It’s great to hear that you are thinking of shifting away from the office shredder and adopting a more secure service option!
As a result, you might wonder what your next steps should be and how on earth you can choose a trustworthy company to handle your shredding needs. Fair enough! If you are new to document destruction, it can feel like an overwhelming task to sift through various companies without knowing what benefits to look for.
Here are a few key points to keep in mind as you do your research and determine who to partner with.
Take Into Account Your Needs
The first thing you need to do is figure out what your shredding needs are. Your needs as a resident will be different from those of a business. You may not require regular shredding services if you are a resident for instance.
Let’s assume you own a business for the purpose of this example. Are you producing a large number of documents every week? Is paperwork piling up on desks day after day? Another possibility is that your organization is working toward electronic records management, so documents accrue less frequently.
Maybe you only notice documents at the end of every quarter when you clean up the office. In either case, these are important questions to ask yourself as they will determine the type of service you need. Chances are if you are only producing a small number of documents over an extended period of time, you will only require a purge or one-time shredding service.
In contrast, larger companies that regularly produce documents will need a shredding company that will provide on-going shredding to stay on top of things.
This brings us to our next tips – reviewing the shredding company’s services!
See What Services Are Available
As soon as you have determined your needs, you can look over the service available through a company’s website. You can choose any of these services depending on your needs.
One-Time Purge
This is an ideal solution for large clean-outs, or if your business is relocating and you have boxes of old files that need to be destroyed securely. Residents and small companies that create documents only occasionally will also find it useful.
Scheduled Shredding
Shredding on an ongoing basis, or scheduled shredding as it’s also called, is for businesses that are constantly producing huge amounts of paperwork that needs to be shredded. Scheduled shredding is a great option that is entirely flexible to the customers’ preference.
The shredding company will pick up your documents at the time and date you specify, and your documents will be destroyed securely. For many business owners, this option is preferable due to its assurance of privacy laws. Additionally, it means there is no need to worry about piling up documents – everything is prearranged and taken care of.
Hard Drive Destruction
Document shredding companies often provide additional services in addition to paper shredding. In light of that, you might want to find a company that also destroys hard drives. The amount of data stored on a single hard drive is astounding when you consider how much we rely on computers today. Once that hard drive is no longer of use or you are updating your computer system, how can you be sure your sensitive data is secure?
With hard drive destruction, you can rest assured that all confidential information will be destroyed for good and cannot be recovered. You should consider choosing a shredding provider that can destroy your hard drives as well!
There is a good chance you’ll need hard drive destruction in the future, whether you need it today or not. Our team of experts can shred both hard drives and documents!
Review the Company’s Experience and Reputation
The last thing you should do is to ensure you choose a company that is trustworthy and reputable when choosing any product or service. It is important to partner with a document shredding company that practices only the highest level of security measures.
It is critical that the shredding company you are considering provides lockable containers for you to keep your documents in, prior to having them shredded, so that they remain protected at all times. Also look at how long they’ve been shredding, and what industries they serve.
Don’t be afraid to ask for references if in doubt. You can also read testimonials from past clients on their website, as many companies display their testimonials on their websites. In this way, you can get a good sense of the overall satisfaction level previous customers have experienced.
All These Considerations Are Met By Gator Shredding
Gator Shredding offers one-time purge shredding, scheduled shredding, and hard drive shredding services, throughout secure mobile shred trucks that come directly to your location.
Contact the team at Gator Shredding. Our team can evaluate your needs and create a customized solution that can improve your office efficiency and ensure you comply with all regulatory requirements. We are looking forward to working with you!