Archiving is a legal obligation for companies.
Indeed, they must be able to present the documents to justify the operations in case of a tax audit or a dispute. This is why certain documents must be kept for a period of time stipulated by law.
Since the law of March 13, 2000 n°2000/230, the electronic writing is legally recognized as proof. Thus, the digitization of documents is now a major issue for companies.
A digital transformation has been instituted by the administration, followed by a need for companies to keep documents and data in a secure electronic format.
The AFNOR defines electronic archiving as « All actions, tools and methods implemented to preserve information in the medium and long term in order to exploit them ».
The electronic archiving allows to preserve their legal value while guaranteeing their integrity, confidentiality and availability.
It is an essential step in guaranteeing both the conservation and the conformity of the company’s electronic documents and data.

On the other hand, Electronic Document Management allows to optimize the management and the exploitation of documents and associated data by adapted and efficient electronic means. These operations therefore take the form of capture, acquisition, digitization, validation, distribution, classification, indexing or archiving. The management, access and exploitation are thus facilitated by automatisms.
Electronic document management should not be confused with electronic archiving. However, it is not less than these solutions are complementary.

These two solutions are therefore complementary. One defines the rules of conservation, and involves the destruction of the documents once the set duration period elapsed, and the other defines the rule to managing said documents.
As such, while the EDM facilitates the activities, the EAS secures the assets of the company.

Same distinction has to be done about electronic archiving and backup. Concerning electronic archiving, this article explains how to define a good policy.