Protecting Your Business: The Importance of Shredding Documents

Globally, data experts predict the amount of data created will exceed 180 zettabytes by 2025, with this exponential growth growing unabated. The impact of this is maintaining control. Controlling your own data means paying attention to the defined digital and physical document lifecycle.

The importance of shredding documents in the data lifecycle can’t be understated as part of your document processes. With that in mind, here’s what you must know about the secure disposal of sensitive information and the benefits of professional shredding services.

Understanding the Risks of Improper Document Disposal

Data destruction is a critical part of the data lifecycle because keeping everything forever presents organization and compliance risks. For example, did you know that 25% of poorly filed documents will never be located by businesses? And if they are located, there’s a chance they’ll be found by the wrong person.

So, why shred documents? It’s about defending your business from financial losses, reputational damage, loss of trust, and legal issues. Yet countless businesses are unaware of the data theft and fraud risks of not having a proper shredding process.

Common Types of Documents That Need Shredding

Business owners often pay attention to cybersecurity but ignore the risks of a criminal picking a sensitive document out of the garbage. It’s startling that 45% of printed paper daily is still just thrown in the garbage.

But what business documents should be shredded?

  • Bank statements
  • Credit statements
  • Tax documents
  • Human resource documents
  • Employment tax records
  • Property purchase documents
  • Customer documents

All of the above have specific retention periods – often mandated by law. For example, the IRS recommends holding onto employment tax records for at least four years.

Remember, some documents, such as incorporation and internal financial records, should be kept forever. Likewise, the importance of shredding documents doesn’t extend to items that don’t contain sensitive information. For example, you don’t need to worry about securely shredding the draft design for the office Christmas party invitation.


Download the Records Retention Schedule Guide

Consequences of Not Shredding Sensitive Documents

The importance of shredding confidential documents through professional paper shredding services extends to protecting the future of your business. If you’re wondering, “Is it really necessary to shred documents?” here are the consequences arising from not investing in secure document disposal:

  • Data Breaches – Improper identity theft protection exposes your business to seeing its employees and customers finding their names, addresses, and social security numbers being sold on the dark web. All it takes is an invoice or a customer file to cause this data to fall into the hands of the wrong people.
  • Legal Consequences – Businesses are legally obligated to protect their sensitive data. Failure to do so can result in multi-million-dollar fines and even criminal charges against the business and its owners.
  • Espionage – Competitors and disgruntled insiders could gain access to your secrets, undermining your competitive advantage and causing you to lose your market share.
  • Reputational Damage – Customers and the public at large are concerned about privacy. Studies have shown that 48% of customers have stopped doing business with brands because of privacy concerns.
  • Financial Losses – Data loss can mean significant financial losses in fines, investigations, and loss of business. Additionally, you may never recoup these losses due to the damage to your reputation.
  • Loss of Intellectual Property – Your intellectual property is what’s unique about you. Competitors can gain access to trade secrets and other proprietary information they could use against you. For example, would KFC be as successful if everyone knew how their special sauce was made?

Paying for document shredding services may seem like another expense, but the consequences of not making this investment could be catastrophic. See it as less of an expense and more of an investment in your organization’s future.

Benefits of Shredding Documents

Old-fashioned paper shredding might not sound like the most glamorous solution for how to protect your identity, but it’s one of the most effective ways of protecting your physical data from unauthorized disclosure.

Paper shredding offers countless benefits to businesses, including protecting your information, ensuring legal compliance, and giving you peace of mind. Let’s discuss why professional shredding will be the best investment you can make this year.

Protecting Personal and Business Information

The news is perpetually littered with the broken reputations of companies that did something stupid and found themselves with a massive data breach. Most data breaches aren’t especially sophisticated but arise from simple mistakes that were overlooked.

It could be a bug in a new app, a poorly updated cybersecurity platform, or a single sheet of paper thrown in the garbage at the back of a building and then extracted at a recycling center. Anything with personal or confidential information represents a risk. By shredding all physical documents, you protect your clients and ensure your company isn’t in the news cycles for all the wrong reasons.

Compliance With Privacy Regulations

All companies are legally obligated to comply with data security and privacy regulations to protect consumers and employees. Certain industries must comply with even more red tape, including the medical, legal, and financial trades.

For example, the medical industry is bound by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), with violations running into the millions of dollars.

Professional shredding services ensure that you comply with the latest incarnations of privacy regulations because the companies who provide these services update these services to guarantee ongoing compliance.

Peace of Mind Through Secure Disposal

Data security is a constant headache for businesses, with the business community investing countless dollars into defense and compliance annually. Gain peace of mind by employing a professional document destruction company.

Instead of worrying about your shredders and ensuring that your employees regularly shred and shred correctly, let the professionals handle it for you. With this approach, you get to spend more time on growing your business and less on worrying about who’s rummaging around your garbage cans.

Choosing the Right Shredding Service

Selecting the right shredding service is essential because not all brands are created equal. Some of the points to consider include on-site vs. off-site shredding, reputation, security procedures, effectiveness, and history.

With so many providers in the market, it’s as much a headache to find someone reliable as it is to simply do it yourself. If you don’t know where to start, here are some questions to ask:

  • Are their services compliant with the rules and regulations in your industry?
  • Are their employees background checked?
  • Do they perform data security risk assessment services?
  • Are they using a secure shredding process with a robust chain of custody?
  • Do they provide a Certificate of Destruction for every service?
  • Do they use cross-cut shredders and comprehensive recycling processes?
  • What standards do they comply with? (ISO 14001, ISO 9001, etc.)

Take the time to do your research and speak to your provider in detail about their document destruction services before proceeding.

DIY Shredding vs. Professional Services

DIY shredding is the perfect example of a false economy. It may seem cheap and easy to deploy, but in the long run, you’re losing out on several fronts to professional services.

Here’s how professional services excel over DIY shredding:

  • Productivity – DIY shredding forces busy employees to take time away from their usual functions to worry about shredding. Plus, an overworked employee is unlikely to pay as much attention to the quality of the shred as a dedicated professional.
  • Security – Professional shredding companies have secure, auditable chains of custody to guarantee the highest levels of security. Additionally, they have access to industrial cross-grade shredders that would cost tens of thousands of dollars in purchase and maintenance costs to ensure all shredded documents cannot be reconstructed.
  • Cost – Initially, DIY shredding is cheaper, but in ongoing costs, productivity losses, and inferior security, it’s the type of investment that will cost you more in the long run.

DIY shredding offers no verifiable way

to prove compliance, costs more over time, and takes away from the productivity of your team. Compared to professional shredding services, there’s no genuine comparison between the two.

Best Practices for Document Shredding

Document shredding isn’t a matter of tearing up a piece of paper and hoping for the best. It’s a science that enables businesses to comply with the law – but only when done correctly.

Putting proper processes in place is critical for shredding properly. Generally, anything containing personally identifiable information or anything sensitive must be shredded. Each type of document will also have its own lifecycle, requiring an established retention schedule before being destroyed.


Tips for Maintaining a Regular Shredding Schedule

Follow these tips for maintaining a regular shredding schedule:

  • Know how long you should keep documents according to the law.
  • Follow recommendations from professional authorities, such as the IRS.
  • Determine whether you really need to keep certain documents.
  • Create automated alerts for when documents are ready to be destroyed.
  • Consult a professional shredding company for help in establishing regular visits.

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