Ways to Protect Your Important Business Documents

Businesses must manage a great deal of sensitive information and important documents. In a world of employee data theft, hackers and even natural disasters, safeguarding important documents, from financial data to trade secrets, creates a perennial challenge. While no document protection method provides total security, you can deploy a range of measures to limit the potential for document loss and theft.

Fireproof File Cabinets

The paperless office has proven itself something of a pipe-dream and many businesses still find it necessary to store some critical documents on paper. Fireproof filing cabinets with locks provide protection against fire-loss, but also discourages casual employee theft.

Password Protection

A simple, but effective way to secure documents in house, password protection for sensitive documents, folders or even entire partitions prevents accidental or intentional access to those documents. A user permission application can also help prevent a curious employee from snooping around in your important business documents.

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage allows you to maintain digital copies of your important business documents without depending entirely on the reliability of your in-house servers or computers. Some businesses use cloud storage specifically to back up information, on a daily or weekly basis. Other businesses find that application optimized storage is essential as the application optimization improves efficiency.

Computer Wiping

The rate of improvement in computer technology makes it commonplace to replace older PCs, notebooks and tablets every few years. While a basic file deletion and recycle bin empty does the job while the computers are in-house, that isn’t enough when you dispose of them. Much of the data still sits on the hard drive and, with the proper tools and know-how, important business documents can be retrieved after you delete them. Use a professional-grade disk wiping utility to clean your computers before you discard or resell them.

Off-Site Storage

Although some businesses do this as a matter of convenience, off-site storage of important business documents can help to protect documents. In the event of a fire or flood in the workplace, the documents aren’t under threat. Employees don’t have ready access to the documents. A computer hacker can’t access the storage site remotely. It can also serve as a kind of backup for cloud storage as well, although storage costs can grow prohibitive if you store numerous documents.

Protecting your important business documents protect your bottom line, your intellectual property rights and, depending on the nature of the documents, helps you avoid legal liabilities. The best approach to protecting your documents is to employ several methods of security and redundant storage, such as on-site and in the cloud.