Blog | R4 Services | Chicago Shredding Destruction Services and Records Management

How Scanning Services Can Help Your Small Business

10/23/2018

Running a small business is no easy task. Generally speaking, small businesses don't have a large amount of staff running the place, so employees take on a variety of roles that may not fit their expertise or job description. One big complaint we hear from many smaller companies is the inability to effectively stay organized -- or at least to affordably stay organized. A great way to start staying organized is by taking advantage of comprehensive and affordable imaging, scanning and indexing services.

Document Scanning Services in Chicago
Scanning and indexing all of your important business documents has a number of benefits to your small business. Companies are expected to be on-the-ball at all times and ready to tackle all of their tasks as efficiently as possible. By utilizing our scanning and indexing services, you'll be able to focus on the task at hand without worrying about juggling other, menial and organizational issues.You'll save time and money when you're not sifting through boxes of paperwork just to locate a couple of files.

By using our scanning and indexing services, you're able to:

Stay compliant with your industry's regulations
Rest easy knowing our methods are fully HIPAA-compliant
Have 24/7 access to your files
Access your files on-the-go with secure, mobile connection capabilities
Have backup copies of important files in case of disaster
Digitally make edits and notes on any document
Directly fax or email documents (with your notes)
Search for documents and files to pull them up instantly and digitally, eliminating time spent looking for hard copies
Improve your business' workflow and efficiency

Small businesses have it hard enough trying to develop and grow. They don't have time to sweat the small stuff -- so let us manage your documents, leaving you free to do what it takes to succeed. If you're ready to take the next step to becoming a more organized organization, get in touch. We'll work with you to create a full, comprehensive and affordable document scanning plan that best suits your needs and won't interfere with your day-to-day business. Call today!

How To Keep Your Office Organized

9/26/2018

Sometimes keeping your workspace organized and decluttered takes a back seat to other, more pressing work. But a clean office has many benefits: it encourages productivity, clears up some extra real estate for other employees, makes great first impressions on visitors, and much more. It's all too easy for papers and boxes of files to start piling up, especially in document-heavy professional fields such as the accounting, healthcare, banking and legal industries. Staying on top of your game when it comes to clearing out your office is important -- it's easier to stay organized than it is to reorganize. Here are some helpful tips to get you started.

Scan and index your important files
By scanning and indexing your important documents, you're not only creating backups of the hard copies, you're digitizing them for maximized accessibility. Gone and forgotten are the days of sifting through boxes and digging through file cabinets. With your digital documents, you can pull up any file from any computer with a web browser. Through a secure connection, you can easily search for files, pull them up, make notes on them and directly print, email and fax. All of our digital scanning, indexing and mobile access software are fully HIPAA-compliant.

Get rid of unnecessary files
After scanning and indexing, you might not need hard copies anymore, so there are a few options for you. The first option is to destroy them. We have discussed the importance of maintaining a rigid retention schedule many times in the past, and it still holds true for nearly every industry. Outdated medical records with sensitive patient information, old financial statements and tax info (including SSNs) may be unnecessary to keep around the office. Here's a list of documents you should destroy, but probably aren't. Keeping hard copies of outdated files doesn't just clutter your physical office space, it opens you up to legal liabilities and tax audits. R4 Services has the state-of-the-art document destruction equipment that can securely and confidentially destroy any media type from paper, film, tapes, monitors, disks, x-rays and hard drives.
Store your documents offsite
Perhaps you're looking to clear some space but don't need or want to destroy those mountains of paperwork. Whether it's for sentimental value or to remain legally compliant, you might need to keep those documents -- yet, you don't want it taking up your real estate. In that case, consider storing your documents off site via vault services. It guarantees to keep your records accessible 24/7 for any media type: computer tapes, disks, video/audio recordings, microfilm, microfiche, x-rays. We can also provide climate-controlled storage space for older, sensitive things such as paintings, archival documents, books, photography, and business-critical documents (eg. disaster recovery plans).

Any and all of these methods work for any industry from medical, legal, education and more. These best-practices will help to keep your business organized to maximize efficiency, while keeping a more breathable and uncluttered office space. To find out more on how we can help you manage every aspect of your business' documents, get in touch today!

