Is your platform powering—or limiting—your quality management system?
Many life sciences manufacturers have a growing interest in cloud-based quality management solutions. But the platform on which your QMS runs is as important as the QMS product itself.
To get the most from your enterprise cloud QMS, look for a trusted platform that can support a robust, full-featured quality solution. The ideal platform can enhance the power of your QMS by offering the following benefits.
1. Increased Affordability
The sharing economy isn’t just Uber and AirBnB. Cloud-based, multitenant quality management solutions serve more than one client. These platforms spread maintenance, software, storage, and compute costs across multiple organizations. Data security is a shared resource as well: Your data is kept separate from other tenants. And since upgrades and validation cycles are near-constant in the cloud, you also avoid surges in IT spending. Plus, many organizations see additional savings as a benefit of reduced IT burden, improved productivity, and greater compliance.
2. Fast Scalability
Any hosted solution can technically call itself “cloud-based.” But a powerful platform makes a real difference if you need to quickly increase—or decrease—licenses or data storage.
This type of scalability offers cost advantages, too: You pay only for what you need, when you need it. And it can help you meet changing industry or customer demands—fast.
3. Easier Integration
To effectively manage quality, your QMS platform needs to communicate and integrate with the systems that produce quality data. For example, Sparta Systems’ TrackWise Digital is built on the Salesforce platform, which lets you connect to device, product, and app data from a variety of sources.
Does your QMS platform offer easy integration with your ERP, CRM, LIMS, or other systems? Does it provide the necessary APIs to connect to supply chain and manufacturing data, so that you can follow your processes from end to end? If not, it might be time to rethink your QMS solution.
4. Reduced IT Burden
A big advantage of cloud-based QMS solutions is the opportunity for continuous updates and improvements. No need to worry about outdated software or outgrown hardware; no need to add another to-do item to your IT team’s undoubtedly long list.
Top-tier cloud platforms offer extensible processes that grow with your business. They also test and integrate new technologies, making your QMS more adaptable and future-proof.
Look for solutions that work on an open platform with abundant user support and training. A well-known platform can also help reduce support costs—and improve user adoption rates—by providing familiar forms, fields, and other UI features that decrease the learning curve and increase usability.
5. Security and Compliance
A worthwhile QMS platform automatically creates an audit trail, meets e-signature requirements, and provides other important compliance essentials. Multitenant architectures typically provide a strong security foundation; make sure yours also enables you to take advantage of authentication and encryption features.
By adding “platform” to your QMS evaluation checklist, you can position your organization for faster ROI and greater quality success.
