The Impact of Electronic Signatures, Business Reimagined

Accessibility and Ease

When documents are digitized, it means they can be accessed anywhere, this increases flexibility and ease of accessibility. Potential customers are more likely to sign on for something if they don’t have to go through hoops and additional steps to get to the paperwork. All signers must be gathered in one place to traditionally sign off on something. In addition to going through hoops and needing people present, it just simply takes time. Time for potential prospects to back out of a deal, or to overthink their decision. As well as company time that is spent paying each employee that will need to take time away and be present. Imagine scheduling a plan of action, getting multiple employees on board and the potential customer backs out at the last second. How much money and time would you have sunk for it to go nowhere.

Of course many would say the document could be mailed, but even that comes at a great risk. How long would the mail take to reach all parties involved in the signature. And how long would it take for that mail to get back to you. Companies also must take into consideration that the piece of mail may even get lost or never be received by the recipient. There is no way to receive confirmation of this unless you get the signature back, and attempting to call the customer can complicate the process even further making you potentially lose out on the deal all together.

Fantastic Automation Capabilities

Electronic Signatures integrate well with automated workflow systems, something standard signatures could not do. In platforms such as DocuWare, you can set up precise handling of how the documents need to be signed and define triggers for each stage of the process. These include examples such as closing sales, onboarding new customers, or even contract renewal dates. What's more is multiple users under permission can view the signed document as well. This includes seeing the process and what parts of the document have been completed or not

The process and setup is easy and efficient. Document Management like DocuWare works seamlessly with signature services. It works with trust providers like DocuSign and Validated ID to ensure qualified professional signature validation. The moment the document is archived, it goes straight to the signature service. From there the uploaded document and transfer to the recipient are fully automated. The user will be able to auto authenticate themselves using an SMS code as well. Upon the sign being completed the system itself can notify, allowing businesses to not even worry about checking if the document has been signed or reviewed yet.

Compliance and Security Relief

Electronic Signatures, especially on document management platforms such as DocuWare, are compliant with the law to secure your documents. Paper can get lost, misplaced, or destroyed. Once the paper is lost, it becomes very difficult to know what to do and asking the customer to sign again will come off very unprofessional and raise far too many questions. Even if you can get a traditional or wet signature as it’s called, the validity of the sign can only be done by comparing other copies of documents the individual in question has signed to make a direct comparison. This is inconvenient in that there may very well be a chance you don’t have something like that on file. Even if you did, the company time that would go to waste to first find that paperwork combined with time spent analyzing these documents would be far too great. By the end of it, no matter how much you do analyze it, there is still that lingering doubt if the signatures are exactly a match. Thus, making the whole process a security nightmare with no sense of relief.

Whereas Document Management Systems come with detailed logs on these electronic signatures, like keeping records of the person’s exact IP address as well as the date and time the document was signed. This helps by providing evidence of the validity of the signer in question. It’s a lot easier to find proof in the documentation when exact confirmation can be seen and submitted. Additionally, when providing a signature through a platform such as DocuWare, the electronic signature is delivered through a password protected stamp and or Validated ID. Adding an even further identification method to confirm the user you are signing an agreement with is in fact that user.