With the spread of Coronavirus, the need to sign contracts digitally that can be legally valid has increased considerably.
The Federal Council is facilitating the use of the electronic signature for a period of six months which can be extended. With this regulation, the Federal Council now wants to avoid personal contacts among the population. But it will also help to increase the adoption rate of the electronic signature solution after the end of the crisis.
This article will give you a brief introduction on electronic signature and explain the advantages it will offer you.
What is the electronic signature?
An electronic signature or e-Signature is a symbol or other data in digital form attached to an electronically transmitted document as verification of the sender's intent to sign the document. This type of signature provides the same legal standing as a handwritten signature.
Three levels of reliability according to eIDAS and Zertes
In July 2016, the eIDAS regulation (Electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services) entered into force stating that all Europe-based organizations delivering digital services must recognize electronic identification from all EU member states.
This decision strengthens and standardizes the electronic transactions of the 28 European states members. The regulation differentiates three different signature levels of legal weight: Simple e-signature, Advanced e-signature and Qualified e-signature.
It is therefore important to investigate which type of signature is required for your business operations and workflows. This will mostly depend on the type of documents to authenticate and sign, and the general legal context.
Three reasons to invest in an electronic signature project
1. Save time, therefore money: unlock operational efficiency
A faster turnaround
With an electronic signature solution implemented in your operational workflow, e-documents can be sent, received and signed anytime, anywhere and on any device. You can request a signature from your client based in Singapore or from your manager currently in a train for Paris. With documents signed instantly, your business will experience a faster turnaround from better sales conversion, more satisfied customers and therefore an overall better user experience at every layer of your company. The e-documents are sent and signed in a few minutes with a guarantee that the documents were created by its sender, finally sent back online securely. There is no waiting or delaying period of days and weeks.
Cost saving
Costs related to administrative tasks such as printing, xeroxing, couriering, scanning, and sending paper document cease to exist. Everything is done in a few clicks from a computer, a tablet or a smartphone.
Workflow efficiency
The electronic signature has made the exchange and the signing of documents simpler and straight-through. Now, instead of printing, signing, scanning, e-documents are uploaded and shared in as secured manner without any complication. Additionally, while digital transformations are taking places at many levels of companies, too often the digital process is interrupted when a hand signature is required. By implementing digital signature in your workflow, your documents can be shared endlessly while being held digitally in one place, and with their legally binding value being kept.
2. Create a competitive advantage with better customer experience
Improve client satisfaction
With the rising e-commerce activities and growth in smartphones penetration, customers expectation toward online services are constantly increasing. Streamlining your entire value chain by including digital signature software is the way to create a complete digital journey for your customers and a mean to keep up with the competition.
Environment-friendly Solution
Electronic Signature offers the opportunity to go with a new paper-less process that will reduce considerably the paper consumption in your company and thus its carbon footprint.
Convenience and Ease of Use
With remote-based team becoming less uncommon, companies are starting to realize the importance of good collaboration and communication among all the parties. Digital signatures software allows remote authentication, which make the whole signing process more convenient for clients and teams.
3. Implement a reliable, secure, and legally compliant process
Compliance & Traceability
Electronic Signature software ensures tax and administrative standards in force for legal compliance. Also, the software provides an archiving system that guarantee the integrity od the e-document and enables an easy consultation.
Detailed Legal Evidence
Electronic signatures are legally recognized in most countries. The Qualified e-signature is approved and accepted just like a handwritten signature. The e-signed document offers more legal binding information from the traceable log of events of the document than a paper document. E-signed document are therefore more enforceable during a legal dispute.
A High-Security Solution
Electrical signatures are safer and more secured than the traditional signing process. Locked by an encrypted public key, the digital signature identifies and authenticates the document and the signer better the average document. Once an entity is identified and has confirmed his intent to sign, an electronic certificated is issued, which guarantees the legal value of the signed documents.
To understand more how the electronic signature could help improve your business and reduce costs, visit our dedicated page! Or contact us if you want to understand how to integrate eSignatures into your business processes!
