We are entering an era of socially responsible business that requires much more investment in ethical values and environmental considerations. Customer trust has been shaken in recent years by scandals that have revealed that some of the most “trusted” brands are actually failing their customers in terms of keeping their promises. So, it’s more important than ever before for businesses to be able to shore up consumer trust – and paper shredding is one very easy way to do it.
Data protection compliance is about to get a whole lot more challenging. In May 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in the UK bringing with it a whole raft of new requirements that significantly tighten up data compliance. Destruction of data is a key part of safe data handling so if you’re taking steps now to ensure compliance for 2018, shredding potentially has a significant role to play.
Environmentally friendly values and corporate social responsibility have been big themes in 2017. Next year, as we head towards an even greater focus on ethical business and giving something back, the importance of being able to show customers that you take this seriously is likely to increase. Paper shredding is one way that any business can instantly upgrade green credentials in time for the new year.
On a day to day basis, public sector organisations tend to process more information than private sector organisations. Without the right security measures in place, that large amount of data could pose a threat if it ends up in the wrong hands. This being the case, the public sector is a big target of information theft, which further magnifies the importance of having the correct security measures in place to protect your business.
It seems that more frequently data breach stories hit the headlines. The recent TalkTalk hacking demonstrated that even the most established large corporations need to be aware of their security all the time, and they need take measures to prevent occurrences like this. The general public are becoming increasingly aware of the security risks that they take when providing data to businesses, which is why you should have a strong data protection scheme in place and shred your documents onsite, to show them that you are committed to keeping the data confidential.
A growing number of businesses are beginning to go green after customers are beginning to expect them to take responsibility for saving the planet. Many companies are at least starting to consider more seriously the environmental impact that they are having on the Earth and how this can be reduced. Since over 12.5 million tonnes of paper is used annually within the UK alone, and less than 70% is recycled, it’s important for each of us to do what we can to reduce paper waste. An easy way for businesses to do this is to implement a paper shredding policy.
