Gilmore Blog https://www.gilmoreservices.com/blog

Secure and reliable storage is essential. Whether you're a restaurant owner needing extra space for equipment or a company looking to safeguard valuable assets, Gilmore offers state-of-the-art 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) Commercial Warehousing in Pensacola. Our modern facility, strategically located near downtown Pensacola and I-110, also provides quick access to the Port of Pensacola, ensuring your goods are stored safely and efficiently.

If your company collects and stores medical records, then you know that it’s your legal responsibility to secure those records to protect your patients’ privacy. Likewise, medical record destruction is something that’s mandated by HIPAA.

Tis the season for school shopping, lunch box notes, bus rides, and - identity theft?! Unfortunately, the back-to-school season is a fruitful time for identity theft as vaccination records, free and reduced lunch applications, birth certificates, and other secure and confidential documents change hands, both physically and electronically. Whether you're scanning copies of vital records to your computer and then emailing them to the school or making a copy and sending it with your little one on the first day, you could be at risk of a breach. 

Preparing for natural disasters is one of the most important things you can do, especially if you live in an area where these weather-based issues are more common. As part of your preparedness goals, you'll want to consider document imaging. That involves scanning paper documents and uploading them to a secure, electronic storage location as part of your disaster recovery plans.

By their very nature, law firms generate a tremendous amount of records. Most, if not all of those records, whether on paper or in digital form, contain sensitive information that must be cared for properly to protect the firm and the privacy its clients.

Spring, what a wonderful time of year. The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming and the sun’s shining just a little bit brighter. But the season isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. It’s also the time of year when many successful businesses start cleaning up the office.

Juggling ever-changing records management practices can be a challenge, especially when it comes to the digital processes that we have become comfortable with.

While many records managers monitor industry trends, it's important to fully understand each aspect of records management on a detailed level, including the proper methods for destroying hard drives.

Workers in a commercial warehouse don’t have only their customers’ products to worry about – they also have to worry about best practices for data security. Commercial warehousing has a lot of paper and digital data, including client and customer information and product information. Your employees are your first line of security, so they must have proper training in best practices for commercial warehousing data security.

Commercial warehouses use two methods of quality monitoring their operations: Quality control and quality assurance. Many warehouses use the terms interchangeably, but there is a difference. Your main office could be hundreds or thousands of miles from a commercial warehouse, depending on your operations. You’re not there to make sure the commercial warehouse is doing its job. Gilmore provides quality assurance for all warehouse transactions to ensure that your product is handled and delivered with care.

Whether you are an employee or a CEO, you need to know how to keep your customer’s information safe. Most companies now have extensive cybersecurity policies for everyone to follow, but it’s still imperative that you stay aware of security breaches. Employees could go rogue, or customers and patients could lift documents off desks. Employees could err by inadvertently sharing sensitive information or clicking on links that are viruses or keyloggers.

The number of documents that legal and financial professionals ultimately accumulate can be considerable. Organizing, filing, and securing these documents can become a full-time job in and of itself, which explains why this task is so often pushed aside in favor of more pressing matters. If you’re interested in better storage, you should know that the benefits of taking control of all the chaos will be immeasurable. Gilmore specializes in this secure document storage because we know just how much our clients rely on the additional protection. 

When it’s time to move, you want a moving company that is trustworthy and insured. Gilmore provides residential and commercial moving services. We can help you move in the Pensacola and surrounding areas. One of the benefits of businesses that use us for moving includes data protection. We can store documents that you no longer need to keep in the office, or we can scan the documents and then store them if you feel you might need easier access to them.

Whether you are moving your office or your home, you need to take certain steps to protect your data. This is the perfect time to declutter your office or home office, too, since you should shred any document with an expired retention time. Gilmore provides help with moving your office or home office by offering shredding and moving services. Once you go through the documents and set aside those you no longer need to keep, consider using Gilmore to move the rest of the documents to your new office. Another alternative is to scan documents that you still need to retain but no longer need to keep in the office.

Security is important both at home and in the office. It’s important to safely dispose of unwanted papers. Otherwise, your paperwork could fall into the hands of criminals intent on stealing your identity or the private information of your customers.

First, let's explore who typically utilizes one time shredding services. One-time shredding services are most helpful for individuals and companies who have a large number of confidential documents that need to be destroyed. Examples include small businesses or startups who have accumulated a large number of documents; legal firms; healthcare organizations; government agencies; financial institutions; and individuals.

Customer data in 2023 has never been more valuable for hackers. As the economy rises and falls, and programs like ChatGPT make malware easier to access than ever before, the pressure on organizations just keeps dialing up. It can be nerve-wracking for decision-makers who don’t want to take any chances.

