Paperless is being encouraged by many companies. Whether it is switching to receiving letters and statements online or recommending using online portals to conduct business, responsible companies encourage their customers to go paperless. Customers can even receive electronic receipts for their purchases from retailers who shop in-store. This innovation is beneficial for both the customer and the retailer. It allows them to reduce their reliance on paper, ink, and printers, which reduces their expenses.

A certain amount of paperwork will need to be completed when you run your own business, although you can follow the example of established businesses. Paperless may have several advantages, but this does not mean documents are completely irrelevant. The information contained in these documents remains important, so using an electronic document management system is a good idea. It may seem convenient to keep physical documents. However, physical documents can also be damaged or lost. Dog-ears crumples, and ripped documents can look unprofessional. 

This is nothing compared to an important document going missing. When documents are stored electronically, there will be no issues because the documents will remain safe, intact, and there will be an easy way to keep track of them. The amount of paperwork you have to complete when you’re starting a new business may not seem excessive. As the business grows, the burden increases and the paperwork becomes more problematic. You will no longer need to have space for paper paperwork, and you will also be able to eliminate excessive paperwork as it can not only take up too much space but also draw pests like little mites that love paper.

Benefits of electronic data management systems:

1. Get access to the latest version: When you work with paper, you do not have version control. Managing files, file shares, and email can be challenging when you do not have version control. And understanding changes can be more challenging when there is no version control. Documents can automatically be versioned and documents’ full history recorded through the built-in version control. Whenever everyone works with one document, multiple copies of the document vanish, as do the problems associated with distributing email copies.
2. Intricate collaborations: As more operations are outsourced and development partnerships become more common within life science companies, collaboration among stakeholders is becoming more complex. By integrating web-based environments and workflows, EDMS platforms enhance business collaboration within and outside of the organization. More specifically, the identification of where documents are within the authoring, review, and approval process is greatly enhanced.
3. Time-saving: EDM systems provide us with tools to automate document management and push documents through their life cycles. Both regulatory and time-to-market reasons make it vital that documents are managed promptly during drug development. The tools mentioned above can also ease bottlenecks and make records and documents available in a timely fashion, which translates into better inspection readiness and submission management.
4. Get rid of irritating emails: In the world of work, an email is an amazing tool that has revolutionized the way we handle information and content, yet we spend a great deal of our working day managing content and information via email. There are many security and storage issues with email, and document version control is often complicated due to it being unstructured and difficult to manage. By eliminating the need to send content via email, electronic document management systems reduce security and storage burdens while improving the control over content regulated by law.
5. Get the best backups: In traditional document management practices, documents are often stored on computers and file shares that are not controlled. Without knowing what content you have, it is very challenging to ensure that it is properly backed up. Sometimes, content is not properly backed up, and in those cases, we find out when it is too late and the file has been lost. Company records must be original and legible copies and implementing an effective backup solution is essential. The ability to backup all content and retrieve it quickly is improved substantially when EDMS centralizes all documents and records, allowing them to be created and managed in one location.
6. Fewer costs: Because life sciences content needs to be retained for such a long period, paper management and archiving are often both labour-intensive and expensive. Moving to electronic environments can significantly improve the processes for processing, storing, and retrieving records. Automated retention policies can enhance the process for archiving records, too. Document filing and document management can also be automated, which takes the place of physical storage space for paper records. Central filing and document tracking are also no longer required.
7. Easy content availability: The issue of getting new revisions created from the last approved version in a paper or file share environment can also be challenging. Getting authors to use the latest templates or building a new revision from the last approved version can be challenging. An EDMS not only provides template management opportunities but also provides document revision management. It is capable of automating the PDF publishing process that ensures that the content is standardized and meets the standards of the ICH. 
8. Safeguards your business: As a final note, an EDMS is the safest method for storing documents and files. There have been several high-profile data breaches recently, and it is increasingly important to secure sensitive financial information and customer data from unauthorised access. In addition to providing a backup service offsite, it could also provide an offsite backup to cover the loss of physical and electronic files if a disaster happens in the office. Whether your company is just starting or you have been in business for decades, electronic records management is a vital part of your administrative function. If you don’t have a system yet, getting one up and running as soon as possible makes good business sense.

You may not think you need it, but it could prove to be the most complicated task that you have to deal with in the future. The best way to make sure your company grows is to get the planning and decision-making skills right& have a good Enterprise management system for your business.