This century´s organizations are used to adapt quickly to continuous changes like technological progress, changing regulations, new consumer trends and so on. But what happened last year was not foreseen by anyone. Covid-19 has broken all the schemes that were believed to be solidly established. Yet, amid all the negativity, the crisis has also led to a good thing: the widespread adoption of digital tools, such as digital signatures.
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit pretty much every department in almost any industry. It has drastically changed our way of working, going from regular office jobs with face-to-face interaction and commercial meetings in person, to a remote way of working. It has literally forced us to change our processes overnight in all areas like sales, operations, human resources, etc. and go for a fully digital approach.
One of the greatest operational challenges for many organizations was firstly, the digital transformation of processes that previously required physical signatures and secondly, facilitating the work of their employees so they could keep doing business remotely, in a safe way and as efficient as possible.
That is why we saw many companies turning to Connective to digitize their business cycles as quickly and efficiently as possible to ensure the continuity of their ongoing projects and operations.
Moreover, we saw our existing customers, who were already using our digital signature software, substantially increasing their usage. This shows that, despite the fact that these companies were already in the process of digitisation, there were still quite some paper-based processes that had been left unnoticed.
Underlining the benefits of signing digitally
The pandemic has underlined the importance and endless benefits of digital signatures.
Increased efficiency
Digital signatures have played a crucial role in maximizing work efficiency while working from home. It helps organizations to greatly accelerate the signing processes of all types of contracts and documents from anywhere. Using digital signatures drastically decreases delays and unnecessary movements leading to significant cost and time savings for employees. In just a few clicks documents are sent and signed in a legally binding way.
Improved user experience
With the continuous growth in smartphones usage, customers’ expectations towards online services are constantly increasing. By including digital signatures in your business processes, you can offer a complete digital journey to your customers. This implies that, even in a remote world, you can continue doing business with your customers, which leads to increased customer satisfaction and therefore an overall better user experience in every layer of your company. Offering a digital experience used to be a way to create a competitive advantage. Today, it’s evolved into a crucial part of the company strategy to keep the numbers positive and the customers smiling.
Legal compliance and its positive evolution
Although digital signatures are legally recognized in most countries for most processes and documents, there are still some transactions that require an individual to personally conclude the transaction in real life. A well-known example is the signing of a notarial deed.
However, the covid-19 situation has also led to a positive evolution here. Not only did companies change their way of working, also regulations with regards to digital signatures had to be revised. Some countries and regions have temporarily allowed the remote signing of the power of attorney (in combination with other dependencies and conditions that might apply).
The questions are: Are these practices indeed temporarily or will they remain active once life gets back to normal and offices reopen? Will theses practices spread to other countries and regions?
Security
Each type of digital signature is already more secure than a manual signature on paper. Thanks to the encryption of the document, it is guaranteed that the document has not been altered after signing avoiding the risk of somebody adding extra-pages or altering some content; the exact moment of signing is securely kept using electronic Time Stamps so that there will be no dispute about when conditions were accepted by the signer; and once a document is signed you can make as many copies as you want being all of them equally valid, so that you can avoid the traditional archiving the original signed documents in endless shelves full of dust.
Post-COVID era
Despite a period of intense social and economical concern, the correct implementation of technological measures, including digital signatures, have facilitated everyone’s life at work, and we believe those measures are here to stay.
Productivity and efficiency at work have been greatly increased, which will make us more competitive well after the current pandemic situation.
To understand how Connective can also help your business sign documents digitally & allow you to experience the benefits of digital signatures, get in touch with our experts!