While relocating to a new home or business can be overwhelming, it's also a great opportunity to reduce overwhelm by decluttering and purging. Because you're going through your belongings one by one in order to pack them away, it's the most opportune time to evaluate which items still add value and which items can be donated, thrown away, sold, or securely destroyed. You might not immediately consider documents in the list of things-to-review, but documents belong near the top of the list. Moving documents that contain confidential information from one home or business to the next poses risk to everyone involved; be sure to move only those that you still need.

One of the decisions you'll make as you choose a shredding provider is whether shredding will be performed on-site or off-site.

It’s tax season, which means that you are getting tax forms in the mail, via email and downloading them from various employers, stock trading accounts, banks, and other accounts. You may be doing your taxes online. You should ensure that your data stays safe as it travels through cyberspace. All sites should be secure – they will have an “HTTPS” instead of “HTTP.” You should also use encryption for your email.

When someone steals your personal information and Social Security number, he or she can file a tax return and fraudulently claim a refund. If you are a victim of tax identity theft, you may not be able to file an electronic tax return. The IRS recommends filing a paper return if you cannot file an electronic return. The IRS should notify you if someone filed a tax return in your name.

Nurses are tasked with gathering patient information; thus, they are at the front of patient privacy and information security. Even with the extensive safety protocols in place in most doctors’ offices, hospitals, and other medical establishments, the staff must stay on top of information security to guard against the identity theft of medical records. It is doubly important for those working in smaller medical establishments, as many identity thieves believe – and hope – that information security is not as strong as in larger medical establishments.

It’s nearly the end of the year, which means the year-end paper purge is upon you. Now is the time you should start going through the stacks of paper you saved over the year. If this is the first time doing a paper purge, start with separating documents that are past their retention time and those that you need to keep longer. You can then file those you need to keep to make the year-end paper purge easier next year.

While it’s a good practice to have a retention schedule and get rid of documents at the end of their retention time, storing documents where they can be damaged by storms, could damage them to the point they are useless. Whether you are a business or an individual, you should keep copies of your documents – either with a third party or scanned onto an external hard drive that you can lock up and take with you should your business flood.

A client's financial data is what makes an accounting firm go 'round. Thus, they should have a great records management system. Missing records, poor documentation, and regulatory write-ups can be a nightmare. One missing spreadsheet could mean an expensive mistake for the client and the accounting firm. Nintex found that 49 percent of respondents to a study said that locating documents was a problem in their organizations. Some accounting firms keep boxes and boxes of records – records they don't really need to keep. Creating a records retention schedule helps keep your clients' records organized. It also significantly reduces the risk of identity thieves hitting the jackpot if they break into your business.

When you need shredding services, one of the areas you want to consider is what type of shredding equipment is being used. Some of it works better than others, and you don't want any sensitive information falling into the wrong hands. Standard paper shredders work for most things, but you may want to consider whether a strip-cut shredder or cross-cut shredder is the best choice for your needs.

Document destruction is very important to make sure that people aren't getting access to sensitive information. A lot of people just toss things into the trash and don't worry about what happens to them afterward. While that's generally fine for some items, there are plenty of other pieces of paper that could have important details on them. You don't want just anyone to get their hands on any of that. Proper document destruction is the way to reduce that risk and have more peace of mind.

Sending kids back to school can be worrisome, but one of the most commonly overlooked risks is the lack of security when it comes to their personal documents and vital records. When living in common spaces, sharing electronic devices, discarding mail in the trash, and attending class away from the dorm and their belongings, students are at risk of identity theft, credit card fraud, and more. 

All employees who have access to confidential organizational data or private client or employee information have a responsibility to keep their computers secure, but employees who work remotely face additional risks and challenges. When working remotely, employees are more likely to use their computer for personal reasons, leave their computer unlocked and unattended, and connect to unsecured networks. Protecting confidential information when working from home can keep your organization, coworkers, and customers safe from the threat of identity theft. These tips and tricks can help.

If you're considering moving in Northwest Florida you need to make sure you're working with the right company. Fortunately you can get a good idea of what you're looking for by knowing what a quality moving company should provide. You don't want to get stuck moving along Gulf Coast areas with a company that doesn't have your best interests in mind. 

Data encryption is the process of making digital files and emails unreadable by anyone who does not have the key. It keeps your data away from prying eyes, identity thieves and hackers. If you were to try to read an encrypted file without the key, it would be a mess of jumbled letters and / or numbers. An example of data encryption is online banking. When you pull up your bank account, you access the data through 128-bit encryption. Thus, only you can see your bank account information.

Many businesses and government agencies have schedules for record retention and disposal. Certain types of records are kept longer while others are kept for a shorter time. But the actual disposal of records should have specific procedures, especially if they contain personally identifiable information (PII).

When disaster strikes you need to know that your business operations will continue to run smoothly and your information systems won’t be completely uprooted. A document disaster recovery plan will help to minimize disruption to the normal operations of your business while preventing or limiting the extent of damage.

Gilmore recently provided trucks for annual shredding events in Pensacola, FL, and Mobile, AL. Designed to help people cut down on the odds of identity theft, the two events drew in 2,622 drop-offs and 89,000 pounds of document destruction. 

