Remote audits: an interesting alternative to maintain the quality link with customers and suppliers

The year 2020 was marked by the COVID19 crisis, which impacted the audit activity within the Seqens Group. On the customer side, as well as on the supplier side, all the quality teams were able to adapt very quickly and implement a new audit strategy and methodology: the remote audit…

The remote audit was an alternative that quickly became obvious and essential to compensate the lack of on-site audit. At a time when travel was limited and many countries around the world closed their borders, follow-up with customers and suppliers could be maintained.

This new audit approach was an opportunity to review the audit strategy in terms of organization and anticipation of demands. After a few necessary technical adjustments, remote auditing proved to be an effective way to take advantage of the current period without disrupting audit schedules and quality oversight.

To be effective, this audit approach requires greater preparation and organization from both the auditor and the auditee in order to obtain the requested documents within a short period of time. IT tools have played a key role in this organization, while at the same time making it possible to guarantee the confidentiality of the data exchanged.

In 2020, remote audits accounted for about half of the audits carried out.

Even if this new audit approach is not a miracle solution, and will not fully replace on-site auditing, it can help maintain quality oversight of suppliers in this exceptional period. Above all, it helps to maintain the bond and trust of customers, which is particularly crucial in our pharmaceutical activities, by strengthening customer-supplier relations.