When it comes to protecting company assets, we all have policies and processes in place to protect “real property” such as rental inventory, vehicles, tools and the like. But have you given equal consideration to the protection of other valuable assets, such as customer files, computer software and back-up media. By taking the following precautions, you can protect both company sensitive and customer related information.
 

How secure is your operation?

Fireproof Filing Cabinet
If you do not already have one, consider the following. If your store were damaged or destroyed by fire, could you continue to rent and collect?

In addition to the loss of “real property”, you could lose customer files that include important documentation such as the rental order form, rental agreement, etc. Storing these items in a fireproof file cabinet can greatly reduce down time when it comes to recovering from a catastrophic event such as fire.

In addition to storage for customer files, other valuable items such as computer file back-up media and computer recovery kit can be preserved. And be sure to store you most valuable items in the upper drawers, since fire fighting tends to leave a lot of standing water (12 inches plus). While these units are costly, their value can not be overstated. Consider purchasing a used unit from a local used office fixture store, the savings can be significant.

Rental-Purchase Agreements
Keep a copy of all executed rental agreements off-site. In the event that an agreement (or entire customer file) is lost, there would still be a copy of the agreement available. The same precaution should be taken for employee files and original copies of store forms.

Paper Shredder
This is one office product that doesn’t cost much to purchase. I would highly recommend shredding any document that contains customer information (i.e. - payment receipts, returned mail, any item with a customer’s name, address or phone number). The age-old practice of “Dumpster diving” continues to this very day, I guarantee it. Unfortunately, many dealers do not shred customer-related documents and I assure you, this is a costly mistake.

Payment Receipts
Use two-part receipt paper and keep a copy of every receipt in the event of a computer or software failure, as you made need to “recreate” the day’s activity after the computer software “glitch” is fixed. I can vouch for this first hand, it happened to me once (on a Friday, of course, in my 1000 + BOR store).

In closing, I hope that I have offered suggestions that bring awareness to the protection of assets that might otherwise be overlooked.