As technology has become essential to the business world and life in general, we often hear about data breaches and how it has completely destroyed a lot of companies and compromised sensitive information. 

When your hard drive quits or storage drive becomes null-and-void, it’s easy to just pile all of it up in a corner or back room. You promise to attend to it later, but you never really get around to it. Or worse, you toss it in the trash as-is so you never have to look at it again. Maybe you wipe it first, or maybe you just hope that the password protection will be enough. However, consider what’s on a busted piece of technology. What kind of password lists or files are waiting to be discovered by a criminal who considers themselves the Indiana Jones of identity theft? We’ll look at why you should shred your old tech and who can help you out when you don’t know what to do with all your old devices. 

Another year of tax season is here and you may be wondering what to with old tax returns. The truth is, it depends. There are different timelines assigned to certain documents that may require you to keep your tax returns and supporting information longer than normal recommendations. Once you have spoken to someone with authority who can provide sound recommendations, that’s when you move forward.

Identity theft is a draw for criminals, one that allows them to wreak havoc on people’s lives while being shrouded in secrecy. When tax season pops up, the stakes get even higher. All the information, from your Social Security number to your transcript, is often relatively easy to both intercept and capitalize on. The best thing for anyone to do right now is to be aware of how criminals function and who they target — because it’s not always the wealthiest people. In fact, it’s more likely to be an everyday person who just got a little careless about security. 

Using a company for RIM services significantly decreases the risk of losing important information. You not only know where all of your business records are but they are also kept safe from prying eyes. And, when combined with a retention schedule, your business records won't ever take over digital or physical storage.

Dealing with inclement weather any time of year can be hectic, but knowing how to protect paper from weather conditions that can affect your operations is critical. Businesses that use document storage methods to keep paper records intact face an uphill battle, especially because certain conditions can damage those documents. Too much moisture, too much heat, and water damage are all factors to consider.

Many organizations utilize commercial document storage centers to maintain their paper or digital records for the recommended or required retention period. For paper records, this can clear up much-needed real estate in your brick-and-mortar office, keep files organized for easier access, and take the burden of tracking destruction dates and maintaining archived records off your plate. For digital records, this gives you access to expensive scanning and storage software, allowing you to customize the structure to meet your needs. For both, it ensures your document storage services meet the stringent security standards set by government agencies and other regulatory bodies in your industry.

Most Americans have paper waste at home that would pose a risk if disposed of in the garbage can, like bank statements, tax returns that are beyond their retention period, loan applications, and more. Any document that contains your date of birth, social security number, passwords, signatures, bank account number, or credit card number can be used by criminals to steal your identity and cause you harm. Additionally, documents that contain your address, phone number, email address, family history (i.e. mother's maiden name, grandparents' names, etc.), children's names or dates of birth, and more can be used to guess passwords and initiate unwanted contact. Shredding documents that contain confidential information is key.

If you are starting a new job working from a home office, you need to get the office ready before the first day of work. Being prepared is the best way to start and be successful in a new venture. Part of getting ready – other than furnishing the office – is to organize the services you will need, including document shredding. An office deals with many documents and digital media that contain others' private information.

As the end of another year approaches, now is a good time to evaluate your document destruction policy and consider your end-of-year shredding strategy. While it's easy to get a little relaxed about documents that have reached the end of life, leaving them in storage beyond their shred date poses risk to your home and your identity security. Year-end purging can help free up space in your home, remove fire hazards, protect your personal information, and prevent threats of identity theft or fraud. While year-end document shredding can seem overwhelming, we're here to help.

In Florida, winter can be very wet. Unlike other areas where it’s very cold, there are certain parts of the state that have rain no matter what time of year. It’s always a good idea to be prepared for anything when living in Florida, and businesses should have a good scanning and storing system in place to accommodate any unforeseen flooding that can wreak havoc on their business, documents, and systems. Finding a good partner that understands the logistics of Florida’s ever-changing inclement weather to safely carry out a document management plan is key.

It’s the time of year when it’s time to review and reflect on what’s occurred throughout the year. It’s also a time where purging should be at an all-time high. Document shredding should be on schedule for the final weeks of the year, in addition to document scanning for documents and data that can’t be disposed of. Knowing which records to retain and which ones can be destroyed can make or break an organization that deals with sensitive data. An effective plan must be in place and carried out on a consistent basis.

While people have worked remotely for a long time, the concept was not popular with workplaces until the Covid-19 pandemic forced businesses deemed non-essential to close down or find alternative ways to keep running. Luckily for many offices, they are mostly digital, so remote employees could keep the business going.

You can increase productivity and security in your office by using a document scanning service. Whether the files are active or in retention, scanning them into a secure cloud server allows you to access them when needed and keeps them secure from prying eyes. If you are not ready to move to a 100 percent digital office, you can not only scan the documents, which makes it easier to find them and secure them, but you can take advantage of our secure document storage.

