A series of focus groups and an online survey commissioned by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) reveals that there are still many companies not yet using an outside secure shredding supplier who probably should be.
A presentation of the survey and focus group results was made by Debra Pryor of Partners in Brainstoms (PIB), Phoenix, to attendees of the NAID Annual Conference, which took place in Phoenix in mid-May.
An online survey formulated by NAID and PIB was completed by some 509 business owners or managers, only 37 percent of whom used an outside secure shredding contractor.
According to Pryor, among the sectors least likely to currently use a shredding firm the education segment was at the top, with 92 percent of those respondents either not shredding or shredding in-house. Additionally, only 83 percent of the retailers responding use a shredding service.
Contrarily, though, 89 percent of all respondents “are somewhat or very concerned about the protection of confidential information,” according to the survey. The respondents were most concerned about protecting their employees and their customers from security breaches.
Respondents also consistently identified the safe handling of electronic information as a concern, with less than 10 percent of respondents claiming that their companies currently store and destroy such information properly. “Many [respondents] felt this is probably the biggest hole in the company where information could possibly be leaked,” said Pryor.
Of respondents not using a secure shredding service, many indicated that they felt the volume of material they generated was too small to be of interest to a shredding firm, or that the service would be too expensive.
Pryor urged secure shredding service sales managers to get the word out to potential small business customers that they can be provided with document destruction services affordably.
The NAID Conference was held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix and was attended by more than 850 information destruction professionals and their suppliers.