Document Shredding: Keep or Toss?
Businesses generate a lot of data each day. Customer profiles, invoices, credit-card receipts and inventory lists are commonplace items that can all be used to compromise data. Your company needs strict protocols to handle these paper and computer-based items. Explore your options when it comes to keeping or tossing your business documents. Document shredding is a critical tool when your stored documents become discarded items ready for the trash.
Storing Paper Files
Although many businesses try to go paperless, paper files will always be a necessity. From a legal perspective, hold onto your customer, vendor and tax records for at least six or seven years. Save the paperwork for 10 years if you want to err on the side of caution.
Because you can’t use paper shredding at this point, secure the paperwork in a locked cabinet or storage room. Limit the number of people with access to the storage facility so that data compromise isn’t a threat. Storing any information has its risks, but Dallas businesses must have the backup paperwork for legal purposes.
Archiving the Data
Consider document shredding services when you archive your business records. Some businesses use archiving to avoid the paperwork-storage dilemma. They transfer paperwork images onto a disc or computer drive. These items end up being stored in a secure area. The copied paperwork no longer requires storage.
Shredders arrive at your facility at the scheduled appointment time. They handle the paperwork so that no employees lose time on any projects. Paper shredding occurs on-site, which proves that the information is officially broken down into unreadable pieces. Keep the archived data until it’s ready to be destroyed by professionals too.
Destroying the Information Through Secure Document Shredding
Both paper and hard drives can be destroyed with reputable shredders. Professionals process the paperwork right outside of your business. Mobile paper shredding turns stacks of paperwork into confetti-like pieces. You won’t see paper strips during any secure process. These pieces are too easily connected back together by the wrong people.
Don’t worry about processing your paperwork by removing staples or other fasteners. The destruction service makes quick work out of these items. They become part of the shredded pile that’s ultimately recycled.
Avoiding the In-House Shredder
Some businesses can’t let go of the in-house shredder. Managers simply believe that these appliances improve productivity, but in reality, you’re losing quality time in the workplace. The employees spend time standing over the shredder. They might destroy the wrong paperwork. Removing fasteners is necessary, which takes even more time.
Another factor to consider is the maintenance. Inevitably, the shredder will break down. Your employees end up servicing it when their time could be spent with clients otherwise. Store and toss your paperwork with the help of professional shredders who always have a well-oiled machine at your service.
Securing the Pieces Off-Site
The confetti paperwork doesn’t end up in the trash after your professional service. Reputable shredders take the pieces to a processing facility. They’re ultimately recycled into paper goods that can be used back at your business in the future. Your data can never be compromised with this recycling component. Shredders eliminate the data from sight. Hard-drive shredding has the same outcome too. Shredded drives become recycled materials in the form of metals.
When you’re in the Dallas region, look for a reputable shredder that can take on your paperwork volume. Marshall Shredding serves the business and residential communities with document shredding processes that protect your information with every service. Contract with a NAID AAA rated shredder so that your information is always secure in this data-driven world.