Data breaches can happen to anyone, regardless of the size of the company. A breach, whether of physical or digital documents, can cost you a lot of money. You could be fined, and the person whose identity was stolen could sue you. You can take steps to minimize the chances of a data breach. Combining document destruction, document scanning, records storage, cloud storage and implementing a strong security system for your computers are all things you can do to minimize a data breach.

Trusting a company to handle scanning your records, whether they are your HR records or your clients' files, is a big step for some businesses. When it comes to scanning and storage, you want to make sure that the company you choose scans every document and that the document storage facility is secure.

Shredding documents and then recycling them doesn't really help the environment when you can't send those documents to a recycling facility that handles tiny pieces of paper. When you shred paper, it shortens the fibers and makes the paper just about useless. However, because we at Gilmore have so many documents – bales of them every day – we send the shredded documents to a special recycling plant that is able to use these tiny pieces of paper to make other products.

While aftereffects from Covid-19 aren’t over, many companies require their employees to return to office areas. What does that mean? It means that those employees who were working from home need document shredding solutions to ensure no company data or information is compromised. In addition, the company must have storage and other solutions ready to ensure a smooth return.

You’re ready to get back in the swing of things and are considering downsizing your home office. There are tons of things you can do, but first, determine why you are downsizing. Have your needs changed? Are you going back to the office? Businesses have a few challenges ahead as they determine whether they will start employing a full staff at the office, keep a rotating hybrid of employees, or want to go entirely remote. For employees, as you’re contemplating what’s next, consider the following:

During Florida's wet seasons, it's easy enough for businesses to get flooded, even those that are not in flood zones. You can save your clients' documents by taking the steps to go paperless or, at the very least, by using a document storage and scanning service. When you decide to go paperless, that means that you will probably have to scan hundreds or thousands of documents that have not reached the end of their retention time. It sounds like a big chore that most would rather ignore.

With identity theft more prevalent than ever and more and more companies going fully digital, the risk of customer data getting into the wrong hands is even higher. Most companies have good security, but they don't think about letting data on old hard drives getting into criminals' hands. 

Although many offices have resorted to going full-paperless, there are still many businesses that have not taken the time to assess their document storage protocols. Having a professional document storage company you can tap into to assist in protecting sensitive data is key. Why is document storage so important?

People are often at one end of the spectrum or another – they either keep tax records forever or throw them away as soon as they do their taxes. If you're in the former category, it's time to go through all of those old records and shred those you don't need to keep. If you're in the latter category, you need to keep your tax record for up to seven years.

A hard drive is a particularly valuable item to a criminal. Whether it starts as an idle curiosity or a full-fledged identity theft scheme, hard drives contain much information that people would prefer to keep private. If you own a business, it's up to you to keep your customers' information from falling into the wrong hands. The ripple effects of just one identity breach can branch into areas of people's lives that they may not have even realized were possible. Merely wiping a hard drive can't always do the job, and this is a common fallacy that can land people in hot water. Real hard drive destruction takes the whole process a step further, so you're assured that all the data stored on that drive is gone forever. 

Confidentiality in the workplace has always been important, but modern offices have complicated the status quo. With every technology upgrade, the workforce is forced to adjust to new procedures and expectations. New workplace laws come out to set the standards for businesses and threaten serious penalties in the face of violations. As much work as it is though, confidentiality needs to take priority. The loss of information can mean anything from legal hassles to a complete shutdown of a business. To keep your livelihood protected, here are five tips to getting it right.

In 1955, Jim Gilmore started a company to help people and businesses move their precious, sentimental and personal belongings. What started as a moving company has evolved into a business that goes beyond transportation. Under the direction of our father, Ronnie Gilmore, we expanded our services to include document management and storage, shredding and data hard drive destruction, and digital imaging and scanning, among others. Today, we serve over 6,000 clients from along the Gulf Coast to across the country.

It's tax season again, which means that you should go through your tax files and shred documents that you no longer have to keep.

Congratulations on closing on your new home!

You might not even think of it, but you have tons of confidential information on your computer, phone, tablet, external hard drives, USB drives and other digital media.

When you are looking for a shredding company, you need to check several factors, including the locality and the certification. Making a list titled how to choose shredding company and googling shredding company near me helps you locate local companies and compare services and certifications.

Many people believe that federal law always trumps state law, but this is not always the case. One such case involvesHIPAA regulations for medical records management.

When you are a law firm, you are held to a higher standard for protecting your clients’ data. Identity theft is a real problem that could cost your law firm hefty fines. One of the more significant issues a law firm has is that they store records right in the office.

Keeping your clients’ and employees’ sensitive information away from prying eyes is something every company should stay on top of. Even an inadvertent breach could result in hefty fines. You can protect data in your office, but what happens to that data after you’re done with it?

