Like any trade association, the simplest explanation of NAID’s purpose is to do for its members what they cannot do alone. Trade associations are places where organizations, many of which compete with each other on a daily basis, set aside competitive rivalries to create an environment that promotes the health of their members’ companies.
When NAID was formed, its agenda was focused on convincing businesses that they needed to protect their discarded information, that they were better off outsourcing the information destruction process and that they needed to be careful when selecting an information destruction contractor.
Over the last 12 years, the market conditions have changed dramatically. This has obviously modified the challenges facing the industry.
Information protection has risen to be one of the most significant issues in the public consciousness. In turn, businesses are far more likely to recognize their responsibility to destroy discarded media. This demand for services has been created in a population with little or no knowledge of what is to be expected from the vendors they choose or even that they can outsource the requirement.
While NAID has done a great deal educating clients on proper destruction and the selection of legitimate contractors, it is a challenge that it will face for many years to come.
As privacy and information protection have appeared on the political landscape, NAID has had to learn its way around that arena. But, even though NAID has had remarkable success and influence in the realm of public policy, there will continue to be challenges there. The suggestion that information destruction should not be outsourced surfaces regularly from some political quarter. NAID, by its policing of the industry and its government relations initiatives, is the best defense against such devastating and misguided thinking.
There are other challenges as well. Privacy concerns have created a great deal of demand, but competition-sensitive information is still too often neglected. There also remains a great deal to do in the area of electronically stored information. And smaller offices still tend to choose personal shredders to meet their information destruction needs.
NAID still has much to do, and its work continues. But with the support of the industry, it will remain on the job and at your service.
Bob Johnson is the executive director of the National Association for Information Destruction. He can be reached at exedir@naidonline.org.