Background
If you ask someone, what has changed business the most in the last decade, the most likely answer is technology. It has altered people’s corporate practices. The business has moved from notebooks to note pads, and from paper to paperless offices. But one thing that has not changed at all is the importance of signature on a document. Though with changing times and technology, wet-ink signatures are being replaced with e-signatures.
How e-signature help you?
Things may have changed a lot, but still attaching your name to a piece of paper has a great value, both emotional and commercial. Nowadays, business happens very fast, and time is very crucial. Equally crucial is the convenience of doing business. On both these parameters, when we compare the traditional wet-ink signatures and modern e-signature, the latter comes out on top.
And after the passing of the Information Technology Act, 2000, e-signatures have got an official validity as well. With improvement in technology, e-signatures are becoming more reliable. As a result, they are being widely used in private affairs, legal dealings, business dealings, and even in government documents.
Benefits of e-signatures:
There are many benefits of using e-signatures as compared to the traditional way of signing with pen and ink. It gives an impression of being a tech-savvy organization and that you are up to date. In addition to this, some more specific benefits of e-signatures are listed below:
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Saves Time:
In today’s time, the business is going beyond geographical boundaries. So, quite often the parties involved are located in different cities or maybe in different countries. Now, traditionally signing agreements would involve taking a print, sending it through the mail, and then expecting the other person to sign and mail it back. This would hold up the things for several days and also have cost implications in taking print and sending through mail or courier. But using e-signatures, you can simply send the secured link to the other party, who can just open the link and sign it with a tick. It saves time as well as money for both parties.
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Helps you go paperless:
Today due to environmental concerns and space constraints, people are moving towards a paperless office. If you make an agreement on the paper and sign it in wet-ink, it would require a lot of office space. However, in the case of an e-signature, there is no need to print the agreement. This way you can make your office paperless, and not only support the environment but also utilize office space for something more productive.
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Contactless Work in Pandemic:
In the current situation, where the whole world is battling the Covid pandemic, people are avoiding meeting people physically. With most meetings happening online, people are looking for newer ways to conduct business online, without making any physical contact. Using conventional signatures now necessitates personally delivering documents or through the mail, all of which require human interaction, which is risky in these circumstances. However, with e-signatures, there is no need for physical contact, and the parties can sign the document in a contactless manner.
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Improves Document Traceability:
This is another benefit of using e-signatures. Using e-signature saves a lot of your precious time. Whenever any document has to be traced, one does not need to search through a large number of files or heaps of papers. In the case of e-signature, since the document is available in digital form, one can use the document management feature, and with a single search can get the desired document on the screen. This also saves a lot of time and improves the overall productivity of the employees.
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Risk Reduction:
Maintaining a document in physical form may be risky, as it may get lost or stolen, or even damaged due to various environmental and other factors. But with documents being in digital form, there is no such risk. Also, in the case of manual signatures, in case a person forgets to sign a particular page, things get delayed. But in the case of e-signatures, this risk can be detected and can be minimized.
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Reduce Operational Costs:
Signing and maintaining an agreement in paper form involves various costs like taking a print, sending it through courier, and even storing it safely. But using e-signatures takes away all these expenses, and thereby reduces the overall operational cost of the organization.
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Enhanced security:
A reliable e-signature platform like ContractBazar comes with a robust encryption algorithm and biometric security. So, when a person does an e-signature it captures various critical details about the real identity of the person who is signing it, as well as the time and place where it was signed. No one can shuffle the order of the agreement or make any changes to it. This ensures the integrity of the document and makes it highly reliable.
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Improve customer experience:
In today’s time, every organization is looking to achieve increasingly higher levels of customer satisfaction. Happy and satisfied customers are the key to business success. With e-signatures, the business dealings are not just fast, and efficient, but are also more transparent and even convenient for them. They may sign documents using any device they prefer. This increases the confidence level of the customers in your organization, which provides a better customer experience and results in increased business.
Things you should know before choosing E-Signature?
The e-signatures are definitely the in-thing these days. However, before choosing an e-signature platform, one must take proper precautions, and choose the platform carefully. Use this 6-point check before you go ahead with any e-signature platform.
- The platform should have a robust authentication method to prevent fraud.
- The platform should provide complete details and an option to decline to sign if something is doubtful
- The platform should provide a detailed audit trail for every signature.
- The signature should comply with international cryptographic standards.
- The platform should capture details of the person signing the document and provide the details if required.
- The platform and the technology used should have a long-term standing.
How can ContractBazar help in creating your e-signatures?
ContractBazar can help you create a digital signature to sign a document. ContractBazar offers the facility of Aadhaar based E-Signature, which is validated by the Government of India. It’s very easy to use the facility. Any person can open a link, click a button,and can use an e-signature. Apart from being very easy, it is very affordable. ContractBazar offers you an e-signature service at a nominal cost of Rs. 65 per contract.
Conclusion:
In today’s fast-paced business environment, speed, as well as the ease of working,are the key to success. E-signature offers both along with an enhanced level of safety and security. And to top it all, it’s very easy and convenient.All this translates into saving costs and improving productivityfor a business.