As a business manager or owner, you want to protect your client's confidential information, so you make the smart move and decide to work with a local shredding service company.  But is that shredding service provider AAA NAID Certified?

Smaller businesses often forego retaining a shredding company because they believe they do not have enough paper or digital media to shred. Gilmore Services provides shredding services for small and large companies by offering one-time purge shredding and ongoing shredding.

If your business shreds documents in-house or does not shred documents at all, you should consider retaining a shredding company to help you prevent your customers’ information from being stolen or hacked from your computers. Shredding documents with an over-the-counter shredder might not create pieces of documents that are small enough, which means they are at risk of being recreated.

Did you know that the Federal Trade Commission ranks Florida as number 2 on the list for highest number of identity theft cases in 2017?  You can see the rankings from 2017 here. 

If information security is not at the top of your list, it should be. You could have to pay large fines should you experience a data breach. While most companies know about securing data, their employees may have some habits that open companies to identity theft and data breaches. Our five recommendations to create a more secure environment for company data include:

Data protection is a priority for small businesses. A single data breach can cost thousands of dollars in revenue and do irreparable damage to your company’s reputation.

Anytime you prepare to move from one place to another, you need help. Very few of us could move our belongings without assistance. For many people, a move means asking friends to help.

Businesses that are bound by HIPAA regulations, including those who are in the health care industry and related spaces, must take care to dispose of patients’ personal health information properly.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to some couples deciding to quarantine together. That makes sense from the standpoint of companionship during what would otherwise be a lonely time, but it also represents some challenges.

The new reality created by the COVID-19 pandemic has led many businesses to embrace the idea of employees working remotely. As the crisis continues, we expect to see more business consolidating their workspace to reduce overhead expenses.

Small businesses have been hit hard by the mandatory closures and changes mandated during the COVID-19 pandemic. One way to get relief is to apply for an emergency loan as provided for in the CARES Act.

When you think about shredding personal document, your focus is probably on financial documents. Anything that could potentially compromise your credit or put you at risk of identity theft is an obvious chose for shredding and you’re not likely to overlook it.

Spring is rapidly approaching and for many companies, it’s the ideal time to do some spring cleaning by clearing out and shredding old documents.

Even when everything goes smoothly, moving can be stressful. It becomes more so when something doesn’t go as planned, or when you inadvertently make a mistake that costs you time or money.

You may be getting ready to file your 2020 income tax return, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start planning for next year’s taxes. In fact, the decisions you make now can have a huge impact on how long it takes you to complete next year’s filing when tax season rolls around.

One of the most challenging aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting changes to our working environments has been maintaining HIPAA compliance when treating patients remotely.

One of the things we have all been learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic is that we are all interconnected in ways we may have taken for granted. Those connections include both our personal lives and our businesses.

Like all of you, we have been following the COVID-19 pandemic news with concern and sadness. This is a difficult time for the entire world, and we must all come together if we hope to come through this challenge.

We’ve all had to adjust to a new reality thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the biggest changes has been that many of us are now working from our homes.

Are you worried about identity theft? If you’re not, then you should be – at least a little. It’s important to take precautions to protect your personal data from hackers and thieves.

It’s easier than ever to save digital information. Most of us have thousands of files between our email inboxes, cloud storage, social media sites, and our phones. And while it can seem like a good idea to save everything “just in case,” the opposite may be true.

Are you preparing to move? If you are, then you need to make sure you have the necessary moving supplies before you hire a local moving company. The right supplies will help you to have a stress-free moving experience.

Tax season is here. For a lot of small business owners in Florida, it’s a stressful and busy time. With the pressure of tax filing deadlines and documentation requirements, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Is your company still using a manual paper shredder? There are many businesses that rely on employees to shred documents instead of partnering with a local shredding service.

Does your company have valuable proprietary information stored on your hard drives? A lot of businesses store important information, including client records, data, product research and more on hard drives on their premises.

Records management is a crucial concern for every healthcare practice. Not only do you have a moral obligation to your patients to manage their records responsibly, but you also have a legal responsibility under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to have a secure health record management system in place.

Do you have too many things or too much space? If you do, then you may want to consider becoming a minimalist. It’s a big step but one that can bring a great deal of harmony and peace to your life.

Managing a big project can be stressful, and it can also present an organizational challenge. In addition to bringing groups of people together, you also need to share access to important documents and other resources.

Complying with HIPAA law is a requirement for all companies in the healthcare industry as well as all medical providers. If you’re starting your own business and HIPAA law affects you, you might be feeling overwhelmed at the thought of adhering to HIPAA regulations.

There are few things people dread more than the process of moving. Even when the move is an exciting one, moving is a lot of work and can cause significant stress. That stress may be elevated if your current home is cluttered with belongings.

Whether you live alone or with other people, you may be wondering whether it’s time to upsize from an apartment to a house. The decision may feel like an obvious one – but what if you’re not certain?

