How to convince your C-Suite to invest in an eQMS

Making the business case to secure the tool you deserve

It’s fair to say a bottom-line focused CFO might not immediately see the financial benefits of an electronic quality management system (eQMS). But quality professionals see the limitations of a paper-based QMS on a daily basis, and they know the difference in speed, compliance, and efficiency a better quality management system would make. They just have to prove it.

With every department looking to secure budget for the upcoming year, now is the time to make your case. Compliance and risk management ride on your team's shoulders, and you deserve an investment in a QMS software that will improve quality and reduce costs. 

Let’s make it easier for your CFO to say “Yes” to your eQMS request by translating quality language into the financial language they care about. 

Identifying expensive quality bottlenecks

If there’s one thing CFO’s don’t like, it’s wasting money. So the first order of business is to identify your company’s current quality processes and determine whether or not they’re cost-effective.

Here are some common, inefficient practices you might recognize: 

• Reliance on paper reports, spreadsheets, and physical storage/archives; 
• Electronic files stored on different computers in different departments or sites;
• Duplicated efforts, especially with respect to risk management and/or audits;
• Business operations that do not align with quality, risk management, and financial systems.
• Quality, risk management, and financial systems that are not linked.

How should you approach your CFO about the costs associated with each one? For starters, collaborate with the finance team to attach a dollar figure to any adverse events in the most recent fiscal year that can be traced to any of the above process gaps, such as:

• Time and data lost to the reliance on paper reports and files, which are easily misplaced and error-prone;
• Productivity lost to searching and comparing data on siloed electronic files, eliminating duplicate files, and ensuring information is available and updated/accurate once the right files are identified.
• Adverse events that are unrecorded, partially recorded, recorded in duplicate, or recorded late.
• Time and costs associated with inefficient engineering change order processes
• Audit reports that are lost, incomplete, or duplicated.

Once you’ve quantified the costs related to process gaps, you'll likely have the C-suite's attention. You don’t have to be a sales whiz to do this; the numbers will speak for themselves. And they don’t even take into account any costs associated with future client or regulatory audits, which could lead to additional slowdowns if observations pop up.

The best thing about building your business case for a quality management tool is you’re giving your executive team what they want: solutions to maximize savings and boost return on investment (ROI). And that’s exactly where an eQMS comes in. 

Closing the gaps

Paper files, spreadsheets, and older quality control methods worked well when rules and risks were easier to predict. However, times have changed. An organization’s quality and risk management systems need to meet today’s new challenges. To that end, CFOs are more likely to welcome an investment in an effective quality management software that does three things:

• Enhances compliance
• Reduces risk
• Comes as close as possible to eliminating adverse events

With an efficient eQMS, all of your documentation stays linked, aligned, and unduplicated, which goes a long way towards eliminating costly audit observations or quality bottlenecks. Additionally, reporting for audits, risk management, and compliance will require less staff support, boosting the potential ROI. 

The good news for CFOs

There's a long list of cost-related advantages to having an effective and efficient eQMS system in place. You just have to pick the right one:

• The right system is fit-for-purpose. Don't fall prey to paying for a system twice as big as you need. Map out your must-haves and find a system to match.
• The right system allows unlimited access to all modules for all staff, without having to worry about seat licenses.
• The right system, paired with a strong Support team, means a fast implementation and little to no downtime, even for new users.

It’s time you and your quality team received the right tools to do your job effectively, instead of just making due. By arming yourself with familiar financial language and clear data on current inefficient processes, you can present a strong case to your CFO about how an eQMS can provide the value your company is looking for. 

If you’re ready to move to a more cost-effective system, ZenQMS is ready to help. Let us show you what an eQMS can do.