Industry News

Recall expands US footprint

Recall, Norcross, Georgia, has acquired Advanced Services Inc. and Total Records & Information Management, establishing two new markets for Recall in San Antonio and in Spartanburg, South Carolina, respectively. The industry-diverse customer base, which includes medical, finance, oil and gas, manufacturing and human resources, will benefit from Recall’s broad service offering, including information governance, secure destruction, data protection, digital solutions and asset management powered by RFID (radio frequency identification), the company says.

In other acquisition news, Recall also has purchased Preferred Media, a global media storage provider with locations in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey and London. The company serves the entertainment and advertising industries. The acquisition includes multiple holdings in film reels, DVDs, video tapes, hard drives, film props, digital recordings and musical scores. The acquisition extends Recall’s Data Protection Services capabilities into the growing media and entertainment vertical, according to the company.

“These recent expansions over the past two quarters align with our strategic focus for sustainable, profitable growth while bringing Recall’s industry-leading information management services to new local markets and new industry sectors within the U.S.,” says Mark Wesley, president, Recall Americas.

Integration was underway as of early September, Recall says, enabling the company’s current customers to soon benefit from the expanded presence in these new markets.
 

 

Confidential Records Management Inc. celebrates 20th anniversary

North Carolina-based Confidential Records Management Inc. (CRMI), a leading provider of records and information management (RIM) services in that area, celebrated its 20th anniversary in September.

Gail Bisbee, RN, BSN, founded the company in 1995, using her nursing, health care and consulting background to build an organization that claims to be dedicated to the secure and effective management of business and health care records.

CRMI has expanded from three employees to a staff of 30 people and currently operates out of a 137,000-square-foot records center in Greenville and a small corporate office in New Bern, North Carolina.

“CRMI is thankful to our clients and staff for making this anniversary possible,” says Bisbee, president and CEO of CRMI. “Their feedback has shaped our company through the years, and their faith in our ability to support them has sustained us. We look forward to continuing to serve them for many years to come.”

CRMI provides RIM services to organizations throughout eastern North Carolina. The company says it offers a complete suite of RIM solutions, providing businesses of all types a single partner that can address all of their records storage, secure destruction, data protection and management and document imaging needs.

 

HHS OCR selects vendor to conduct second phase of HIPAA audit program

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has selected a vendor to conduct proactive audits of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) covered entities and business associates, according to news reports.

FierceHealthIT reports that Ashburn, Virginia-based FCi Federal has been selected as the vendor.

The article quotes OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels as saying, “Audits are really a critical compliance tool for us because they enable us to get out in front of potential industry problems before they result in a breach ... and they enable us to better tailor our guidance and our technical assistance to ensure that we’re addressing the most common problems.”

According to FierceHealthIT, Samuels indicated OCR has started verifying contact information for the “universe of potential auditees” for phase two of the program, which will include business associates as well as covered entities. The majority of the audits will be desk audits, FierceHealthIT reports, but Samuels said OCR also will conduct on-site audits.

Samuels told FierceHealthIT that an updated audit protocol will be available prior to the first audits, adding that providers should use this as a tool for self-analysis.

 

Redishred Capital Corp. announces second quarter results

Mississauga, Ontario-based Redishred Capital Corp., which provides secure destruction services under the Proshred brand, has announced financial results for the second quarter of 2015.

Total sales for Proshred were US$6.4 million (CA$8.4 million) in the second quarter of 2015, growing 21 percent over the same period in 2014.

Recurring sales for the second quarter of 2015 reached a company record of $3 million, growing 20 percent over the second quarter of 2014, Redishred reports. Unscheduled system sales for the second quarter reached a company record of $2.2 million, growing 21 percent over the second quarter in 2014. Recycling sales for the second quarter were $1.2 million, growing 27 percent over the second quarter of 2014.

Proshred destroyed and recycled a company record 9,700 tons of paper during the second quarter of 2015, an increase of 21 percent over the second quarter of 2014, Redishred reports.

Redishred’s six corporate locations in Syracuse, New York; Albany, New York; New York City; Charlotte, North Carolina; Milwaukee; and Miami produced US$1.09 million (CA$1.44 million) in revenue during the three months ended June 30, 2015, generating US$513,270 (CA$678,000) in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), an increase of 20 percent over the comparative period in 2014, according to the company.

Proshred franchise and license revenue for the second quarter of 2015 was US$288,430 (CA$381,000), growing 33 percent over the second quarter of 2014, the company reports. This category of revenue is generated by franchisees and licensees of the Proshred system.

Redishred says its management team continues to focus its efforts through its franchisees and its corporate locations on numerous company improvements.

 

DeVries Information Management buys third building

DeVries Information Management, Spokane, Washington, has purchased a third building in the Spokane area.

The building will house the records management company’s growing hard copy and media vault operations.

The 50,000-square-foot building is constructed from tilt-up concrete and “will meet or exceed the demands of our many clients, providing them with the assurance their information is protected at the highest level in the market,” the company says.