Moving is both exciting and stressful. When you’re moving to a new state, there are elements of uncertainty that can complicate the move and raise questions.

The holiday shopping season is here and it’s important to consider security when you pull out your credit card to buy gifts.

Moving from one place to another can be stressful, particularly if you plan to move at a busy time of  year. For example, trying to book a move in a college town in August or September can be a real challenge!

Storing customer data puts you in the position of being responsible for protecting your customers’ personal information. Whether you’re storing financial data such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers and Social Security numbers, or personal healthcare information, you have a moral and legal responsibility to act responsibly.

Moving is stressful for people and it can be even more stressful for pets. After all, you and your family understand the move and why it’s happening. Your pet doesn’t.

HIPAA privacy policies exist to protect patients’ personal health information. The responsibility of complying with HIPAA regulations falls with healthcare providers, insurance companies, and any other organization that collects and stores health records.

Even if your finances and personal affairs are uncomplicated, you still have personal documents that you must retain for legal purposes. But you might not be clear about which documents you need to keep and how long you need to retain them.

Is your business bound by HIPAA, FACTA or Sarbanes-Oxley regulations? If so, then you have a legal responsibility to maintain accurate records and destroy them according to the timetables specified by the law.

Every company should be concerned with information security. The average data breach costs $3.9 million and can do irreparable damage to your company’s reputation. The same is true with compliance missteps, which can cost thousands of dollars in fines and lost trust.

Does Your Contingency Plan Include a Disaster Recovery Plan?

Moving in with your significant other is a big moment in any relationship. It means that you’re blending your lives into a new, shared life. And, while it’s a happy moment and something to be celebrated, it can also be quite stressful if you don’t approach it properly.

Data destruction is in the news frequently – and for good reason! It seems that hardly a month goes by without a new story about a major data breach. In some cases, these breaches are the result of poor security. And in others, the issue is improper destruction of data.

Hurricane season is in full swing and with it, a heightened sense of urgency about preparing your business for a big storm and the hassles that come with it. 

There are few things in life more time-consuming and expensive than moving. Whether you’ve just bought your first home or you’re downsizing, you’ve got a long to-do list. And, if you’re like most people, you’re probably concerned about how much it will cost.

Gilmore Services is a family-owned company and we do business the "old-fashioned way". A lot of businesses say that, but we do it. Here’s what we mean by old-fashioned:

Packing your belongings is one of the most time-consuming parts of moving. Whether you’ve just bought a new home or you’re opening a new office, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and frustrated by the process.

Hurricane season is here. In Florida, those words must be taken seriously. Hurricane preparedness is essential for every business.

Every business in Florida knows the importance of planning for disaster recovery. In recent years, hurricane season has led to significant downtime for local companies. Proper planning is a must.

What should you do with business hard drives you’re no longer using? That’s an important question to ask – and answering it incorrectly can lead to significant risks down the line.

Do you have important paper documents and electronic storage for your company? If you do, then it’s essential to have a disaster recovery system in place to ensure that your documents are protected during a disaster and accessible after the fact.

As more businesses turn to paperless documents and storage, it’s essential to have a plan for managing e-waste. You need to protect your valuable data, but you also need to figure out how to properly dispose of electronics that you’re no longer using.

Do you handle your paper shredding in-house? If you do, you might be wondering if you should be researching paper shredding services as a more secure and efficient alternative. 

Healthcare providers must adhere to HIPAA regulations to protect patients’ healthcare information. Even if you plan on disposing of electronic devices yourself, you must understand HIPAA rules or risk being penalized and fined.

Do you have a data destruction schedule for your business? Even if you’re not bound by regulations such as HIPAA and FACTA, you still have a responsibility to your clients to protect their information and destroy it properly.

As a business owner, it’s your job to maintain accurate records and destroy them in accordance with regulations. While it might be tempting to simply buy a shredder and do your shredding in-house, there are some reasons that security experts don’t recommend it.

Adhering to HIPAA regulations is a must for all healthcare providers and for any company that handles protected patient information. That means that your document storage, transportation, and destruction must all be HIPAA compliant.

For many companies, it’s important to conduct their business in a way that’s environmentally responsible. It’s part of the reason that Gilmore Services’ document scanning and electronic storage options are popular. They allow organizations to keep their documentation for as long as necessary without printing items unnecessarily.

Documents are important to every business. Whether you’re storing client contracts, printing invoices, or filing your taxes, you need to maintain accurate records and ensure that you and your employees have what you need to make your company a success.

Getting ready to move is exciting, but it can also be quite stressful. Whether you’re moving your home or your office, it’s important to have a plan in place to ensure you don’t forget anything important.

Document storage is not something you can afford to take lightly. Before you partner with a document storage provider to store and safeguard your most important business records, it’s important to ask a few key questions to ensure that the provider you choose has the expertise to protect them.

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.

