3 Reasons Why Routine Shredding is Essential

If you are like many businesses who don't have a third-party provide a routine shredding service, you clear out your files on an 'as-needed' basis. While this is of course better than not destroying this information at all, did you know that this process is not the most secure? Here are three reasons why having a third-party shred your documents on a routine basis is essential to protecting your business from unnecessary and potentially dangerous liability.

1. You've Limited Access to Confidential Information
   If your documents are being stored in an area where they could be accessed by multiple employees without a log or tracking system in place, you've opened yourself up to liability if a breach does occur. Even if it had nothing to do with an employee, when an auditor or investigator looks into this, they will see this as a potential unaddressed risk.
   
   By using a NAID Certified third-party, like Data Guardian, you will have limited access to the files that need to be destroyed because they will be held in our locked containers until they are destroyed, meaning you've ensured your documents are secure, even from your own employees.
2. You've Established a Set Destruction Practice
   While no company likes to think about this possibility, litigation is a constant threat to anyone in business. Companies that perform an unscheduled or 'as-needed' document destruction purge during a period of litigation or investigation open themselves up to even greater scrutiny (Enron is a perfect example of this). This same principle is applied to the use of small in-office shredders you may be using every day. The only way to protect yourself from this risk to use a third-party shredding company on a routine basis.
   
   At Data Guardian, we provide a consistent pick-up service with monthly billing and certificates of destruction for your records, thus, creating a paper trail that will protect you in these situations and more.
3. It Saves You Money
   For what you spend on your annual purge plus the cost of the space in your office to store all of those documents, you could easily pay for a routine service. If your employees are shredding in the office on a small shredder, you can add the cost savings of your employee's time to this benefit as well.
   
   At Data Guardian we have competitive and flexible pricing with options for single-site, single container to multi-site and multi-container offices. We are also one of the few NAID Certified companies that don't require a contract and will allow you to cancel with 30 days written notice.

Visit our routine shredding page for more information or give us a call or submit a pricing request to learn about your options and pricing.