Thu, Aug 23, 2018
By: Jim Beran
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.
Of course, the key is partnering with a record management company that understands your business and will work with you to maintain a document maintenance schedule that keeps you in compliance with all regulations and gives you the peace of mind you deserve. Here are some things to keep in mind as you decide on a business records management company to serve your needs.
Certifications and Standards
The first thing to look for is a company that is NAID-certified. NAID certification requires document storage and shredding companies to adhere to a strict set of guidelines when they catalog, store, and destroy their clients’ documents. Certified companies like Gilmore Services must also submit to unscheduled audits to verify that they are handling sensitive information properly.
If you have electronic data or devices that need to be managed, you should also look for a company that adheres to Department of Defense standards for the destruction of electronic records. Simply deleting sensitive information is not enough and may leave you vulnerable to hackers and ransomware attacks.
Understanding of Regulatory Requirements
Most companies must comply with HIPAA, FACTA, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If that applies to your company and you fail to handle your clients’ health or financial information properly, you could wind up being fined. The best way to ensure that you’re not is to partner with a trusted company that understands the regulations and will help you avoid infractions.
Companies that are penalized can end up paying thousands of dollars in fines. They may also lose revenue if they lose the trust of their clients or the public in general, making it extremely difficult to recover from a data breach. Partnering with Gilmore Services can help you avoid that risk.
Sticking to a Document Retention Schedule
The right document retention schedule is a must if your business keeps confidential financial or health records. It can be a challenge to stick to a schedule if you’re relying on yourself (or your employees) to find time to do what is needed while still handling their usual job responsibilities.
It takes time and effort to catalog and maintain records and destroy them on schedule. An employee who doesn’t understand the regulations and requirements may take hours of valuable time figuring out how to handle sensitive documents – and they may still make errors. By contrast, an experienced business records management company will work with you to develop a schedule and ensure you can stick to it by sending reminders and handling tasks related to document retention and destruction.
Security and Peace of Mind
Storing sensitive and personal information on behalf of your clients or employees may be necessary, but it’s also something that has the potential to be dangerous. If you have paid any attention to the news in recent years, you know that large companies like Target and Equifax have been attacked by hackers. The results have been financially damaging and have also had untold impact on the companies’ reputations and brands.
When you store documents on site or in a way that might not incorporate state-of-the-art security and records management, you risk putting your company in harm’s way. Partnering with a local business like Gilmore Services ensures that your documents will be secure. You’ll be able to tell your clients with confidence that their records are safe and that they don’t need to worry about data breaches.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that paying a secure business records management company to catalog, store, and destroy sensitive information according to a schedule is the smartest way to protect your data. In the long run, it can save you thousands of dollars in time and money, as well.
To learn about Gilmore Services business records management capabilities, please click here now.