Small businesses and ones that are virtually paperless can get away with handling their own document shredding using an onsite paper shredder. However, large, high-volume, or busy offices and ones that operate in the financial, legal, healthcare, or government sectors must invest in regularly scheduled, professional document destruction services. Citizens Business Archives offers secure shredding in Tucson, AZ for businesses of all sizes. Here is our guide to understanding the overall purpose of document destruction, when and how often your business should be shredding documents, and the potential risks of neglecting or delaying destruction.
Why Businesses Need Business Document Destruction Services
Routinely shredding critical, sensitive, or private documents protects your company, employees, and clients. You can significantly reduce your risk of data breaches, legal penalties, compliance failures, and identify theft. We recommend professional shredding services to:
- Ensure legal compliance with federal laws like HIPAA, FACTA, and GLBA
- Reduce the risk of data loss or theft, identity theft, extortion or hacking attempts, and reputational damage
- Protect proprietary information and trade secrets
- Save space by purging documents from storage areas
Understanding Document Retention Timelines and When to Shred Documents
Record retention periods are governed by industry and regulatory standards. Your company should have a comprehensive record retention policy that outlines the specific lifecycle of each type of document or record you receive, generate, or share. As soon as a document is received or generated, it should trigger a workflow that tracks its lifecycle and schedules a date of destruction. Documents are typically shredded when:
- They are no longer useful or necessary
- The legally- or company-mandated retention period has expired
- An audit has concluded
- The office is going paperless and digitizing hard copies of files
- An employee has been offboarded
You should set up a shredding schedule based on your record retention policy, daily paper volume, available storage space, and risk tolerance. Employees should place daily shredding materials into locked bins that will be picked up when needed. We offer weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and on-demand shredding pickup services.
Risks of Neglecting Proper Document Disposal
Delaying or neglecting to properly dispose of business documents can have major financial, legal, and reputational consequences. Some of the biggest risks are:
- Failed audits or compliance checks
- Heavy statutory fines and penalties
- Class-action lawsuits
- High litigation or mitigation costs
- Loss of licenses or business
- Identity theft, privacy violations, or data breaches
- Employee impropriety
- Targeted hacking, phishing, or extortion scams
- Intellectual theft or loss of trade secrets
- Erosion of trust in the industry
- Negative media exposure
- Decline in stock value
- Higher employee turnover and difficulty finding new talent
Citizens Business Archives provides flexible local shredding services on your schedule. We offer scheduled recurring pick-ups and on-demand services, allowing you to scale services based on need and budget. Our HIPAA-trained personnel maintain strict confidentiality and regulatory compliance and a highly secure chain of custody protocol for all documents. Call us today at (520) 882-4434 or contact us online to schedule document shredding services in Tucson, AZ.
