Keeping Confidential Information Safeguarded In Your Business
If you run a small business where you are in contact with confidential information belonging to your clients, you will want to take necessary steps in keeping it safe. Dealing with information that should not be exposed to others will take precautionary measures to make sure it is safeguarded at all times. Here are some ways to help keep hard copies of important confidential information out of the view of others.
Deal With Employees
If you have employees working in your business, they will need to be trained in the proper protocol when handling confidential information. Have each employee sign a confidentiality agreement if they are going to be exposed to the information directly. This will protect you as a business-owner from being blamed if information is stolen from an employee. They will be less apt to use the information, as they will be liable for its dispersal. Be wary in who will have access to the information by limiting it to only a few trusted employees.
Keep Under Lock And Key
Information that should not be shared will need to be kept locked away from others to ensure its safekeeping. Use filing cabinets with heavy-duty locks to file away hard copies of information and place these in a locked room. Use key code entry to gain access to the room so there is a history of who has accessed the information. Using fingerprint or facial recognition locking software will also help keep information in the eyes of only certain employees. When an employee is fired or quits, you will need to have a locksmith such as Hicks Safes & Locks Inc reprogram the system or add a new locking mechanism to the area.
Use Surveillance Equipment
Place cameras in your business to help keep employees from trying to gain access to information on the sly. Place a camera outside the room with the documentation, as well as another inside the room. This will show which files were accessed and who had used them.
Have A Disposal System
When a customer no longer needs services from your business, records will need to be disposed of properly so information does not get in the wrong hands. Use a shredding service to destroy all hard copies of documentation you had kept in your company. These services come to your establishment and shred the information in a truck while on the premises. You will be able to watch the procedure via monitor outside the truck so you are sure no one had read the information before it was destroyed. The service will also take the destroyed papers to be recycled.
