Paper Hasn’t Disappeared—It’s Coexisting The 2026 State of Validation study confirms what many quality teams already experience day to day: despite steady investment in digital validation tools, paper remains embedded in paper-based GxP records. More than 30% of respondents report that validation protocols are still primarily paper‑based, alongside logbooks and batch records. This places many organizations squarely in hybrid validation environments, where paper and digital

The Digital Validation ROI Question Is No Longer Theoretical The 2026 State of Validation study reports that organizations investing in digital validation are, in most cases, seeing a return. Nearly three‑quarters of respondents with implemented or in‑progress systems reported that ROI met or exceeded expectations, with more than half indicating that returns surpassed initial projections. At first glance, this appears to settle a long‑standing debate about whether digital v