Business owners and other people who deal with sensitive paperwork understand the importance of document management. With so much personal information regarding their company, employees, and customers, it's essential to discover an effective way to provide protection and security. 

Utilizing document shredding services is one of the best ways to ensure proper management and disposal of sensitive information. When your documents are shredded, you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the information will remain secure. 

When looking for small business solutions for your documents, choosing a company that is experienced in private document shredding and storage is essential. Alfa comprises industry compliance experts who understand exactly what is needed to manage documents properly. 

As a business owner, you are already wearing way too many hats and taking on more responsibilities than you alone can handle. Unfortunately, many of these responsibilities are things that just cannot be ignored, such as the proper handling of documents and information. By hiring a document management company, you can remove the uncertainty and worry about reaching compliance and managing sensitive documents from your plate.

Understanding Document Shredding

While many businesses are turning to digital tools and resources for their business processes, it's almost impossible to avoid using paper altogether. In fact, nearly three-quarters of businesses still print papers multiple times a day. This means that there is a lot of sensitive information in tangible form in practically every single company. 

This is risky because the stealing of information is a huge crime affecting millions each year. When nearly 20% of breaches come through the theft of paper documents, it becomes obvious that something needs to be done to protect people from this type of crime. 

That's why professional document shredding and other small business solutions are essential. Utilizing the most effective methods for securing your company's paperwork and ensuring that there isn't anything tangible that can be stolen is a necessary part of owning a business. 

Document shredding is the destruction of documents that have private, valuable, or sensitive information regarding customers, employees, or a company. It is typically accomplished by using a shredder machine that cuts the paperwork up into very small portions so that the information contained on the paper cannot be read. 

While in-house document shredding is possible, it poses quite a challenge for most businesses. Instead of stretching your team, your resources, and your company, you can hire a document management company that will shred your paperwork for you. 

Types of Documents that Need Shredding

Hiring document shredding services to shred and store your company's paperwork will relieve you from excess stress and worry, especially because there are many types of documents that should be shredded to prevent theft and misuse. 

While there are some types of documents that can probably be disposed of without being shredded first, it's often better to be safe than sound. If you have any doubt about whether you should shred certain documents or not, it will be best to do it. It's much better to shred documents that don't need it than to have information stolen because you weren't sure. 

However, there are some obvious types of documents that should definitely be shredded. These include the paperwork that includes any sort of personal information or information regarding your business. 

Make sure and have any paperwork shredded that contains social security numbers, names, passwords, account information, addresses, personal family information, and more. Anything that could potentially contain sensitive information should be shredded. 

The document shredding company that you work with will be able to quickly and effectively completely dispose of your paperwork, eliminating the possibility of theft. 

When to Shred Documents

You may know which of your documents need to be shredded but have no idea when to do it. If you're hiring a professional document shredding company such as Alfa, you're going to need to know when to hire them and what sort of schedule you should opt for. 

One of the most important things to consider is whether you are still going to need the information contained in the paperwork. Before you have your documents shredded, make sure that you are finished with the information. The last thing you want is to realize you still need certain information but that it has been destroyed. 

Before documents undergo shredding, they will be stored for a certain length of time. Wisely choose the amount of time your paperwork should be stored and the means of storage it needs. 

Certain types of documents should not be stored at all and will, in fact, need to be shredded immediately. These documents include any receipts, billing statements, ATM receipts, credit card offers, and warranty/insurance offers. They need to be protected without fail because they contain the type of information that can be easily stolen and used by criminals. 

Documents that don't need to be shredded immediately can typically be stored for about 30 days before destruction. Medical bills and bank statements can be stored for longer and usually don't need to be destroyed for six months to a year. 

Choosing Document Shredding

Most identity/information criminals know that one of the best ways to find information is by stealing personal documents from businesses. When you have these documents shredded, you don't need to worry about theft, compliance, long-term storage, or any other sort of challenge. 

Document shredding is simple and fast and will provide you with the peace of mind you need to run your business effectively. You will be able to protect your business and your client's information by following regulations and meeting compliance. 

Choosing document shredding removes the risk of identity theft and helps to ensure that you are in compliance regarding the storage and disposal of personal information. There are a number of benefits to hiring a professional document shredding company. Before you take matters into your own hands, contact Alfa for document management and shredding. 

Professional Document Shredding

No matter how large or small your company is, you're going to have private paperwork that needs to be handled intentionally and carefully. Protecting that information and meeting compliance standards requires a great deal of focused work. 

It can be a challenge to either take on this job yourself or have your employees handle it. In fact, depending on the size and type of your business, document management could be close to a full-time job. 

Hiring a professional document management company to perform effective, secure document shredding, as well as IT solutions, cyber security, and VoIP, is the best way to ensure smooth and streamlined processes, compliance, and protection. 

Here are just some of the multiple benefits of hiring document shredding services, such as Alfa.