Busted: 4 Document Shredding Myths
January 11, 2016
Why does your company prefer to store and shred documents on its own rather than use a professional shredding service?
The answers would be as varied as the number of businesses that responded. It could be anything from the fact that your paperwork isn’t sensitive, to not having enough paperwork to justify the expense.
But there are many of myths surrounding corporate document shredding that, unless they are exposed, could be costly for your business.
And the two answers we mentioned above are just two of those myths.
1. Your Business Documents Don’t Contain Sensitive Information
Give the wrong people a name and address and they have everything they need to begin stealing your – or your customer’s – identity. It’s why you need to shred everything, even your personal documents at home.
2. Using a Shredding Company Costs More than Doing Your Own Shredding
Unless you have very few documents, there’s a good chance that shredding your own paperwork costs you more money than using a dedicated document shredding service. Remember to factor in all the time it takes an employee to shred docs, clear jammed shredders and the time lost from what they really should be doing.
3. The Office Shredder Makes it Impossible for Anyone to Get Information from Shredded Documents
Here is the fact: The Treasury Board of Canada sets standards for the size of shredded paper before that paper can be deemed as “destroyed”. Few, if any, office shredders meet that standard. And how well protected is the information on the page as the document waits to be shredded? Or while it’s being shredded?
4. It Won’t Happen to Us
Really? You’re willing to take that chance? Even if your business doesn’t receive visitors or has lots of employees, the ease at which a little bit of information can be expanded upon on the internet makes it inviting and easy for anyone to steal your data. And if you’ve never had an employee steal information, including your banking and/or client data, then you’re lucky.
There’s a reason you see more document shredding company trucks on the road today more than ever. More and more companies know that if they are to keep their data secure, meet government standards and fulfill their contracts, they need to manage their document shredding in a professional manner – and they want to save money too.
