| SIC Codes: | 4226 |
| NAICS Codes: | 493190 |
Companies in this industry store an organization's physical documents and provide related services as such document classification, organization, and destruction; some companies also store customers' electronic documents. Major companies include Iron Mountain, Recall, and the document management unit of Cintas.
Demand is driven by the needs of business customers to store and manage increasing amounts of data, including satisfying requirements for regulatory compliance. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations. Large companies have advantages in obtaining space in multiple locations and in offering customers a broader product line of integrated services. Small companies can compete effectively by specializing in niche markets, such as health care information management. The US specialized warehousing and storage industry is concentrated: the top 50 companies account for more than 65 percent of revenue.
Major services include gathering, storing, and organizing confidential and time-sensitive information, including physical and electronic records related to an organization's business matters or transactions. Virtually all large companies use offsite storage for records that are either vital to current operations or that are inactive, but must be kept for legal reasons. Information management services include classification and indexing, as well as data protection, recovery, and destruction services such as secure shredding. Digital document management services may involve scanning hard copies into electronic format and implementing systems for receiving and transmitting information electronically.