One of the main challenges faced by laboratories, pharmaceutical, clinics and research entities is the high level of bureaucratization. All of them belong to a sector where, due to the sensitivity of the information they work with, as well as the strict processes they have, they require a large amount of documents, which in many cases becomes almost impossible to manage.
Added to this is the need to work in collaborative environments, which makes the process more difficult. In this article we tell you how the digital signature can help develop these tasks in the most efficient way possible.
As we mentioned, one of the main challenges that companies in the laboratory industry have to face is the large amount of documents that they have to manage, at the bureaucratic level as well as in the protection of sensitive data and informed consent. Some examples are patient data, tests, investigations, process reviews and authorizations.
When working with large volumes of documentation, its proper management requires more time, and in many cases, errors or delays occur, leaving even the obsolete information.
This is more important in collaborative environments, since some processes depend on others to keep moving forward, and supervision can slow down all research. Simple steps as the approval of a document or its signature can become difficult and endanger the entire process.
The simplification of this whole process, through what we know as digital transformation, is one of the keys to success for companies in this sector. Digital transformation has provided numerous tools that make obstacles in this sector such as bureaucratization no longer obstacles in workflows.
Viafirma Documents is one of these tools that has been born from the digital transformation and that has as objective the streamlining of the review process, signature and documents storage, especially those that have to go through several people, something very common within collaborative environments.
The new data protection regulations: RGPD is another element that has made these procedures even more difficult. However, viafirma documents allows to carry out all signature procedures, informed consent, etc., within the legal framework imposed by such regulations
What challenges does the digital signature face?
There are several important challenges that the digital signature has to face within the laboratory industry and that the use of the digital signature can solve. In the first place, the information security that the laboratories handle must be very high because they deal with sensitive and confidential data.
The use of this type of solutions, viafirma documents in this case, also meets the highest security requirements, and the signatures can be complemented with other evidences such as geographical capture, official time or biometric data. All this data is encrypted and stored in a file to guarantee its necessary confidentiality.
The second challenge is the large volume of documents that move in these cases. Digitization is the first step that helps in this regard. Digital files are much easier to find (if they are correctly classified) and to modify if necessary, in addition to the cost savings that these types of process suppose.
Thanks to the push notifications engine that includes viafirma documents, the people in charge of signing the documents know instantly it is ready to be signed or that it has already been signed by the other party involved. All this is focused on achieving the fastest possible way and that the processes do not slow down, avoiding possible problems.
By having native apps on iOS, Android and Windows, it is not necessary to make large investments to equip workers with the same devices, but it is open to anyone.
What is also sought with the inclusion of the digital signature within an organization is to reduce the amount of folios and paper that is used daily, damaging the environment and hindering other processes if there is not a proper management of all those documents, and it is very difficult to achieve in large organizations that generate a large amount of information per day.
In addition, do without paper, besides being beneficial for the company, is something that will inevitably sooner or later, so the sooner the process of digitization is assimilated, the better, without having all the advantages that this entails.
This use of the digital signature also brings another advantage, inherent to this type of technology: mobility. The document signing was traditionally located inside an office in which the manager gives his approval and puts his signature on the paper. This disappears and, thanks to the applications available on all types of devices, the signature can be made from anywhere.
Mobility allows, once again, to speed up processes within bureaucratized organizations and avoid unnecessary delays that make collaborative environments difficult for others to work and for information to become obsolete.
At the end of the day, what all these points end up redundant is the increase in productivity, which benefits both the company and the end customers. This time saving translates into a greater time devoted to really important tasks and not issues of paperwork or organization, which are necessary, but become anecdotal with the correct use and integration of the digital signature within the processes.
Definitively, the implementation of the digital signature within collaborative environments and sectors as bureaucratized as laboratories is highly beneficial, causing the simplification and streamlining of the signature processes and in increasing the efficiency of the company in general.