Filing taxes is an annual requirement and one that can occupy a lot of time for both individuals and businesses. Once your taxes are filed, you might want to relax and forget about them. But, you’ll need to consider what to do with the documents related to your taxes.

Record retention is important for every business. Depending on the industry, enterprises are required to retain a variety of documents in adherence with regulations and destroy them on a schedule. Individuals also need to think about record retention and dispose of personal information properly.

Moving is a time-consuming endeavor. Whether you do the move yourself or hire movers to handle it for you, there are decisions to be made, belongings to be packed, and services to be canceled and arranged.

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.

Every organization that stores health and medical records on behalf of patients must adhere to HIPAA regulations. The regulations specify which records must be stored, which security measures must be taken, and when records must be destroyed.

Destroying a hard drive isn’t as easy as you might think. Even data on a drive that’s been severely damaged can sometimes still be retrieved. That’s a scary thought if your organization needs to destroy data in accordance with HIPAA or FACTA regulations.

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.

Moving important medical records from one point to another is far more involved than moving office furniture and supplies. You have a responsibility to the people whose records you store to keep their personal information secure. You also have a legal obligation under HIPAA to adhere to their privacy and security guidelines.

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.

Every company has a responsibility to keep accurate accounts. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 dictates specific record-keeping and accounting requirements. Failure to comply with them can lead to legal penalties as well as damage to your reputation.

Are you taking care to properly destroy the hard drives where you store sensitive business information? A surprising number of businesses are not, and it cost them. The average business data breach in the United States costs $7.9 million dollars in lost revenue and eroded trust.

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.

Moving confidential medical records from one location to another can present a real challenge. Any time you move data, you must comply with HIPAA regulations to protect your patients’ privacy. A move represents a potential problem if your data isn’t properly handled and secured at all times.

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.

Shredding documents is a critical component of compliance with regulations like HIPAA and FACTA. When documents are not properly destroyed, there’s a risk that they might be stolen or reconstructed, thus compromising the privacy and security of your clients.

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.

Moving medical records involves far more than simply packing them into boxes and loading them onto a truck. HIPAA regulations require any company that stores and transports personal health information (PHI) to take precautions to ensure that the documents they maintain are protected from unauthorized access, theft, and damage.

Storing business documents is a concern for every company. Without proper storage, you run the risk of misplacing documents or losing them to water damage and other environmental hazards. And, if your company stores financial or health records, improper storage can lead to regulatory infractions.

Dealing with your company’s valuable data requires care and attention. It’s your responsibility to safeguard your clients’ privacy and adhere to any regulations that apply to the storage and destruction of the data you collect.

Hiring a moving company is a big decision. Make the wrong choice, and you might end up with a frustrating experience that includes late arrival and departure times, unpleasant service, and even damaged belongings.

Properly indexing, storing, and destroying documents according to regulations can be a time-consuming task. Many companies struggle to keep up, and yet, the cost of improperly storing and destroying documents can be astronomical.

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.

Document imaging provides businesses with an affordable and effective way to safeguard their essential documents. It can also be an important part of a small business disaster recovery plan.

Every small business owner knows that keeping track of essential documents is a must. In the event of a disaster, your ability to access those documents can help you stay in business even if you can’t get to your office.

Records and Information Management, or RIM as we call it, is an essential part of keeping your valuable business records and data secure. It’s not uncommon for companies to make mistakes when managing their records due to carelessness or inexperience.

Regardless of your industry, data breaches are a serious threat. Your data (and data you store on behalf of your clients) is vulnerable to attack. It’s your job to do whatever you can to protect it.

Planning a move can be stressful and time-consuming. For many people, hiring a moving company is the solution to alleviating some of the stress.

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.

Storing sensitive documents yourself might seem like a cost-effective and smart thing to do. You won’t need to pay a professional storage service and you’ll always be sure that you know where your documents are.  However, document self-storage is not as safe as you might think.

If you’re moving from a house to a condo, you might be wondering what to do with your belongings. Downsizing from a large space to a smaller one may require you to make some difficult decisions about what to keep and what to sell, recycle, or throw away.

All businesses create documents to record customer and client interactions and maintain employee records. While it’s important to store those documents for some time, both government regulations and personal preferences may make it necessary to destroy them.

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.

All good things must come to an end, and business information is no exception.

Even if destroying physical and electronic information isn’t at the top of your priority list, that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. Destruction is a crucial part of the information lifecycle, which protects against fraud, identity theft and ensures security of business and client interests.

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?

Why partner with a shredding company when you can just buy a shredder yourself? I mean, document destruction is as easy as grabbing some files, putting them through the shredder and calling it day, right? Well, not exactly.

So you need to move your office but don’t know where to start. No problem! That’s where I come in — I am the moving boxes you need for your next office move. Moving is often a painstaking and time consuming process, but it doesn’t have to be.

I’ve got a few tips to streamline your Pensacola move and make the process as painless as possible for you (and me).

