How In-Office Shredding Can Negatively Impact Your Business

If you’re like most business owners, you probably think that in-office shredding is the best way to protect your confidential information. After all, it’s more secure than sending your documents off to a third-party provider, right?

Wrong.

In-office shredding can actually be more of a liability than an asset, for a number of reasons. Here’s a look at just a few of the ways in-office shredding can negatively impact your business:

In-Office Shredding is Inefficient and Inconvenient

Shredding documents in-house is often a time-consuming and inefficient process. If you have a small volume of documents to shred, it might not be a big deal. But if you need to shred large quantities of documents on a regular basis it can quickly become a time-consuming chore that takes away from your more important tasks.

It is not only inconvenient if your office’s in-house shredding requires you or your staff to transport your own documents to a separate shredding location, but it is needlessly risky. This process can be a hassle, but it can also increase the risk of your documents being lost or stolen.

In-Office Shredding is Expensive

In-office shredding might seem like the cheaper option, but that’s not always the case. When you factor in the cost of buying or renting a shredder, as well as the cost of maintaining it, in-office shredding can actually be quite expensive.

And if you need to shred large quantities of documents on a regular basis the costs of labor and maintenance can really add up. In most cases, it’s more cost-effective to use a regularly scheduled mobile document shredding service.

The Liability of In-Office Shredding

Shredding documents in-office can be dangerous for both your employees and your business.

For starters, many office shredders are not designed to handle large quantities of documents. This can lead to paper jams, which can be time-consuming and frustrating to deal with. In-office shredder malfunctions can cause serious damage to your office shredder. Even worse, if your shredder jams or overheats, it could become an active fire hazard. If a fire starts it could spread quickly and cause extensive damage to your office.

In addition, if your employees are responsible for shredding documents, they could be injured in the process. Even the smallest of office shredders have blades that are sharp enough to cause serious cuts and lacerations. And if someone does get hurt while using your office shredder, you could be held liable. This is why it’s so important to have adequate insurance coverage in place if you do choose to shred documents in-office.

There are also potential legal issues to consider. If documents are not properly shredded and confidential information is compromised, your business could be held liable. That’s why it’s so important to use a reputable professional shredding service that is certified and insured.

It’s Not Always Secure

Finally, and the most crucial reason is that in-office shredding is not as secure as you think. In-office shredding might seem like the most secure option because you keep it in-house, but it’s not always foolproof. Even if your office has a shredder that destroys documents beyond recognition there’s always the risk that someone could resurrect the documents later on. If your documents are not shredded properly, they could end up in the wrong hands.

Additionally, if you have employees who are responsible for shredding documents, there’s always the risk that they might not do a thorough job. If your shredder is not properly maintained by your staff it can actually be quite easy for someone to put together the shredded pieces of paper and reconstruct your documents.

Or, they might be tempted to take some of the documents home with them instead of shredding them (an act that could put your business at risk of a data breach).

If you want to be sure your documents are completely secure it’s best to use a third-party professional shredding service near you.

Choose Proshred® of Philadelphia for Secure Shredding

As you can see, there are a number of reasons why in-office shredding is not the solution and can be more of a liability than an asset. If you’re looking for a more efficient, convenient, and cost-effective way to protect your confidential information, consider using a professional shredding service like Proshred® Philadelphia.

We offer a range of document shredding and hard drive destruction services in Philadelphia that are designed to protect your business. Our paper shredding experts offer a variety of paper shredding services to meet your needs, and we will work with you to develop a customized security plan that works for your business.

If you’re ready to ditch your in-office shredder and switch to a professional shredding service, contact us today. We’ll be happy to provide you with a free quote.