October 22, 2015

The Shred-it Story: How Small Businesses Can Become Global Leaders

Photo captured by Warren Leppik (@WarrenLeppik)

October 18-24 is Small Business Week in Canada and to kick it off, Shred-it President Vince De Palma shared the Shred-it story.

Proudly founded by Greg Brophy in 1988 with just one truck and a lot of ambition, Shred-it has since grown to become a world leader in providing secure information security services to over 400,000 customers in 170 markets, in 18 different countries.

Vince lists these factors as the keys to small business success:

• Create a compelling vision: People need to be inspired. A compelling vision provides a higher-level cause, a noble purpose for coming to work beyond collecting a paycheque.
• Build a great leadership team: The strength of the leadership team determines the strength of the business, at all levels of the organization.
• Focus on the customer experience: Relentless pursuit of perfection in delighting customers each and every day leads to great business dynamics, and ultimately, referrals.
• Focus on your employees: Let all team members know you care about them, on and off the job. Safety programs are one great way to do this and it’s also important to host occasional celebrations, whether for company milestones or national holidays.
• Focus on growth: Even if your business has areas to improve, growth can make up for those gaps.

In order to grow, small businesses need to maintain strong security standards. In fact, security can have a direct impact on a small business’s bottom line. The average cost of a lost or stolen record can be up to $250, and that can be crippling for a small business.

Shred-it’s 2015 Security Tracker survey found that there is still a knowledge gap when it comes to the importance of protecting information. While 82% of small business owners are aware of the legal requirements of storing, keeping or disposing of confidential data in their industry, 30% don’t believe lost or stolen documents would harm their organization.

Take the first steps toward improving information security in your business and achieving small business growth with these tips:

• Conduct frequent security audits: Regularly assess the security measures in place in order to ensure your policies address any security gaps, and combat new threats as they emerge.
• Provide ongoing employee training: Schedule on-going training to ensure employees are consistently familiar with the most updated document management policies and procedures.
• Know and remove key vulnerabilities: Recycling bins a surprising but important vulnerability that threaten your security. Disposing of data in a recycling bin could allow important information to fall into the wrong hands. Simplify document handling by establishing a shred-all policy.

Learn more about the small steps you can take to improve small business data security today.