As most of us know from first-hand experience, moving can be one of the most stressful experiences in life. In fact, moving is high on the list of stressors next to divorce, death of a loved one and job loss. There are many reasons we move to a new home, like a new job, a nicer or bigger home to be closer to loved ones, or even out of necessity from a natural disaster. Whether you’re moving across town or across country, the anticipation of planning, packing, and the disruption of your routine is enough to make anyone feel stressed.

As your business grows, a filing cabinet is often not enough to contain all of your important records. Threats like theft, prying eyes and environmental dangers like mold or water damage can seriously harm your important documents and put your business at risk.

Packing a storeroom with boxes or renting a storage unit may seem like an easy fix, but is it the best way to keep your important records, and business, safe?  

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.

For some, document management might seem like a luxury and not a need. You might wonder the reason for seeking records management services when organizing, storing and disposing of documents could take place in-house. To answer this question, business owners don’t have to look much farther than a colleague's cluttered storage closet, or, even worse, their own disarray of boxes and loose papers.  

Document storage might not be the most exciting part of your job as an office manager, but that doesn’t mean it’s not vital to your company’s operations. Privacy, security, and compliance are all at stake when you decide where and how to store company documents.

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 business owner or facility manager, you probably associate the concept of “bigger and better” with the idea of moving your business to a new location. But sometimes, even for companies that are doing just fine financially, opting for a smaller location offers even more benefits as far as streamlining, simplifying, and cutting operating costs.

Whether you’re moving into your family’s dream home, downsizing, or relocating your growing business, across the country or just across town, moving is both exciting and stressful. With the right preparation and professional help, it can be a wonderful experience. But some common mishaps can make an already difficult experience even worse.

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.

Believe it or not, the third quarter is around the corner. As a business owner or manager, now’s the time to finalize your business plan for the quarter so you can work toward meeting your financial goals in the second half of the year. That could mean ramping up your marketing efforts, making any necessary cuts, or increasing process efficiency.

When it comes to office organization and processes, sometimes it’s smarter to trust the experts. Sure, you could handle your own document storage and compliance responsibilities, but it’s often inefficient and, ultimately, costly.

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.

You’ve probably heard of this compliance regulation before, but do you really know what it means? Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance is a critical step in the accounting and auditing processes of public companies.

However, some of the Act’s provisions also apply to private companies. Even accidently destroying documents required under the act can lead to repercussions, so every business needs to take steps to ensure proper compliance.

If you spent the winter debating whether or not it’s time to move, spring is the season to get serious. Before you know it, you’ll be dedicating your weekends to driving around the area’s most desirable neighborhoods in search of your next home.

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.

Whether you operate a small, single-physician family practice or are an administrator in a large hospital, records management is one of your primary responsibilities. Efficient records management is critical, not only for day-to-day operations but—most critically—for patient confidentiality and compliance with federal mandates like HIPAA.

If you’ve decided to implement a more strategic records management plan this year, you’ve taken a big step toward increasing efficiency and security for your organization.

However, when many companies decide to enhance their records management, they may do so piecemeal, with different personnel managing different parts of the plan. This strategy often leads to inconsistencies and can negate many of the benefits a records management plan can provide.

Moving season is upon us. Whether you’re planning your first move or your fifth, you probably have plenty of questions about how to approach the process.

You can save yourself a lot of headache with a little inside knowledge. That’s why we called Kathy Justice, broker associate at Main Street Properties in Perdido Key, Florida. Kathy is the leading real estate expert in Perdido Key, where her market knowledge, enthusiasm and exceptional customer service skills saw her named the top volume sales agent from 2007 to 2014 and the top condo volume sales agent in all of Pensacola in 2014.

As an office manager, you have a lot on your plate: preparing payroll, developing and enforcing office policies, returning emails, ordering supplies, assisting with recruiting, and more.

One key responsibility that shouldn’t be overlooked is filing and storage. You need to store your company’s records properly to ensure compliance, efficiency and security.

When compared to in-house shredding, secure document destruction saves money, increases security and enhances internal workflows.

Spring is around the corner and with it comes the start of moving season. It’s the time of year when there’s a moving truck coming or going on your block every week.

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 a business owner or manager, knowing the location and security of important business records should be a top priority. Not knowing where and how your critical documents are stored risks identity theft, compliance fines and damage to your company’s reputation.

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?

Protecting your business’s data is critical to the continued health of your company. Financial and employee records, and other proprietary data stored on hard drives needs to be protected whether that data has reached the end of its lifecycle or not.

As a responsible business owner, you likely already know that certified document destruction offers a cost-effective and convenient solution for ensuring compliance with document disposal regulatory guidelines. It can also save you money by enhancing security and maximizing your employees’ time.

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.

Whether you are relocating down the street or across the country, moving is often a stressful and time-consuming process. From preparing your family and friends to selecting the right moving company, planning for a move starts well before the packing and transportation begins.

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.