Over the last few decades, all of us have grown aware of the importance of secure destruction of business as well as personal information. Shredding is one of the safest and most effective ways to destroy our sensitive documents. However, the world of document shedding can be quite confusing because there are certain misconceptions about it. Before you start looking for a shredding solution, it is extremely important for you to debunk these myths. Awareness of these wrong notions will help you make the right calls with regards to your data security.
Size of the Organisation: Many organisations feel that they are not large enough to even consider document destruction in a structured manner. However, this idea is far from reality. You may think that shredders are too expensive and it will take loads of time and effort to prepare the documents to be shredded, destroy them, and clean the shredder. The fear of loss of productivity often deters small businesses from using document shredders.
It is important to understand that the cost of purchasing and running an in-house shredder can be greatly outweighed by the benefits you are going to enjoy. Modern day document shredders are simple to operate, and cause minimum disruption to regular operations of a business. Finally, regardless of size, data security is of paramount importance for all organisations dealing with customer as well as employee information.
Future Requirement: Most of the records and documents are required to be retained for a certain time period as per the law. However, storing these documents beyond this period of time only poses security issues for the organisation.
Please remember that old records and documents take up valuable office space, are expensive to maintain, and add no value to a business. Moreover, in the event of loss of these documents, they can become a huge liability for the organisation. With the help of a shredder, it is simple to develop a data retention policy with secure disposal process at the right time.
No one cares about them: If you feel that none really cares about your old documents, you are making a big mistake. There are many scamsters ready to go to lengths for stealing your data. Also, these offenders target small businesses just as often as large companies because their security policies and practices are easier to breach. Therefore, even if your business is small, all information belonging to your customers and employees are potential targets for the scammers and a proper document destruction policy is required to keep them at bay.
Recycling: Another common myth about document shredding is that it is not possible to recycle shredded paper. In reality, if your paper documents are prepared in the right manner, all shredded papers can be completely recycled. If you are an environmentally responsible individual or business, you can contact a local paper mill for this purpose.
If you are a business owner looking to put together a sound data security policy, a document shredder can be a priceless investment for you. Please contact us at Mastershred to discuss your needs and options.