Industry News

MASS MERGER

Information Protection Solutions of America (IPSA), a new coalition that allies 29 secure shredding companies, has been formed.

In its initial announcement, IPSA says its intention is "to offer secure document destruction services throughout the continental United States and parts of Canada."

Among the priorities for IPSA member companies will be to cooperate in the signing and servicing of national contracts.

In the news release announcing the Chicago-based alliance’s formation, the new entity refers to itself as, "The largest [NAID] AAA certified document destruction company in the United States and the second largest American-owned document destruction company in the world."

Companies joining IPSA are not relinquishing ownership, however. "Each IPSA location is independently owned and operated; consequently, the pride of ownership delivers a higher level of service and performance that cannot be matched by our competitors," says Kenneth Williams, vice president of marketing and client development of IPSA.

While an alliance of 29 companies is noteworthy enough, additional companies may soon be on board. Williams says that in addition to the 29 founding member companies, there is a waiting list of other companies that are hoping to become a part of IPSA.

But Williams also says the list of companies welcome to become part of IPSA is restricted to those who are committed to NAID (National Association for Information Destruction] AAA certification.

The AAA certification is given by NAID to member companies that have met detailed requirements to uphold stringent document destruction and security standards. "It is really a commitment to our ethics; basically all the issues," Williams says.

Among IPSA’s founding companies is Chicago-based Data-Guard. Data-Guard managers decided to recruit existing shredding companies to join the IPSA partnership.

"My vision for IPSA was to recruit only the top document destruction companies in each metro area," says Tom Thompson, president of Data-Guard. "We want to provide national coverage combined with home-grown local service," he comments.

Many IPSA member companies are retaining their locally-known brand identifies, while some others have adopted the IPSA identity. While shredding firms in Chicago, Dallas, the District of Columbia and Boston are now operating under the IPSA label, several other companies are retaining their current names, including: AM Document of Portland, Ore.; B Safe Documents of Southfield, Mich.; Crown Shredding of Winter Haven, Fla.; Data Lock of Mt. Vernon, Ill.; Peachtree Shredding of Atlanta; Shred-N-Go of Plymouth, Minn.; Shred-Pro of Boise, Idaho (and several other locations); and Shred Force of San Diego.

"Our customers are already seeing value," Jack Gerblick, president of Peachtree Secure Shredding, says regarding his company’s IPSA affiliation.

"Our large clients with branch offices in many cities can leverage their size and scope through national pricing contracts, yet receive high-quality service from locally owned document destruction companies," Gerblick adds.

NAID SCHEDULE TAKES SHAPE