Moving? Sift Through Crucial Documents While Packing

9/29/2017

Moving? Sift Through Crucial Documents While Packing

Should it stay or should it go? Your thoughts may be clashing while preparing for a move, but you don’t need to fret. Whether your company is upsizing, downsizing or just changing locations, moving is your opportunity to finally sift through the mountains of documents you’ve accrued over the years. Packing costs a lot of time and money, so one thing will become abundantly clear: you don’t need to hoard everything!

What can stay: Any documents that aren’t frequently renewed or that have to do with your business’ integrity are important to keep.

Social security cards
Birth certificates
Death certificates
Marriage license
Business license
Property records
Vehicle titles
Passports
Wills, living wills and powers of attorney

What can go (eventually): up-to-date versions of the following documents are necessary to keep.

Insurance policies

Retirement plan documents
Social security statements
Tax documents (about 7 years)
Credit card receipts/statements

Older versions of these documents are unnecessary and probably fine to shred. But remember: when it comes to document destruction, always consult your legal team first. For example, tax documents that are more than 7 years old are useless to the IRS, however, other financial statements such as loan payments may be necessary to keep for a while, depending on the situation.

When you decide to shred documents, R4 Services can help. We offer secure on- and off-site destruction and can handle all types of media -- be it paper, hard drives or even x-rays. For the documents you need to keep, we have many storage options. Contact us today to find out how we can relieve stress and save you time during your company’s move!

Should You Partner with a Professional Document Storage Provider?

12/5/2016

Whether you’re a large corporation or small business, you likely have documents throughout your office that may or may not be organized and properly stored. Are your current document storage practices cost effective? Is it time to partner with a professional to ensure the highest quality document storage that your company needs? Here’s why you should consider outsourcing your document storage to a professional provider:

1. You can focus on what you do best.
Every employee has their own set of skills, expertise and knowledge. It’s an important business decision to make sure all of your employees are spending their time, energy and focus on the areas of their expertise, and not worrying about document storage or organizing files.

2. You’ll get a high level of security for your most important information.
Your company records are confidential and valuable to your business operations. Why risk the integrity of your company information? Your customers and employees count on you to keep sensitive, confidential information safe and secure.

3. Disaster recovery plan
In the unfortunate event of a fire, flood, tornado or other natural disaster, do you have a backup plan for your documents? When you have your records stored off-site, you can have peace of mind knowing that your sensitive documents are out of harm’s way.

4. Accessible indexing
There’s nothing more frustrating and time-consuming than looking for a specific document and not finding it. When you partner with a document storage provider, your files will be packed in secure boxes, labeled and stored for accurate inventory. You can find any document you need at any time.

As the new year approaches, it’s a useful time to reflect on your document storage practices and consider how they can be improved. Are you struggling to find an effective solution? Ask yourself the important questions covered in this post, and consider partnering with a professional document storage provider.

Why Secure Record Storage is a SMART Move!

3/15/2016

Every business has active information that requires appropriate management and security. Managing these documents can be challenging, and that challenge may lead businesses to opt out of the ever important necessity of secure and accurate document storage. You may be wondering if you need record storage for your business or organization. If you have confidential documents, then the answer is yes.

Be at ease.
When you securely store your records, you will have a peace of mind knowing that your documents are safe and that you have easy access to your files and boxes. You won’t have to worry about where your documents are, whose hands they’ve fallen into, or whether your confidential information is vulnerable to theft or not. When you choose to store your documents with a company like R4 Services, you can request access to your records by simply calling, faxing, emailing or accessing account information via the web.

Record storage is a serious responsibility.
Trusting someone else to manage, store and secure your organization’s active and archival information is a crucial responsibility. When looking for a service to store your documents, you should look for someone that has invested in superior records storage software to manage millions of boxed records and active files for you. You’ll need a service that can deliver meticulous accuracy, efficiency and reliability, because your confidential records are that important.

When looking for a storage service, you should also consider customer service. Ask questions like, ‘When I request a specific file or entire box, will it be delivered right to my door? Will it be executed quickly, safely and securely? Can you store my electronic media as well? Do you have state-of-the-art vaults?’

Asking these questions will ensure that you’re getting the superior service that you deserve. It’s a smart move to organize and box all of your important business records. From there, R4 Services will bring order to chaos with our expert record storage and record management services. It really is that simple.

