Coming up with a document destruction and retention plan in Bradenton during the pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has—temporarily, one hopes—thrown much of the daily operation of the world into turmoil. This includes the everyday working environment of Bradenton businesses. With business offices shut down while the pandemic continues to spread, many workers are forced to work remotely from home and may well continue to be so for an extended time.

This situation highlights the need for companies to refine their policies for data and document shredding and retention. The spread of the coronavirus hasn’t shut down companies’ need to protect confidential data, and it certainly hasn’t impacted its chances of being accessed from outside forces. For that reason, companies need to closely examine and reconfigure their document destruction and retention plans for these uncertain times.

Broaden your list of data sources

COVID-19 has forced businesses to re-evaluate all the potential pathways, entry and exit points its private data may take. With the advent of working from home, confidential information is slightly less controllable than it is in a single central point. In addition to workers’ laptops, data can be transmitted and recorded on any number of conference and productivity apps—FaceTime, Zoom, Skype, Slack, and other tools for remote collaborations. While your business can’t monitor every single device or app for the transmission and retention of classified information, you can develop confidentiality standards for each of your employees to follow.

Take hold of your cloud computing policy, but keep offline tools

Cloud computing was already changing the way businesses retain confidential data before the coronavirus pandemic, and now the migration is heavier than ever before. If your business was still relying heavily on hard drives (or even CD-ROMs) for data storage, chances are your dependence on those items has been shifted to online tools. But even though your policies need to reflect that change, you may still be required to keep the old storage tools intact for legal reasons. Your document management policy should still cover both.

Utilize more shredding options

With multiple workers now basing their operations from home, it’s important to review and choose a regular process of document shredding and data destruction that keeps pace with your pre-coronavirus policies. But the most effective and valid options don’t include each employee buying or getting their own personal shredders—these consumer-oriented tools usually don’t do a thorough enough job to ensure legal compliance. Possibilities include scheduling remote pick-ups from shredding companies at each of your employees’ residences (or a centralized, agreed-upon point), or letting them deliver documents to an off-site facility.

The COVID-19 crisis hasn’t taken away the need for responsible and careful oversight of your Bradenton company’s documentation. ShredQuick can help you take better care of your customers’ privacy and your business’s secrecy. Find out how we can help by getting in touch with us today.