Flood damage has cost the UK around £1.1 billion so in 2015/16, with projected annual costs expected to be as high as £27 billion in just 60 years’ time. Weather events like floods can happen any time, and if you don’t have a strategy in place for protecting your data, you could be looking at significant time and money losses when the next flood occurs.

How To Protect Your Documents

Depending on your requirements, you may need to digitise your documents, store them in an off-site location, or both. In order to accomplish the former, you’ll have to scan your documents. Once scanned, they can be uploaded to a cloud storage solution, and the originals shipped to your chosen location.

Of course, not all documents will require the same treatment. You will need to go through them and determine which need to be kept as hard copies and which can be uploaded. This is why it’s important to first prioritise which documents need to be protected. For example, signed contracts will definitely be a priority, and may be most secure when scanned and kept off-site. What documents should be stored off-site? Any that may not be needed on a daily basis by your company.

The Benefits Of Digitisation

Although it may take time to scan all of your documents, there are several benefits to doing so. One is that your staff will spend far less time searching for documents, as they won’t need to wade through a sea of unnecessary paperwork to find them. Another benefit of digitisation is that the risk of losing information is greatly reduced.

Proper Document Disposal

When implementing your flood defence plan, it can be tempting to toss unneeded documents into the recycle bin. However, this can do your company more harm than good. In discarding your business documents with other recyclables, you can place yourself at great risk.

Where does your recycling go once it’s been collected from your office? Chances are it travels to a recycling centre, where it will be manually sorted. From your office to the recycled product, your documents could end up passing through any number of hands, and in front of many eyes. Although you may not think that these individuals would have an interest in your business dealings, you could get an unpleasant surprise down the road.

Just what can happen when someone steals your data? Identity theft, intellectual property rights violations and in moderate to severe cases, security breaches and leaked information that can cost you thousands of pounds and your reputation with your customers.

Secure Your Data

Data security experts like Absolute IT offer several solutions for businesses needing to safeguard their documents against weather events and theft. Our services include secure storage of your unwanted documents with the Secure Office Box.

This anti-theft solution securely stores your unwanted documents until the container is full. Simply select the Secure Office Box you think you will need, and then contact us at Absolute IT to ship it to you anywhere in the UK. Then, fill the box with anything you no longer require, including hard drives, USB pens and more. When full, contact us to let us know, and we will arrive with a secure mobile vehicle. This vehicle ensures the complete destruction of all your unwanted documents and other items.