with Google two years before the first COVID-19 safety measures were put in place. In late 2019, the company decided to bolster digital security, prioritize collaboration, and increase employee productivity by replacing its legacy on-premises business tools with the cloud-based Google Workspace platform.

Iron Mountain worked with Google to move internal company files to Google Drive and quickly roll out Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, and Chat. Google also helped Iron Mountain replace outdated phone systems with Google Voice, unify different video conferencing systems on Google Meet hardware, and deploy Jamboard** displays. Because many employees were already familiar with Google Workspace apps from personal use or at previous employers, user adoption and use of the tools was quick and intuitive.

“Even before COVID, we wanted to change the way our employees connected, created, and collaborated,” says Neil Jenkins, Director of Communications Business Partnerships at Iron Mountain. “In just a few months, Google Workspace helped us break down geographic silos and transform our workplace into a digital-first culture that is more secure, mobile-friendly, and efficient. Thanks to Google Workspace, we were well-positioned to overcome COVID-19 challenges—and continued to deliver secure, uninterrupted customer service in more than 50 countries throughout the pandemic.”

Google Workspace partner Maven Wave played a central role in the migration and supported a global go-live in five languages throughout 12 on-site Iron Mountain offices. Since the initial migration, Maven Wave has continued to provide support such as training sessions and technical advisory to assist Iron Mountain with ongoing transformation.

Building a highly secure foundation for collaboration and communication

“Google Meet is Iron Mountain’s universal translator. Real-time auto captioning during streaming events and live meetings erases language barriers and artificial borders—and empowers our employees to effectively communicate and collaborate no matter what language they speak.” -- Nerina Martinez, Senior Director of Technology at Iron Mountain

Over 200,000 organizations across the world trust Iron Mountain to securely store and manage sensitive financial information, medical records, historical documents, original recordings, and fine art. Since protecting client data and privacy is a top priority for Iron Mountain, the company needed a cost-effective collaborative business solution to comply with strict privacy regulations and security standards.

Google Workspace complies with all major international security standards and regulations—and gives Iron Mountain the scalable tools they need to efficiently meet their reporting and validation requirements. “Migrating to Google Workspace from an on-premises solution was a game changer for Iron Mountain and helped us maintain the highest level of productivity and digital security during the COVID-19 pandemic as we transitioned to a hybrid workplace,” says Gene Molloy, VP of IT End User Technology at Iron Mountain.

With Google Workspace, all changes made to Docs, Sheets, and Slides are tracked in real-time, encrypted, and securely stored on Drive. Google Workspace also encrypts and safeguards all emails, calendar entries, chats, audio conversations, and video conferences. Because Google Workspace is a highly secure solution that brings together all communication and collaboration tools in one place across all devices, Iron Mountain employees are no longer tethered to their desks.

“Due to lack of feature parity and performance limitations, our legacy business tools only provided basic email support for smartphones and tablets,” says Nerina Martinez, Senior Director of Technology at Iron Mountain. “Without easy access to their files or virtual meetings, our deskless workers found it challenging to operate effectively.”

With Google Workspace, Iron Mountain increases employee productivity by more securely delivering a full and seamless user experience across all devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

“Whether at home, in a warehouse, or out in the field, our employees now virtually interact with colleagues and customers on Google Meet and Google Voice, and conveniently share editable documents, slides, spreadsheets, and whiteboards on Google Drive,” adds Martinez.

Communicating and collaborating across languages and borders

“Migrating to Google Workspace from an on-premises solution was a game changer for Iron Mountain and helped us maintain the highest level of productivity and digital engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic as we transitioned to a hybrid workplace.” -- Neil Jenkins, Director of Communications Business Partnerships at Iron Mountain

Iron Mountain operates more than 1,400 facilities in over 50 countries. The company is proud of its diverse workforce and the many languages employees speak. However, Iron Mountain’s legacy on-premises business tools made it challenging for employees to effectively communicate and collaborate across languages and borders.

“Before 2020, Iron Mountain didn’t have a virtual meeting culture,” explains Molloy. “We relied heavily on phone conversations and in-person discussions, and our previous solution wasn’t universally available on mobile devices."

Although Iron Mountain had planned to gradually shift all meetings to the more interactive and reliable Google Meet, COVID-19 rapidly accelerated the deployment timeline. All Iron Mountain employees can now easily join meetings on any device from Calendar events, email invites, or directly from Gmail.

“Google Meet is Iron Mountain’s universal translator,” says Martinez. “Real-time auto captioning during streaming events and live meetings erases language barriers and artificial borders—and empowers our employees to effectively communicate and collaborate no matter what language they speak. With Meet, everyone feels like they are in the same room as their colleagues.”

Iron Mountain now hosts over 200,000 meetings every month on Google Meet. Meetings start on time and typically last for an average of 35 minutes, rather than an entire hour. Shorter meetings and a seamless user experience increase employee productivity by eliminating wasted time that was once spent troubleshooting equipment and connections.

“Support tickets and help desk escalations for video conferencing issues have declined 90% since we started using Google Meet,” says Martinez. “Our employees consistently give their Google Meet experience a 4.9 rating. Google Meet does a fantastic job of stabilizing audio quality if someone at home or in the field has an unstable connection.”

Unifying video conferencing on Google Meet hardware and upgrading legacy VoIP systems to Voice

As employees return to the office, Iron Mountain continues to augment the collaborative meeting experience by rolling out Google Meet hardware and Jamboard displays in conference rooms that lack video capabilities. Iron Mountain is also seeing reduced procurement costs with Google Meet by unifying existing video conferencing equipment and applications onto a single reliable solution.

“If our customers invite us to a WebEx session, we can join on Google Meet hardware,” says Molloy. “Similarly, our customers using Cisco hardware can also natively join Google Meet sessions. The seamless interoperability between different video conferencing systems speaks volumes about Google’s extensive industry partnerships and the popularity of Google Workspace."

In addition to deploying Google Meet hardware, Iron Mountain is upgrading its legacy VoIP systems to Google Voice. Google Voice reliably forwards calls, automatically transcribes voicemails, and brings everything together in one convenient place including live chats, texts, and call histories. Google Voice can be deployed instantly from anywhere and used across devices, with minimal administrative setup.

“Our sales team now uses Google Voice to call and text customers from their smartphones, tablets, and the web,” says Martinez. “And because it is considerably more affordable to operate than our legacy VoIP systems, we continue to steadily expand our usage of Google Voice. Most new employees who require a work phone are given a Google Voice number rather than a physical phone.”

With its offices reopening, Iron Mountain operates a secure hybrid workplace, supporting those employees working at home, physically in the office, or out in the field. Similarly, some customers meet their Iron Mountain counterparts in corporate offices, while others prefer to virtually interact.

“With Google Workspace, Iron Mountain has successfully shifted to a digital-first model that enables us to operate a secure hybrid workplace and has accelerated our own digital transformation,” adds Molloy. “No matter where our employees are in the world, they can successfully collaborate and stay connected to what matters most.”

*Google Workspace was formerly known as G Suite prior to Oct. 6, 2020.

**Jamboard is winding down. Learn more.

Google Cloud Partner

About Maven Wave

Maven Wave, an Atos Company, is a Google Cloud and Google Workspace partner that helps companies unlock the full power of Google Cloud and Google Workspace. Maven Wave brings a deep specialization in delivering Workspace apps through expert technical advisory, migration, employee training, and more.