3 Questions to Ask When Purging Your Files

3/8/2016

Take a serious look around your desk. Do you have a colossal amount of paper files around your office? Does your stack of papers seem to be growing every week? An efficient filing system is crucial for employees of all companies to know which documents should be kept and which ones can be purged. Lingering paperwork is unproductive and can add stress to your already hectic life.

By having a proper document retention system in place, you will become aware of your documents and know which ones to archive and which ones to destroy. If you’re in need of getting your files organized, ask yourself these 3 questions when considering a purge of your files.

1. Does my company have a document retention policy? If your company has a document retention policy, refer to it for direction on how long you need to keep certain documents. Before you decide which documents can be kept and which ones to shred, it’s important to have a timeframe in mind for how long those documents need to be retained.

2. Do I have a filing system in place? If you have paperwork all over your work area--on your desk, on your coworker’s desk, on the floor, stuffed in your desk drawers--there’s a good chance you need to rethink your filing system. Regularly sort through, file and shred important documents. It’s helpful to set aside 30 minutes each week to review, sort and file your paperwork. If you keep the most recent documents in the front of your file system, current and significant information will be on the top. All other excessive and confidential paperwork should be shredded.

3. What can be retained, and what can be shredded? Sort through your physical files and ask yourself, ‘do I have an electronic copy of this document saved?’ If yes, and assuming you don’t need the hard copy, shred it immediately. The cleaner your physical file system is, the less paperwork you have to manage. It is important, however, not to shred legal, financial and auditing documents without first notifying those respective departments.

As Spring approaches, it may be a good time to consider the structure of your file system and do some ‘Spring Cleaning’ in the office. R4 Services offers onsite and offsite document shredding to provide you with flexible options that best meet your business needs. Click here to find out more about our document destruction services!

9 Tips for Storing Your Files

2/22/2016

Take a moment to think about your file management practices. After some serious thought, you may feel overwhelmed. You might not know where most of your files--physical and digital--even are. The good news is, you’re not alone. Many business-savvy people save documents wherever the default settings are set to, and have no clue where to locate them later.

Years of bad file management could be to blame. Regardless, it might be time to make some serious habit changes to how you store your files.

Physical Files:

1. It’s time to implement the right classification system
A functional classification system is important for filing comprehensive information and maintaining consistency in naming items. Having a classification system in place will allow you to retrieve and file items easily. To properly classify your files, make labels for hanging file folders or manila folders. Then organize all your documents into the appropriate folders.

2. Centralizing files: keep everything together
Having all your files in one, central location will give you peace of mind knowing where everything is located. Bringing all of your physical files into one space, such as a file cabinet, or an off-site storage facility will improve user efficiency, security, reliability and space utilization in your workplace. Having all your physical files in one location should also make it easier to manage and keep records of your most important information.

3. Tickler File System
Setting up (and committing to) a tickler file system could be a game-changer if you’ve never used it before. The tickler file system is simple. Create 43 hanging file folders. Label 12 folders for each month of the year. The remaining 31 folders can be labeled 1-31, one for each day of the month. Organize the folders in numerical and chronological order in a file cabinet, and then file away any paperwork that has a due date into it’s given day of the month. Every morning you can open up that day’s folder and know exactly what you need to work on.

Digital Files:

4. Store all of your data in one location
Organizing your digital files and folders on your computer is no different than keeping your physical files in one location. The most efficient way to do this on your computer (for Windows users) is to utilize the default Documents folder built into Windows. Be sure to name your folders according to subject and store appropriate files into each named folder. To clear space on your own computer, consider R4 Services’ imaging services, where we scan your paper files, then store and manage them as digital files for you.

5. Take advantage of shortcuts
One of the easiest and most productive ways to keep your digital files organized is to use shortcuts on your desktop or laptop. Rather than copying a document to your desktop, make it a habit to create a shortcut to that file. This will ensure your files remain where they belong. To create a shortcut to a document, right-click on the file and choose Create Shortcut.

6. Go with short file names
Keeping your file names short and concise will help you find documents and properly organize them. WIth a shorter, condensed file name, you can quickly access the document you are searching for and avoid confusion when sharing the files with other people.

