In a time where the risk of identity theft and data breaches are increasingly more common in the United States, it’s paramount to safeguard sensitive information. This is an important priority for both individuals and businesses. Properly disposing of important documents includes shredding them first. This can significantly reduce the risk of identity theft and unauthorized access to personal information. Below you will find the top 5 reasons to shred important documents.
Top 5 Reasons to Shred Important Documents
Shredding important documents is necessary to protect sensitive information. If you are on the fence about whether or not you want to implement shredding into your personal or professional life, consider the following reasons why you should shred important documents.
Space Saver:
In both professional and personal settings, the accumulation of old documents and paperwork can become overwhelming and take up a lot of space. For many people, it’s impractical to keep everything forever. This is why shredding your documents can be a space saver and help keep you organized. Create a system at home for how long you’ll keep certain records. In terms of a professional environment, create a system that works for your industry and is in full compliance with any record retention laws. By regularly shredding your records you can easily stay organized and free up a lot of space.
Reduces Risk Of Fraud:
The importance of shredding documents that contain personal information is important both at home and at work. Identity theft is a serious issue that impacts millions of families in the United States each year. Failing to shred important documents can put you, your employees, and your clients at risk. While you may just want to get rid of documents fast, it’s critical to safeguard your identity (and the identity of others) and protect yourself from potential harm. This can be easily done by shredding documents that have important personal information on them.
Time Saver:
Shredding all of your documents yourself at home can take time. This is also true if you have a bunch of work documents you need to get rid of. A professional shredding service can be a huge time saver. Having an in-house employee complete the shredding tasks can be time-consuming and even more expensive than just having a shredding service do it. Not only can it save time, but a professional document shredding service can guarantee confidentiality, proper disposal, and give you the peace of mind you need that your documents will be shredded.
Eco-Friendly:
Hundreds of thousands of pounds of waste go into landfills every year. It can be easy to just throw away your documents. However, on top of the confidentiality risk, you are also increasing your carbon footprint. Shredding and recycling your confidential documents is an eco-friendly way to reduce your impact on the environment.
Legal Requirement:
Maintaining the confidentiality of your employees and clients is not just a best practice, it is actually a legal requirement for businesses. If you have not gone fully electronic with all of your documents, paper documents can pose a serious risk to your business, employees, and clients. It is necessary to be proactive about your business documents to protect confidential information, in addition to complying with the relevant laws and ethics of your industry.
Professional Document Shredding
If you have documents that you need destroyed and properly disposed of, the team at Secure Shred can help. They offer on-site document and data destruction to ensure your confidential information is completely protected. They even offer a certificate of data destruction to guarantee their work. Contact the team at Secure Shred today for support!