Cintas Document Management Issues Best Practices in Honor of Administrative Professionals Day
April 25 2011 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
According to the International Association of Administrative
Professionals (IAAP), there are more than 4.3 million secretaries
and administrative assistants working in the United States. In
honor of Administrative Professionals Day, celebrated on April 27,
Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ:CTAS) today issued best practices to
help administrative professionals implement a successful
office-wide program to manage, maintain and protect confidential
business documents.
“During the recession, downsizing has forced all office
professionals to come together and work harder in the workplace,”
said Marcia Peller, Corporate Office Services Manager, Cintas.
“Ensuring business information remains secure, yet easily
accessible is essential to the success of any business. This is
best accomplished through an integrated program that involves all
relevant stakeholders.”
Cintas’ best practices include:
- Create a document retention
schedule. All businesses have an abundance of documents and
records to maintain, which can often be a daunting task. To
maximize space efficiently and increase productivity, work with
management and a legal consultant to identify a retention schedule
based on legal requirements and internal company policies.
Depending on the type of business, proactively learn and implement
these retention guidelines to maintain an organized, uncluttered
office.
- Educate and engage employees. Once a
retention schedule has been established, educate and train all
employees to take a proactive role and follow protocol. Each year,
update employees regarding any new legal requirements and encourage
them to securely shred any documents that are no longer needed.
This will save space to ensure current documents are easily
accessible.
- Store records offsite. If your
company has a large volume of records with long retention periods
but limited space, consider an offsite storage provider. This will
free up space and keep confidential information out of the wrong
hands. The ideal provider will offer a secure storage facility
equipped with 24-hour security cameras, alarm systems and complete
fire protection systems to protect records from catastrophes such
as floods and fires.
- Limit accessibility to records.
Only personnel who require job-related access should be authorized
to view records. Limiting accessibility is critical as every
business retains some degree of confidential information regarding
their employees and customers. Such information includes names,
addresses, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers and other
account information. By enforcing these rules, administrative
professionals can greatly reduce the threat of data breaches from
employees and other unauthorized sources.
- Digitally image critical files.
Converting paper files and records to electronic documents can help
businesses increase productivity, improve processes and ensure
compliance with regulatory requirements. From disaster recovery
planning, to having immediate access to files, a digital imaging
solution helps employees find what they need, when they need it.
Consider working with a professional provider that provides secure
document imaging and scanning services to gain immediate, real-time
access to all critical files.
- Implement a “shred-all” program. It
is important to securely shred all unneeded documents. With
identity theft and data breaches on the rise, doing so will protect
confidential business data and customers’ sensitive information
from falling into the wrong hands. In addition, encourage employees
to shred their personal information at work to protect their
identity as well. Recommend a shredding service that
destroys documents on a scheduled basis. These companies place
secure shredding containers in accessible and identifiable
locations to make it safe and convenient for all employees to
properly shred documents that have reached the end of their useful
life. In addition, they will provide a certificate of destruction
for a legal audit trail.
- Create an office recycling program.
Ensure that your office or department is doing its part to protect
the earth by encouraging and promoting a paper recycling program.
Many companies that offer shredding services recycle the paper into
secondary paper products, such as paper towels, to reduce the
impact on the environment. Recycling paper saves water, reduces
green house gas emissions and uses 25 percent less energy than
manufacturing paper from trees.
“Administrative professionals work hard throughout the year to
ensure their offices operate as efficiently as possible,” said
Brittney Kirk, Marketing Associate, Cintas Document Management.
“This Administrative Professionals Day, we want to recognize their
efforts and provide them with best practices to help them securely
protect and store confidential information to ensure business
success.”
For more information about Cintas’ document management services,
please visit www.cintas.com/documentmanagement.
About Cintas Corporation:
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas Corporation provides highly
specialized services to businesses of all types primarily
throughout North America. Cintas is the first AAA NAID Certified
and PCI DSS Compliant provider. Cintas designs, manufactures and
implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides
entrance mats, restroom supplies, promotional products, first aid,
safety, fire protection products and services and document
management services for approximately 800,000 businesses. Cintas is
a publicly held company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market
under the symbol CTAS, and is a component of the Standard &
Poor’s 500 Index.
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