Moving Mountains - storing vital information and valuable assets from cradle to grave.

Moving Mountains - storing vital information and valuable assets from cradle to grave.

Takalane Khashane - Iron Mountain Managing Director (Country Head), SA

Having taken leadership roles in different companies which focussed on the movement and accumulation of information, Takalane Khashane is now the Managing Director of Iron Mountain SA - an organisation which stores valuable assets for millions of people across the globe - and destroys that which is no longer needed. Ten months into her new role, Takalane has seen some major milestones in the company and is excited to see how Iron Mountain can touch and improve the lives of different people without them even realising it.

With a proud 70-year history, please give an overview of Iron Mountain’s journey and the services you offer?

Iron Mountain started just after World War 2, when many people had fled from European countries to the U.S, and had a lot of personal documents, valuable jewellery, art, family pictures and other valuable assets they didn't want to lose as they had no homes. Our first storage space was inside a mountain - hence the name. Between the 1950s and early eighties, we were providing basic paper or physical goods storage. But later on in the 2000s we started becoming digital as well. Now we are not only storing physical assets, as technology has made things easier with scanning, digitisation and with environmental awareness growing. However, different industries have different requirements, some require paper to be kept for several years and there are documents that you can't destroy for more than 20 years, such as title deeds. So, we keep a physical copy that is in storage and a digital copy stored also in the cloud. We do end-to-end asset protection from cradle to grave. We also specialise in e-waste disposal. Post-COVID-19, most companies have moved towards digitisation and they were forced to do so because many people are working from different homes and there’s one document that needs to be signed and sent digitally. Our last survey showed that 93% of organisations are now saying digitisation is a priority in terms of their business strategy. The kind of era that we live in is exciting, because you can see all this happening and we have more of our customers that are downsizing from ten-storey buildings to using only two floors because the working environment is hybrid, as most people work from home and only occasionally come to the office. There’s no need for big buildings and we work with them to ensure that they can keep the documents they need, shred what they don't need and digitise what needs to be digitised. So it's really around partnering with them, sitting with them, understanding what their requirements are.

What services does Iron Mountain offer to the public sector?

We assist the South African government in digitising what is referred to as e-government. For example, if someone was sick the day before, and was helped by the Department of Health, you should be able to know that it's the same person when they're applying for something such as passports or housing, in other departments.

Please describe your role as Managing Director of Iron Mountain SA

It’s a very exciting job because as a Managing Director, it's really about making sure that the organisation is growing, profitable, sustainable and that the shareholders are getting a return-on-investment.

What have been some of your major milestones?

Two of my milestones during my 10 months’ tenure have been changing the way the staff identify as being part of a global company - and most importantly, which we’re very proud of, was to move from a level two B-BBEE to level one.

How would you describe your leadership style?

It’s collaborative and inclusive. The more diverse the team is in terms of race and gender, the better. The inclusion of people from different backgrounds, with different education is important to me.

What are the major trends you have noticed in your sector over the last 5 years?

When I joined this sector I realised that there’s a need to manage information - and we have POPIA, which came into effect last year. We started looking at what we do with the information because not only are we managing our information, we're also managing our customer's customer's information and the protection of personal information is not just for South Africa, but across borders. So, when we do this digitisation of information for global companies, we also look at the laws that govern the information crossing borders.

Iron Mountain’s business solutions cover a range of industries. Are they all completely different or are there some similarities?

We don't have limitations in terms of industries or sectors because everybody wants their information to be stored. There are no specific government departments that we serve - with POPIA in South Africa, one needs to have an information policy or governance in terms of how the information is managed.

Are partnerships an important part of Iron Mountain’s strategy?

Definitely! We have to work in partnerships with other stakeholders because we cannot do everything. We use the information that's already there. We're not creating anything and partnering with organisations that have data centres, such as Amazon and Microsoft helps us deliver our mandate.

Do you have a message for our readership?

All the documents or data that you touch or that you work with in your organisation has some sort of footprint in terms of the information in it. So the message would be: manage your information, ensure you have your information governance policies and know what part of the information needs to be stored offsite, what can be stored onsite and also what can be digitised.

Contact details:Phone:086 147 6668Website: ironmountain.com/za