5 Important Considerations Before Outsourcing Your Company’s Document Shredding Needs

Once you’ve decided that you need to destroy business documents containing personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI), the next decision will be how to go about destroying them. You can handle shredding in-house, but most businesses hire a professional document shredding service.

Having a professional service take care of data destruction is essential and offers many benefits over shredding sensitive documents yourself. Outsourcing is the safest route, but you must make sure to consider some important things before moving forward with a company for document shredding.

What You Need to Consider Before Hiring a Document Shredding Company

Not all data destruction services are alike; you must ensure the company you choose has the certifications, qualifications, and offerings your business needs. Privacy is the priority — you always want a company that provides certificates of destruction — but there are also other things to consider.

The following are 5 important considerations before outsourcing your company’s document shredding needs.

1. What Do You Need to Destroy?

Before any shredding can happen, you need to consider what exactly you need shredded. Do you need only paper shredding or do you have floppy discs, hard drives, or other computer data equipment that must be destroyed?

Gather any and all documents, files, and hardware you need to be destroyed. It’s vital that you be diligent; you don’t want to miss anything or leave sensitive information lying around any longer than necessary.

2. Consider Security Protocols

The last thing you want from a data destruction service is to watch your sensitive documents and files be carried out the door in someone’s arms, a cardboard box, or a garbage bag. Your company needs a service provider that follows strict procedures for collecting, transporting, shredding, destroying, and disposing of data.

To ensure transparency and data security, everything should be tracked from your facility to the secure disposal facility to the final destination.

3. Does the Company Provide the Type of Shredding You Need?

Not every company will destroy computer hardware or devices; some handle only paper document shredding. Before you go any further, make sure the company you’re considering actually offers what you need.

If you need a combination of services, a company that provides it all will be ideal, safe, efficient, and more affordable than hiring multiple service providers.

4. Is the Company NAID AAA Certified?

The company you choose should be NAID AAA certified for onsite or in-plant hard drives and solid-state shredding if you need any of those computer components destroyed.

Service providers with this certification have passed ongoing audits by third-party security professionals.

Hiring these companies ensures shredding solutions that offer uncompromising quality, privacy, and security.

5. Consider Sustainability

Outsourcing to a company that takes its commitment to the environment seriously is essential. Eco-friendly electronic or paper shredding includes recycling whenever possible with an authorized recycling partner.

Consider the footprint document shredding has and choose a company that protects the environment, community, workers, and data security.

Secure, Certified IT Recycling and Document Shredding

SEAM is NAID AAA certified for onsite and in-plant hard drives, solid-state shredding, in-plant hard drives, and solid-state sanitization. We’re the leading provider of data destruction services in North Dakota and South Dakota. We also offer mobile document shredding in Sioux Falls.

Reach out to us for more information or schedule a pickup today.