In today’s market uncertainty, Quality and Efficiency are key to make a real difference. It is with no surprise that successful organizations delivering quality products and services run on digital eQMS solutions. Generative AI and instant collaboration profoundly impact the way digital quality will evolve in the near future providing significant cost savings.
In the quality landscape, digital solutions have evolved rapidly in the last 20 years, moving from on-premises file servers to the cloud. And rightly so, as cloud-based solutions provide considerable benefits, from increased security to lower cost compared to on-premises solutions.
The digital quality maturity curve below shows the evolution of software solutions typically used for quality management with their main features, such as document management (eDMS), automated and AI-driven eQMS.
The cost-saving values provided in this article will allow businesses to further appreciate the cost optimizations potential that can be achieved by leveraging cloud-based solutions, workflow automation, instant collaboration and generative AI integrated into their eQMS platform.
Savings when transitioning from on-premises to the cloud
In moving to the Cloud, you can progressively abandon your On-Premises infrastructure and reassign IT administrators to other duties. BPA will maintain and upgrade your software with no action required on your side. This will sensibly reduce your underlaying IT costs.
A Forrester study demonstrated cost savings a midsize organization can expect by switching to the Cloud: more than $1M over 3 years with a 321% ROI and payback period of 2 months.
With its robust security, the Microsoft cloud drastically reduces risks of cyberattacks, phishing and other data breaches. By providing an extra layer of security that makes it virtually impossible for fraudsters to get past, Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) can block over 99.9 % of account compromise attacks. The global average cost of a data breach in 2023 is USD 4.45 million, according to IBM—a 15% increase over 3 years. These estimations do not consider the indirect damage, as the impact on brand reputation and employee trust.
Savings when populating the eQMS using the BPA platform
BPA is probably the only eQMS in the market allowing everyone to populate the software at no cost. Internal and external stakeholders can submit proposals, requests, answer surveys and training quizzes with no cost and license needed, by using configurable forms. Cost savings are important (have a look at the licenses we propose).
Savings when using an eQMS software like BPA to search for specific data and information
The IDC study states that collaborators spend at least 5 hours per week searching for documents and data. It goes without saying that this represents quite a considerable cost for a business. An intuitive and effective eQMS or Digital Document Management System (eDMS) can cut half of that time.
Savings when using an automated eQMS software like BPA
According to Price Waterhouse Coopers, 45% of work activities could be automated. With 50 employees making $50,000.00 a year, we added a 25% overhead to each employee and estimated a total cost of $3,125,000.00. Your organization, therefore, could be saving $1,406,250.00 annually.
With no digital system in place, incorrect form submissions need to be reworked while manual document/form approvals take time and are definitely not efficient. With an automated eQMS, important costs can be avoided thanks to intelligent forms and preconfigured automated workflows.
Costs linked to non-compliance with regulations
The cost of non-compliance is nearly three times higher than the cost of compliance by implementing governance and compliance frameworks and solutions. Each dollar spent on compliance (as a performing AI-driven eQMS) will save 3 dollars of non-compliance. Here are some examples:
- The average cost of compliance came in at $5.47 million, while the average cost of non-compliance was $14.82 million.
- The average cost of non-compliance has risen more than 45% in 10 years.
- The true cost of non-compliance for organizations due to a single non-compliance event is an average of $4 million in revenue.
- Organizations lose an average of $5.87 Million in revenue due to a single non-compliance event.
- GDPR fines start at $11 million or 2% of a company’s annual revenue for corporate abuses and disclosure of user information.
Savings when switching to instant collaboration with BPA eQMS
While specific measurable benefits can vary based on the organization’s size, market, and usage patterns, here are some general metrics that can be considered to evaluate the cost-saving benefits of using Microsoft Teams over traditional email interactions:
- Greater reactivity when managing events through Teams and via real time discussions rather than individual emails. For example a document request will trigger all members of your document control team.
- Your cross-functional/organizational teams are instantly prompted in Microsoft Teams when a new quality related event is registered, and an interactive card displays in the right discussion flow. Real-time messaging accelerates significantly business decisions compared to traditional email-driven processes and usual eQMS software solutions.
A study by Forrester Consulting found that employees can save up to 4 hours per week through improved collaboration tools, including instant chat and file sharing.
Savings when using an AI-driven eQMS like BPA software when searching for information
According to IDC’s The Business Opportunity of AI study:
- 71% of respondents say their companies are already using AI.
- 92% of AI deployments take 12 months or less.
- Organizations are realizing a return on their AI investments within 14 months.
- For every $1 a company invests in AI, it realizes an average return of $3.50.
AI-driven eQMS like BPA allows users to find relevant content faster than traditional eQMS software with no generative AI integration. Generative AI instantly offers summarized content around the prompted keywords including references to internal documents and data contained in the eQMS. The list of all references allows you to instantly view the related document section or data matching the prompted keywords, saving significant precious time. It also provides users with a broader appreciation of related content across the whole eQMS which might be of great interest.
