2013 marks the coming of a new era – the paperless era. Even Google is encouraging users to go paperless in 2013, not just for the sake of saving trees and environment, but for self-gains. And what precisely are these self-gains? That’s saving money spent aimlessly on paper and ink and the time spent on gathering signatures from board directors or customers all day long. The government has even sanctioned e-signing for legal, official, business or any sector where signatures are mandatory. In other words, go paperless, stop the paper insanity and get your hands on an electronic signing tool online that you can count on and administer your organizational tasks accordingly. However, here is what you need to be wary of, since not all e-signature solution offer everything you need and offer what you don’t need at all.
When assessing different e-signing tools online, your top priority should remain accurate encryption and security measures it offers. Apart from that, the other essential things you need to keep yourself aware of include:
How easy is it sign off a document?
If the e-signature tool you’re thinking of purchasing doesn’t offer the promised convenience of signing, then there’s no point in wasting your hard-earned cash on such an application. If there are too many to hoops to get yourself acquainted with the application, or issues such as unable to print before signing, perhaps is further dependent on other software application , or requires using some specific web browser specially for using the app, well, better drop the idea of trying it out even. That’s too many problems in counting that you’d b facing just to get your document signed and processed.
Is the solution capable enough to capture the signer’s intent and consent?
Similar to wet-ink and paper method, it’s your responsibility to show that an e-signer has completely understood and accepted the conditions of the proposed contract. With a robust and reliable e-signature solution, you can create electronic documents. These e-docs resemble to the documents produced otherwise traditionally and doesn’t present them in any way disorderly or with errors. Apart from that, also check the amount of time spent on getting a single document signed.
Is a complete audit trail possible to acquire?
Make sure that your e-signing solution uses a systematic and a steadfast mechanism for data recording relevant to the document signing process. If, in case, the contract is ever brought into question, it will become easier to access the document, review it and present it to the concerned authority.
Is the electronic signature secure enough?
The real purpose of getting a document e-signed is to ensure its integrity is maintained and that it isn’t forged or tampered with. If a software application fails to offer the security needed to present the document from imitation or makes it easier to break the seal, then that’s not what you should be getting for yourself. The validity, if ever becomes an issue, you can always check back and see if the seal has been broken. Remember, a good service always prefers to use a 3rd party certification service.
Is it convenient enough to support templates?
If you have to take care of huge loads of signed documents including NDAs, contracts, releases or consents, your chosen application should be able to support. This can help you use the same template against a different document every time and save you the headache of constantly posting a document online or producing one from the scratch.
Author Bio: Anna Stacy has in-depth knowledge and experience of electronic signature solutions. Her basic forte lies within process optimization and process re-engineering, and has a long-term obsession with e-sign. She is a leading source of what’s hot and what’s not in the online digital signature space.
When we do a signature on paper it also vary from the pressure points to writing points but in digital signature it might be chance where copy can be done easily. Still this tech need more improvement.