DeVries has served the Spokane area market for many years, providing secure destruction operations, records storage, media vaulting, scanning and imaging and secure courier services.

 

Iron Mountain appoints chief people officer

Storage and information management company Iron Mountain, headquartered in Boston, has announced that Deirdre Evens has joined the company as chief people officer.

Evens will oversee global human resources, leading operations and strategy to support the company’s growth through recruitment, talent development and compensation and benefits. Evens will serve as a member of the company’s senior executive team and will report directly to Iron Mountain President and CEO William L. Meaney.

“Deirdre is both a talented human resources leader as well as a well-rounded business executive who has succeeded in a variety of commercial and operational roles,” Meaney says. “As someone who has led a business unit and had responsibility for sales and marketing organizations, Deirdre understands how critical culture and talent are to driving growth and innovation. We’re very excited she’s joined our team.”

Evens comes to Iron Mountain from environmental, energy and industrial services company Clean Harbors, where she served as the executive vice president of human resources since 2011. In this role, she oversaw recruitment, benefits and employee development for a global workforce of more than 13,000 employees. Evens joined Clean Harbors in 2007 as the company’s executive vice president of sales and marketing.

Prior to Clean Harbors, she was senior vice president of member insight for BJ’s Wholesale, responsible for strategy, analytics, market research and segment marketing.

 

A Shred Ahead purchases Raleigh, North Carolina, secure destruction company

Durham, North Carolina-based secure destruction company A Shred Ahead has acquired Phoenix Resources Recycling (PRR) of Raleigh, North Carolina.

PRR has offered recycling and document destruction services since 1989, serving customers throughout the Greater Raleigh area. The company was a member of the Phoenix-based National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), and, according to PRR, always has held itself to the highest standards for performance, reliability and customer satisfaction.

The acquisition enables A Shred Ahead to extend its customer base in the Raleigh area. Existing customers of PRR will not experience any gap in service, and the team at A Shred Ahead will continue to serve PRR customers with the same high levels of customer service they have been enjoying for more than 25 years, according to A Shred Ahead.

“We are thrilled for the opportunity to expand our customer base right here in our own backyard,” says A Shred Ahead co-owner Tom Hanlon.

“We selected PRR for acquisition because we believe their company’s values and commitment to excellence matches ours. Our team will be the perfect fit for taking over their operations and continuing to serve their loyal customers for years to come,” he adds.

During its 12 years of operation, A Shred Ahead has expanded from serving the North Carolina Triangle area to being one of the largest independent paper shredding and document destruction service providers in the Southeast, serving more than a dozen states across the South.

A Shred Ahead provides secure document destruction and paper shredding services for businesses and government agencies. The company destroys all types of sensitive and confidential information, including financial records, electronic media, medical records and intellectual property.

 

Access enters Brazilian market with acquisition of P3Image

Rob Alston, chief executive officer of Livermore, California-based Access, has announced the company’s entrance into Brazil with its recent acquisition of P3Image, a leading information management company in that country, with operations in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The combined company will be known in Brazil as P3Image/Access.

“Consistent with our international expansion plans, we are pleased to be growing our presence in Latin America and the Caribbean beyond Costa Rica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago by now adding Brazil,” Alston says.

Access President John Chendo says, “We are very pleased to be joining with P3 as our entry into the Brazil market. Like Access, P3’s team members—numbering over 450—provide outstanding service to its many clients. Our two companies’ goals for the future, our ways of doing business and our organizational cultures are closely aligned, making this partnership an excellent fit for both of us.”

Paulo Sergio A. Carneiro, the founder of P3Image, will remain with the company in a support role during the integration.

Inon Neves has been hired to lead Brazilian operations for Access. Neves is a Brazilian senior executive focused on business development, having 18 years of experience working in high-level positions for multinational information technology services companies.

 

Shred-it offers compliance toolkit to Canadian clients

Extensive legislation governing privacy in Canada makes it challenging for organizations to ensure their information security policies and procedures are fully compliant with the law, according to Shred-it, Oakvillle, Ontario, which is why the company says it is helping Canadian business leaders by providing a toolkit of simple, executable strategies to ensure compliance with federal and provincial privacy laws.

The Legislation Leader Compliance Toolkit helps business leaders navigate their legal requirements concerning the storage and destruction of confidential data by providing best practices surrounding the assessment and implementation of information security practices in relation to compliance, Shred-it says.

As new threats to data security emerge, governments consistently revise and develop new laws to protect personal information, the company says. These ongoing developments can make it difficult for organizations to meet information security requirements, especially in tightly regulated sectors such as health care and financial services, Shred-it says. Businesses can incur significant fines and face serious consequences if found to be in violation of federal and provincial privacy laws.

“On a daily basis, virtually every business ... comes into contact with sensitive information, whether it is credit card numbers, Social Insurance numbers or confidential business plans,” says Bruce Andrew, executive vice president, Shred-it.