Digitisation of Business Documents

Digitisation: beyond signing

Digitisation refers to the complete replacement of paper documents and processes with their digital equivalents. It encompasses scanning existing archives, creating native digital documents, signing and archiving with evidentiary value.

Electronic signature is often the entry point, but digitisation goes far beyond that.

Typical scope

• commercial flows: quotations, purchase orders, contracts, invoices

• HR flows: contracts, amendments, payslips, absences

• procurement flows: requisitions, orders, supplier invoices

• financial flows: mandates, transfer orders

• internal document flows: service notes, procedures

The 4 stages of a digitisation project

1. Map paper flows

List all documents your company issues or receives, their volume, their actors, their lifecycle.

2. Prioritise by ROI

Start with high-volume, high-friction flows: commercial, HR, procurement as priority.

3. Choose tools

• electronic signature

• EDM (Electronic Document Management) for filing

• e-invoicing (becoming compulsory progressively)

• archiving with evidentiary value

4. Deploy progressively

Pilot each flow separately: testing, training, rollout, ROI measurement.

E-invoicing: the obligation

From 2024, e-invoicing is progressively becoming compulsory in B2B in France. Timeline:

• large companies and mid-caps: 2026

• SMEs and micro-enterprises: 2027

Anticipate this deadline by digitising your invoicing flows now.

Measurable benefits

• Time savings: 30-50% on administrative processes

• Cost reduction: 50-80% on paper flows

• Traceability: every document time-stamped and traceable

• Compliance: automatic legal archiving

• ESG: reduced carbon footprint

Retention obligations

Even if digitised, documents must be kept according to legal retention periods:

• 10 years for commercial contracts

• 6 years for tax documents

• 5 years for employment contracts after termination

See retention of signed documents.

Common mistakes

• Wanting to digitise everything at once

• Not training teams

• Choosing tools that don't interface

• Forgetting archiving with evidentiary value

• Scanning without OCR (documents not retrievable)

Use case: industrial SME

An SME of 120 people with 50 years of paper archives digitised in 18 months:

• months 1-3: electronic signature (HR + commercial contracts)

• months 4-6: customer invoicing digitisation

• months 7-12: EDM and internal workflows

• months 13-18: digitisation of historical archives

Result: offices freed up from 200 m² of archives, 2 FTE redeployed, tax compliance 2027 anticipated.

How Certyneo helps you

Certyneo natively covers the "electronic signature + archiving with evidentiary value" component of any digitisation project. Integrations with common EDM (Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, Dropbox), API for complex automations.

Discover the Certyneo electronic signature solution

FAQ

Is e-invoicing compulsory?

Yes, progressively from 2026 (large companies) to 2027 (micro-enterprises/SMEs).

Do I need to scan all paper archives?

No, prioritise active documents (last 10 years). The rest can be archived physically.

What cost for an SME?

Variable depending on scope: 5,000 to 50,000 € for a complete project.

Expected ROI?

Generally 1 to 2 years.

Risk of losing documents?

No if archiving has evidentiary value and is redundant.

Conclusion

Digitisation is a structuring transformation project. Start with signing (quick win), then expand. ROI is measurable from the first months.

Try Certyneo to send, sign and track your documents online simply, quickly and securely.