Protect Your Clients' Personal Information
If you have personally experienced identity theft, you realize how quickly your information can be compromised if you are not careful with how you protect pertinent details. If you oversee several clients' accounts at the business that you run, it is equally important to keep their private details concealed. Careful storage and a document shredding service can assist in preventing the leakage of sensitive information.
Explore The Manner In Which You Record Personal Information
A document shredding service will provide onsite or offsite shredding. This means that you can surrender all of the paperwork that you no longer need, and it will be destroyed and disposed of immediately. You can trust that the papers that you hand over will not be looked at.
Think about how you currently utilize personal details. Do you request your clients to fill out applications that include information about their Social Security numbers, legal names, and birthdates, or do you keep files that pertain to credit scores or that include billing information for services rendered and products sold? A lot of this information may only need to be utilized on a single occasion.
If this is the case, you can get rid of the majority of the papers that you have on hand. If there are some documents that you need to refer to on multiple occasions, changing the way that you handle business may be beneficial. Instead of using hard copies to document information, use a computer program and key in the information that you request of your clients.
As long as you are the only person who has access to the computer files, the information will be protected. Of course, there will still be times in which you may need to use contracts or standard forms to document items. Limit the number of copies that you make, and keep important documents locked up at all times.
Prepare A Temporary Storage Area
When you are ready to dispose of documents, store them in a separate area. The disposal area should only be accessed by authorized employees, which will prevent documents from accidentally winding up in the wrong hands.
As soon as the storage container or bin is filled, contact an associate of a shredding company to make arrangements to have the documents shredded and disposed of. Besides keeping personal information out of the hands of people who could potentially steal the information, you will also be reducing the amount of waste at your business.