One thing that many Toronto professionals have in common is that their client files contain highly sensitive personal data that in the wrong hands, can lead to identity theft and other forms of potentially life-altering fraud. This means that, as a professional servicing the Toronto area, part of your document storage and destruction procedures should include a professional data and document destruction company. Below are some of the reasons why.
Regulatory Compliance
Several industries, such as accounting, legal, banking, finance, etc., are closely regulated and require professionals providing these services to be licensed. Many have rules of conduct that cover practice management.
Because these regulatory bodies are in place to protect the public, many recognize the importance of data security, file management and document destruction, with rules and guidelines for each. Non-compliance can result in administrative penalties or worse.
The right mobile shredding company destroys these sensitive documents in compliance with many generally-accepted practices and is a member of the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID).
Client and Employee Protection
The fallout of a data breach can have a catastrophic effect on your business. Securing your reputation depends on keeping client and employee personally identifiable information (PII) safeguarded at all times – especially when discarding or destroying old records. Don’t take any chances; hire professional, bonded document destruction professionals to ensure it’s done correctly, and your clients and employees remain protected.
More Efficient Time Management
When you hire mobile shredders in Toronto, the ones with long track records of successful service to businesses automate your file storage and destruction process. You can choose to use their secure bins for storage of old files that are ready for destruction and schedule on- or off-site document and electronic device destruction. They come to your door and provide you with a certificate of destruction for licensing and auditing purposes when the materials have been securely destroyed.
Taking this worry and workload off your hands frees you up for more lucrative business tasks like clearing up caseloads and responding to potential clients.
What Documents Need to be Securely Destroyed?
What to dispose of and when to do so depends on the industry you’re in, the relevant laws and recommended best practices for your profession. For example, tax professionals tax must retain accounting records in accordance with the Income Tax Act and in keeping with the CRA’s requirement to keep tax records and supporting documents for six years from the tax year the records pertain to.
That being said, these are some of the items that are typically shredded in a commercial document destruction service:
- Business documents – plans, reports, contracts, etc.
- Old client files containing sensitive information.
- Legal documents, old leases, etc.
- Tax documents, employee personal data and HR and payroll information.
- Employee ID cards and uniforms.
- Electronic data and hard drives, old laptops, tablets and cell phones.
- Flash/USB memory devices, backup tapes and drives.
If you’re a Toronto professional service provider, partner with expert data and document destruction services to give you peace of mind and allow yourself to focus on business tasks that actually grow your business.
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