With so much paperwork to be submitted, signed, and returned, it’s common for company owners to feel overburdened. Even though it may not seem like a significant concern, the way your business signs papers affects customer happiness, general operations, and financial performance. You can operate more quickly and easily with the aid of eSignatures, so you can benefit from the key advantages of electronic signatures.
With eSignatures or electronic signatures, users can easily gather secure signatures on documents and spend much less time on follow-ups or check-ins. eSignatures are already the norm for the majority of enterprises. What, however, is so unique about eSignatures? And why do companies prefer electronic signatures over traditional wet signings? Let’s examine the reasons for the growing use of electronic signatures in various sectors of the economy. An electronic signature is exactly what it sounds like—an electronic version of a signature.
Some Benefits of Electronic Signatures
1. Cost-Effective
When you take into account the resources required to produce paper, this is one of the key advantages of electronic signatures. An American worker consumes, on average, two cases of $40 paper every year. That works up to $8000 a year for a 100-person organization, not even accounting for storage space, printer maintenance, ink, or other costs.
When managing a firm, one is always trying to find methods to save costs and increase profits. By selecting electronic signatures instead of conventional paper-and-ink methods, you may save money on unnecessary paper, pens, Xeroxing, printing, and other incidentals associated with document signing. However, there are still a lot of discounts available.
2. Faster Document Processing
Document turnaround times may be slashed by an amazing number of hours using e-signatures. One study found that the average processing time for documents dropped from five days to only 37 minutes with the use of e-signatures. Yes, you read it right—37 minutes.
Signing a document by hand using paper and ink might be a laborious process. Think about how long it would take you to transmit and receive a document that requires many signatures.
Electing to sign your documents online will save you all the trouble. You’ll be able to sign a paper quickly, if not instantly! Increasing the pace of your contract will give you the edge you need and allow you to further maintain the confidence of the public.
3. Accuracy
Legally binding papers from organizations and corporations need proper presentation of all facts. Ensuring the accuracy of the paperwork is crucial & one of the reasons to adopt e-signature. Send it back to the signer and ask them to fix any mistakes they made if you’re still using outdated processes and they neglected to sign one or two pages.
Businesses and individuals often utilize contract management software to electronically sign documents. Using these applications has many additional benefits, not the least of which is the reduction of mistakes in bids, invoices, contracts, and other paperwork.
E-signature applications, on average, cut total mistakes by 80%, according to a study. Managers, authors, and legal professionals have access to a suite of tools designed specifically for use with e-signatures. Content libraries, templates, and automated approval procedures are among them.
4. Easily Traceable
The ability for organizations to simply monitor the progress of any document they have out for signature is another important advantage of employing electronic signatures. Businesses may keep control and visibility over all of their signature procedures by using electronic signature software with features like signing dashboards, alerts, and reminders.
They may see all open and closed sales contracts, NDAs, purchase orders, invoices, human resource paperwork, and more. For businesses with numerous signature processes running concurrently, this may be very advantageous since it removes the time spent manually hunting down signatures.
5. Safer
It may be somewhat stressful to make sure that official documentation is handled correctly and reaches the appropriate parties. There is always a chance that your papers might be lost, stolen, or altered, even with total protection.
One of the key advantages of electronic signatures is that you can expedite the process and use fewer hands when you choose to sign your paper online. Moreover, it is simpler to keep track of all the necessary signing procedures with e-signatures, as they usually include a digital audit trail made up of emails, signing certificates, stored copies of contracts, and other documents. Furthermore, it is far simpler to falsify a handwritten signature than an electronic one.
6. Operational Efficiency
Faster client and supplier approvals are made possible by digital signatures. It does away with the needless back-and-forth postal delivery of hard-copy papers that comes with using handwritten signatures. Cross-platform mobility is also supported by digital signatures.
The ability to execute agreements virtually makes it possible to examine, sign, approve, and archive papers more quickly. This is a major benefit in the case of a worldwide pandemic since it enables economic transactions to take place despite travel limitations. No matter where they are in the world, employees and customers may sign quickly at any time.
7. Environment-Friendly
For some time now, businesses have been moving towards more paperless, cloud-based solutions. One of the reasons to adopt e-signature is that using an e-signature system may help you transition to a greener, more ecologically responsible workplace.
Another advantage of using an electronic signature is that it will help you lessen your carbon footprint since you won’t need poisonous ink, paper, or gadgets made of materials that are difficult or impossible to properly recycle.
8. Better ROI
Businesses that choose to use e-signature systems may save up to 85% on document handling expenses, according to statistics released by MSB Docs. Adoption of e-signature systems may also save you $6 on each transaction, according to data from Adobe. So why not follow suit and use an e-signature?
After all, it’s simple and affordable to build up a software infrastructure that enables customers and staff to utilize electronic signatures. Apps are available in a variety of options for people and businesses of all sizes, and the majority provide committed onboarding assistance to ensure that the shift to a paperless workflow happens as quickly as possible.
With electronic signature systems, most businesses may generally achieve a positive return only from the reduction in paper costs.
The Cons of Electronic Signatures
Despite the many key advantages of electronic signatures, there are several difficulties with universal electronic signatures. If an organization is unable to overcome a barrier for a particularly important transaction, it could need backup plans.
Possibly need cutting-edge technologies: Not everyone has equal access to technology. Online resources may be useful, but they can’t handle every situation. Parties may exchange e-signature tools for completely distant transactions or gather a wet signature for transactions that already have an in-person component, as many do.
Trust: Wet signatures should be accepted by organizations since a lot of people don’t trust technology.
Opposition to alteration: Wet signatures are still widely used because people might be skeptical of technology and still be able to prevent change. Several organizations went back to using wet signatures after their pandemic lockdowns ended to restore previous procedures.
FAQ
Q: Can electronic signatures be forged?
A: No, the encryption and authentication procedures used in electronic signatures are intended to prevent simple forgeries. It will be very difficult for unauthorized parties to replicate the e-signatures with such precautions in place.
Q: How can a document be signed electronically?
A: It usually requires the use of specialized software or specific programs to add an e-signature to a document. These programs can add, draw, or even upload scanned photos of handwritten signatures directly. Select software, like Convene, that complies with security and regulatory criteria.
Q: Is it possible to employ e-signatures for sensitive transactions?
A: Indeed, sensitive transactions, such as those in the financial and medical industries, may benefit from the use of e-signatures. However, strong security measures need to be in place to guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of such transactions.
