Gilmore Blog https://www.gilmoreservices.com/blog/author/jim-beran

Once tax season is over, many businesses take the opportunity to review their document retention schedules and destroy hard drives and documents they no longer need. It’s a good time to do it and allows you to ensure that you’re in compliance with regulations and best practices.

Anybody who’s been paying attention to the news knows that data breaches have become increasingly common. Data thefts have affected large companies like Target as well as smaller companies around the world.

HIPAA compliance requires adherence to HIPAA laws regarding the storage and destruction of health records is a must for every provider. HIPAA outlines administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protect patient information.

Security is important for every organization. It’s common for business to have systems in place to store and destroy their important documents and data according to regulatory requirements. But, even if you’re doing everything right when it comes to document destruction, you might still be leaving yourself at risk in other ways.

What goes into destroying a computer hard drive? The truth is that the security of computer hard drive destruction is far more important than you might think. Erasing files can still leave them vulnerable to retrieval. Physically destroying your hard drives provides ultimate protection of your valuable data.

When they are kept too long or stored insecurely, your business documents and media can become more of a liability than an asset. In fact, improper destruction of data is a common mistake and it can be a costly one.

Document management isn’t just for businesses. We all have important documents that we need for daily life – and that our loved ones will need in the event of our deaths.

Companies who collect and store personal medical information on behalf of their clients must adhere to the regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA.) The law is there to protect people from being denied coverage as well as to shield their privacy.

On October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida. It ultimately proved to be the strongest storm on record in the Panhandle and caused millions of dollars of damages.

Everybody who lives along the Gulf Coast knows that it pays to be prepared for a weather-related disaster. In recent years, hurricanes have ravaged both southern Florida and the panhandle, destroying buildings and causing extensive flooding.

Managing business records can be a full-time job, especially if your company is required to comply with HIPAA, FACTA, or Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. For that reason, paying for secure business records management may actually save your company time and money.

You swear you saved that .GIF to your hard drive for a reason — you know, that one of the cat playing checkers — but newly refreshed in the New Year you just can’t remember why.

Whether your files are in unorganized disarray — crammed into the storage closet for “safekeeping” —  or you actually face the threat of legal penalties, there’s no better time than now to do some document housekeeping. The new year is around the corner, so why not make document storage and compliance your company’s 2018 resolution?

When it comes to the safety of business documents you should hope for the best but plan for the worst. This is especially true if you live in an area prone to natural disasters. A backup plan is a must to protect documents and avoid compromising sensitive information.

The adoption of computer and mobile technology has revolutionized the delivery of medical care over the last two decades. While new technology helps caregivers and medical administrators operate more efficiently than ever before, it also increases security and privacy risks.

As a small business owner or office manager, you take security seriously. Following a retention schedule and destroying documents when the time is right are just two ways you can protect your business and your customers from identity theft and other crimes. But, these steps are also critical to remaining compliant with federal, state, and local laws.

The rapid development of technology means the road to obsolescence is shorter than ever. While many businesses wait for computers to break down before replacing them, that’s not always the most efficient policy. Once computers start to slow down, productivity and employee morale begin to suffer.

If your company is committed to adopting modern records management trends, it’s time to convert some of your paper documents to digital files. Doing so is not only environmentally conscious but this simple process can save money and improve your reputation with clients.

In today’s highly regulated business environment, responsible business owners need to carefully manage and monitor who handles important business documents and when. If your records management plan includes offsite or digital document storage, a specific process, known as the “chain of custody,” needs to be a key part of your security considerations.

If you’re looking for ways to cut costs and maximize revenue in 2017, partnering with a professional paper shredding service is a great place to start. Professional on-site shredding or off-site shredding eliminates many of the risks and extraneous costs related to in-house shredding practices.

As you and your organization enter 2017, is your record management plan starting to feel like Groundhog Day - just the same old routine over and over again with no thought?

If you partner with a moving company for your home or office relocation, you entrust that company with valuable, sometimes irreplaceable, parts of your life. Photographs, antiques, jewelry, electronics and digital data represent just a few of the items a moving company might be asked to carefully package and move on your behalf.

Identity theft is a common concern for both businesses and consumers, and not without reason. A recent study found that $15 billion was stolen from 13.1 million U.S. consumers in 2015. In the past six years, identity thieves have stolen $112 billion.

The New Year is a great time for your business to look ahead and put in place needed changes in key areas, including records management. While the implementation of new processes can be confusing and unorganized, it doesn’t need to be, and improved processes can ultimately benefit your business in the long run.

Hard drives hold your business’s most valuable information, including proprietary data, financial statements and employee records. While the use of hard drives are widely prevalent and often necessary, the value of this information can create a problematic scenario when it comes time to upgrade your company’s hardware and increase technological efficiency.

Unfortunately, you can’t simply throw a hard drive in the trash at the end of its useful life and hope the information it contains will remain safe.

Going “paperless” is increasingly viewed as a key sign of a modern business. However, it’s not always in a company’s best interest to cut paper entirely out of record-keeping and other processes. Instead, it often makes more sense to simply cut back on paper use and begin the transition to paperless records management with digital files.

Handling your shredding needs in the office with a consumer-grade shredder might seem like a cost-effective and time-efficient way to destroy your company’s confidential documents, but your business might not save as much money and time as you think. In-house shredding can waste valuable employee time, increases the potential for mistakes and even poses security risks.

When considering document storage solutions, many businesses disregard professional third-party options over cost concerns. Storing documents in house or in a self-storage unit is often viewed as a cost-effective alternative to professional solutions.

Putting an effective records management solution in place takes time, organization, and commitment. A solid record keeping procedure can help keep your company compliant, enable more streamlined access to information, and protect sensitive information over time. The anatomy of a successful records management plan includes things like:

Keeping business operations streamlined and running smoothly is a key goal for many business owners. After all, as your business grows, so too do clients, responsibilities, and business documents.

Business documents may include the paper documents you house on-site, or the electronic records you keep for each new customer. Managing records is a necessary aspect of many businesses, but keeping them organized and secure over time can present an unforeseen challenge for many business owners and administrative professionals.