Document Shredding: In-House vs. Outsourcing?

Important Considerations

Are you shredding your documents in-house? Have you considered the risks? Is outsourcing to a professional document shredding provider a better solution?

Here are some things to consider:

1. Privacy / Security Issues

In-House

• Employees may place sensitive documents in a trash can to eliminate a trip to use the office shredder in another room or office.
• Outdated files with sensitive information are more likely to sit on your desk or in your office for days and weeks.
• In general, irresponsible handling of secure documents can lead to costly data breaches.

Outsourcing

• Lockable shred bins and consoles are strategically placed throughout your business for your employees to place documents to be shred that help minimize the chance of mishandling leading to potential data breaches.

2. Cost

In-House

• “Variable” cost.
• Commercial shredders are expensive and not particularly durable, leading to frequent replacement
• Employees spend valuable time prepping and shredding documents, doing maintenance on in-house shredders and emptying shredded paper into trash cans and dumpsters that can be spent on more productive tasks that will help generate revenue for your business.

Outsourcing

• “Fixed” cost.
• Trained professionals will come to your business location(s), pick up all your confidential documents and shred them at a pre-determined frequency allowing your employees to focus on more “revenue producing” tasks.

3. Employee Safety

In-House

• Faulty office shredders can overheat and be a fire hazard.
• Employees can be injured removing paper jams and performing other maintenance functions to the office shredder.
• Dust particles from shredded documents diminish office air quality that negatively impacts the respiratory health of your employees.

Outsourcing

• A mobile shredding service eliminates these risks. Your documents are shredded securely, on-site by trained professionals.

4. Compliance

In-House

• Businesses must comply with many state and federal privacy laws but most do not have a formal document destruction program with written policies and procedures or a compliance training program.
• Businesses do not have written records that verify proper destruction of documents.

Outsourcing

• A professional shredding service provider will help businesses develop document destruction programs, written policies and procedures and provide compliance training for employees.
• A professional shredding service provider will issue a certificate of destruction at the conclusion of each on-site shredding service so you will have written documentation of your document destruction activity.

As you review all the considerations, it is easy to see that outsourcing with an experienced professional shredding provider is a much safer and cost-effective option for your business.

Commonwealth Document Management offers secure, on-site document shredding, record storage, scanning and hard drive and media destruction services in Virginia and North Carolina.

To get a free quote or find out more about our services, please contact us by phone or by completing the contact form on this page.