7. Be descriptive as possible when naming folders
When you have multiple digital files across several different topics, it’s a good idea to separate the files into different descriptive folders. Having descriptive folders can help you easily identify what the topic is about. Let’s say you have multiple files throughout the year, and you want to break them down into months of the year. You can create 12 folders, one for each month, and file documents into their respective monthly folders. The more detail you have in your folder names, the easier it will be to locate the files when you need them.

8. Couple folders within folders
When you have a big project that you’re working on, you’ll likely have many documents going at once. Those documents will go into their own (newly named and descriptive!) folders. But what happens when you have too many folders? You can nest folders within folders. So, when you have a project or task to manage that is ongoing for several years, you can have one folder naming the project. Within the project folder you can create folders for each year. Eg., “2012”, “2013”, “2014”. This way, when you’re looking for a file from a previous year, you know exactly where to find it.

9. Regularly backup your files
This is perhaps the most important tip for good file management. When you need a copy of a physical document, you go to the copier machine and make a copy. It’s no different for digital files. Whether you backup your files onto a jump drive, or external hard drive, getting into the habit of backing up files is a smart idea.

Need additional advice when it comes to your businesses’ document storage and file management plan? Contact R4 Services here!

Should Schools Utilize Document Storage Facilities?

2/1/2016

It is no secret that technology is advancing and FAST. Digital files are becoming the norm for storing information, and old paper files may need a place to call home. One example where this conundrum may come into play is within school districts.

Schools are now utilizing digital files and records management, but what about their paper files? Floor and storage space is becoming more of an issue as these paper files regarding students, district mandates, and other confidential documents are piling up and taking up valuable space.

Schools are required to maintain student and personnel files for minimum time periods and these files can occupy large amounts of space. Moving these files off-site not only secures them, opens up additional space, but are also securely destroyed after the set retention rate.

If you work at a school or university, what are your thoughts about storing records off school grounds? Can you think of a space right now where files are taking up space that could be utilized for something else?

Contact R4 Services today with any questions YOU may have about Document Storage.

Are Your Documents Vulnerable in Your Office?

1/27/2016

Picture this: you are a budding entrepreneur with a thriving start-up, and you're growing at an intense pace. You are consistently designing proposals, signing legal documents, paying your bills, and hiring new employees. But one large component you might be overlooking is developing an information management system to securely store or destroy your physical and digital files for you and your team.

When you need to store paper files, where are you placing them?

As your company grows, original documents with signatures must be stored safely and securely. Some examples of documents that must be saved for future use include:

-Patents
-Customers’ Documentation
-Contracts with clients or vendors
-Loan paperwork
-Stocks and bonds.

These documents contain sensitive information that could lead to a breach if left in the wrong hands. One way to make sure those documents stay safe and secure is to store them offsite. No matter if you are a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned vet, developing a consistent and thorough system for storing your records is crucial.

When you need to destroy your documents, what is your process?

After carefully choosing what document storage system is right for you, it is vital to choose what document destruction system is the right fit. Placing sensitive documents in your garbage at your office is a major mistake. Keep in mind that your company’s information as well as your client’s can fall into the wrong hands if not handled in the correct way.

Thus, deciding to shred with a NAID certified company is the right avenue to take. For example, we have custom shredding bins in offices of all kinds so that employees, managers, and even their customers are able to destroy all sensitive material as soon as possible. The R4 Services team then comes to pick up the bin on a scheduled basis and destroys all documents safely and securely.

Where do I go to get advice?

We can bring order to the chaos within your company by putting our expert Chicago record storage and record management services into place.

Want more information about R4 Services? Contact us here.

Moving Records at Year End

12/29/2015

As 2015 draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to set goals for the year ahead. Whether it’s deciding to spend more time with family, or to expand your business into a new market, goals are important to set in order to keep you and your business motivated, thriving, and organized.

When it comes to records storage and management, you may have fallen behind this past year. Is it a little quieter around the office or house due to the holiday lull? One goal you may want to consider setting for the new year is to move and organize your records with the help of R4 Services.

We understand that managing all of your documents is as challenging as ever, which is why we have invested in superior records storage software from ASI. ASI allows for us to manage millions of boxed records and active files for our clients with fastidious accuracy and efficiency. The unique bar code labels and the latest in scanning technology also ensure your records are accounted for at each point of movement.

So why not start your year off right by deciding to store your documents with R4? Purchase an R4 Services Box and store it with us. Contact us today for a free document storage quote.