A switch to electronic document management rarely fails because of technology — what usually breaks down is how the rollout is organised. We have collected the eight mistakes we see most often in companies starting out with EDM, and for each one, a way to get it right.
1. Rolling Out Everything at Once Instead of a Pilot
The most common scenario: the company decides "everything goes digital on Monday" — and a month later processes have stalled, people are frustrated, and half the documents are back on paper.
How to do it right: start with a pilot on one document type and one team. Simple, high-volume documents work best: acts with counterparties or leave applications. Refine the process, gather feedback — and only then scale. We put a step-by-step plan together in our checklist for switching to EDM.
2. Not Appointing an Owner
When EDM is "everyone's job", it is nobody's job. Questions hang in the air, decisions never get made, and the project quietly dies.
How to do it right: appoint a project owner with real authority — someone accountable for the outcome, able to settle disputes and backed by management. In a small company that might be the office manager or chief accountant; in a larger one, a dedicated project lead.
3. Skipping Team Training
"It's all intuitive, they'll figure it out" — they won't. People fall back to familiar paper not out of stubbornness, but because they don't know how to do a simple action in the new system.
How to do it right: run a short hands-on session using the company's real documents, prepare a one-page cheat sheet, and name a go-to person for questions. The first two weeks of support decide the fate of the whole rollout.
4. Leaving Counterparties Out
The company sets up its internal workflow, but acts and contracts with clients still travel by post. The impact of EDM is cut in half, because external documents are usually the slowest.
How to do it right: plan for exchanging documents with counterparties from day one. Tell your key partners about the switch, and choose a system where a counterparty can sign a document even without an account — that keeps the barrier for the other side minimal.
5. Duplicating Everything on Paper "Just in Case"
Printing every electronic document "for the archive" means doing the work twice and gaining none of the savings. In reality, the QES-signed document is the original — a paper copy adds nothing.
How to do it right: state in your internal policy that the electronic copy is the primary one, and keep documents in a searchable electronic archive. Reserve paper duplication only for cases where legislation or a specific partner explicitly requires it.
6. Choosing a System Without Considering Integrations
Document flow does not live in a vacuum: counterparty data sits in your CRM, invoices in your accounting system. If the EDM system cannot talk to them, the team ends up shuttling data back and forth by hand.
How to do it right: check for an API and webhooks at the selection stage: can you create documents automatically from your systems and get notified when statuses change? Even if integration is a "someday" item, the capability must be there from the start.
7. Forgetting About Policies and Approval Routes
The system is bought, but who sends what to whom and who is authorised to sign is left to chance. The result: the chaos simply moved from paper into digital.
How to do it right: write down the basic rules: which document types exist, who creates them, who approves, who signs. Then encode those rules in the system as approval routes — that way the policy enforces itself instead of living in a forgotten file.
8. Not Measuring the Effect
Without numbers you can neither prove the project's value to management nor notice when something goes wrong.
How to do it right: fix two or three metrics before launch and keep tracking them. The minimum set: average signing cycle time (from document creation to the last signature) and the cost per document (printing, delivery, staff time). For remote teams, the time spent waiting for signatures from people outside the office is another telling indicator.
Key Takeaways
- Start with a pilot on one document type, not "everything at once".
- Appoint an owner with authority and management backing.
- Train the team and provide support in the first weeks.
- Involve counterparties — external flow delivers the biggest gains.
- Don't duplicate on paper: the QES-signed electronic document is the original.
- Check integrations (API) before choosing a system, not after.
- Encode your policies as approval routes in the system.
- Measure signing cycle time and cost per document.
The best way to avoid these mistakes is to start small and with real documents. Create a free account at portal.eobig.com and launch a pilot, or book a demo — we will help you plan the rollout without the usual pitfalls.