Protection of sensitive business information has now become more important than ever. Regardless of their size and nature of job, all businesses receive and create loads of confidential and sensitive information related to their customers, employees, service providers, suppliers, etc. It could be address, bank or credit card details, health records, payroll records, client lists, financial records, pricing, proprietary information, and much more. Owing to their extremely sensitive nature, all these documents must be handled correctly, even when disposing of them. This is where document shredding best practices come in.
Please remember that if you are not able to manage your discarded business documents efficiently, you could be putting yourself as well as your business stakeholders at risk of data theft. Depending on your country’s laws, you are also legally bound to protect all sensitive information that you have been entrusted with. Finally, modern-day customers prefer dealing with companies that pay attention to protecting their privacy. Therefore, putting together a robust document shredding policy is one of the best ways for businesses to build their reputation in this market.
Best Practices
First and foremost, don’t undertake document shredding as a one-time affair. Instead, look at it as an ongoing process and work out a regular schedule for it. Depending on the type and quantity of documents discarded by your business, a regular schedule could be monthly, bi-weekly, or even weekly. You may seek help from a professional document shredder manufacturer to set up your schedule.
Think of the larger picture beyond your need for document destruction. Please remember that shredding is just one key element of a business’ policy for records management. Ideally, this records management procedure should include policies for destruction as well as retention. Every business record has its own shelf life and this is the key to your retention policy.
Once a record goes past its shelf life, it needs to be disposed of in the best possible manner. Adopting a “shred-all” policy is highly recommended because this blanket policy eliminates the risk of leaking sensitive data through records disposal or routine office paperwork.
While examining your workplace for potential security breaches, be mindful of the fact that these breaches may also take place within the workplace. It has been observed that workers often ignore physical security protocols and leave sensitive documents on their desks. Therefore, it is important to educate all employees on the importance of document security as well as proper shredding procedures.
Before you start shredding your outdated documents, you must evaluate the shredding process. The hardware you are using for this purpose must have the necessary features to prevent unauthorised access to information throughout the shredding process.
Finally, many businesses prefer using shredding services that collect and transport documents to a remote location for destruction. However, this exposes your sensitive waste documents to outsiders that are beyond your control. A much safer option is to purchase your own document shredder and handle the process in-house with the help of a team of employees trained to handle this process.
If you have any other questions about your document shredding requirements, please feel free to connect with us at Mastershred.