Of all the elements the internet and advanced technology have contributed to transforming the business world, it is pretty obvious electronic signatures carry the day.
While many entrepreneurs and investors have embraced digital signatures, it will take time before they are permanently ingrained in their systems since they keep advancing.
Whether you are a small business, house mortgage company, or financial institution, knowing the roles an electronic signature plays in your business processes can help you decide if you want to go in that direction.
How Do Electronic Signatures work?
The electronic signature principle works in three ways:
Generation of keys
An electronic signature is created when an algorithm generates a private key that simultaneously matches a public key.
Signing
Signing involves an algorithmically created private key and the space to be signed.
Authentication
Before your signature is considered authentic, an algorithm cross-checks it for consistency and originality. If your specimen signature doesn’t match your current signature, it is automatically rejected by the algorithm.
An authentication solution is a tool that separates genuine signatures from fake ones.
If you have not perfected your art of signing documents electronically, create time for practice lest you get multiple rejections during your time of need.
How Do Electronic Signatures Impact Business Processes?
If you have already incorporated the use of electronic signatures in your business, you will be pleased to learn how they can impact your processes.
Increased productivity
Gone are the days when you had to buy a huge load of paper reams to print, package, and ship documents to your customers, business partners, or your employees for signing.
It is also illogical to make physical signatures to thousands of documents every day and not feel overwhelmed. Not only do electronic signatures save on cost, but they enhance productivity.
Instead of burdening your employees with tasks that involve hard-copy paperwork, the use of E-signatures can help them focus on meeting your organization’s goals.
Minimal time wastage
To keep up with business goals, racing against time should be one of your most significant agendas. The traditional signature model involves printing and shipping a document to a recipient for signing.
The last thing any business needs is wasting time on unnecessary paperwork that could take days to seal a deal. But with E-signatures, your recipient receives the signed document in a matter of minutes.
Enhances a customer-friendly experience
Hard-copy paperwork gets lost every day, compromising security and document flow. In a case where you send a document to your client and they send it back without signing some parts, it means you have wasted your time and money.
Also, there is a high chance that it could get lost when dispatching. Electronic signatures have robust encryption algorithms that not only save both parties from these risks but also enhance a customer-friendly experience.
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Promotes audit tracking
Audit tracking is a vital element that business relies on to determine if it is working towards their agenda. Unlike traditional signatures, e-signatures help safeguards a business’s integrity and security since they don’t create space for missing documents during audit tracking. When you want to retrieve or cross-check a document, all you need is to do it electronically.
Portrays your business is creditworthy
If you are a business that interacts with international clients, embracing digital signatures to seal your contracts or deals can portray you as creditworthy.
Going by the recent findings from marketing agencies like Incify.co, your prospective clients, investors, and stakeholders probably want to check your credit history and business activities through digital platforms to determine if your business is viable enough to build a solid international relationship.
If you have been using traditional signatures, it is time you switched to e-signatures to create a good name for your business and avoid being phased out by the competition.
The corporate world is too competitive to engage in traditional ways of signing documents to indicate that a deal has gone through.
As you delay embracing digital signatures, think of how much you have spent producing physical paperwork. Imagine how much time you have lost trying to send and wait for your client to sign a document.
If physical signatures have impacted negatively on your employee’s productivity, it is time you switched to e-signatures to improve your business processes.