A Quick Guide to Electronic Signature Software

Electronic signatures or e-signatures are digital signatures are now replacing paper agreements. Instead of manually signing documents on paper, we now have a quicker way by using electronic signature software. They help your company minimize any errors and saves you money, helps in the decision making and improves your business operations. In this article, we will give you a quick guide to these kinds of software.

Introduction to Electronic Signatures

E-signatures are formal signatures that are digitally made with an electronic signature tool. It can help business grow as it facilitates the document management process. From a business perspective, the quicker documents are processed, the more transactions are made and more profits gathered for the company. It also minimizes troublesome issues when signing documents because it’s easier, faster and more convenient. The Secretary of State has a great webpage about digital signatures, which can be found here.

The most prominent reason why businesses use e-signatures is because of the quick turnaround time of electronic signatures and how it provides a higher increase of the company’s return of investment. Not only that, it may give more trust and security to its customers by providing excellent security methods that prevents fraud and forgeries. Read more to find out more ways of choosing the best electronic signature software for your company.

How Does It Work?

Basically, it involves two parties where two parties come into an agreement or contract and use e-signature as proof of their agreement. There are many e-signatures to choose from, but the most commonly used e-signature with the highest level of security is a digital signature. A digital signature is used to make sure that a digital document is authenticated and valid. It makes sure of the following:

1. It identifies and authenticates that the sender and the receiver of the document. This helps in ensuring that the contract was made without any force and signed freely by the signer.
2. Non-repudiation. There is a step by step process made when a document is signed. It would be recorded via a digital footprint. This is to make sure that there was no mistake in signing or that the signer accidentally signed the document.
3. It makes sure that both parties are using secure website browsers or secure access when signing and notifies them if the document has been modified or changed.

You can check on CrowdReviews reviews of electronic signature software to make sure the software you have has all of these factors. Let’s continue on and talk about digital signatures and how it works.

Digital signatures use digital certificates and encryptions. A digital certificate is used to encrypt files in order for only the sender to read the document. It is also used to make sure the signers use their digital signature and ensures that the document will not be forged or modified.

Digital certificates have a private and public key. As the name suggests, the public key can be used and viewed by everyone while the private key can only be used or viewed by a specific individual or group. These keys are created using hash algorithms.

So, if you’re creating a digital signature, once you send an e-signature document, a hash algorithm will be used and it will be encrypted using your private key. Your customer will be able to receive it already encrypted. Your customer will then electronically sign the document and send it back to you using your public key.

Once your encrypted document gets back to you, it will be decrypted in the software and uses your customer’s private key. It then uses hash algorithms to compare the original document and the one that has been sent to you. If they are the same, this means that the sent document is genuine and verified. The software will now keep a record of it for future use if necessary.

If you’re interested in how e-signature works, Comodo has a really cool explanation about it in this article. The top Electronic Signature Software should have a clear explanation on how their e-signature works for you.

What Are the Usual Documents That Use E-Signature?

E-signatures are used to lessen printing, faxing, shipping and the storing of documents. We’ve complied 8 types of documents that is normally used with a digital signature tool. These are:

1. Sales and Financial Contracts. This is recommended for those in the real estate and automotive industries as well as those with sales and financial contracts.
2. Price Estimates and Receipts. This is used by all companies for accounting and bookkeeping purposes.
3. Liability Waivers. This is usually needed by companies that participate from voluntary activities such as fun runs or medical mission programs.
4. Rental Agreements. This is suitable for businesses that rents properties, automotives or items.
5. Non-disclosure agreements. These are used in most business transactions that require mutual confidentiality between both parties.
6. New employee contracts. Every business would need e-signatures for fast and easy processing of new employees in the company.
7. Independent contractor agreements. Employees that are working overseas or doing home based work use e-signature for them to able to confirm these kinds of document agreements.

What are The Documents That Cannot Use E-Signature?

There are certain documents that cannot use e-signature software. The following are:

1. Family law matters such as adoption and divorce
2. Last will and testament
3. Product recall notices for safety and health
4. Property foreclosures, eviction and repossession
5. Termination or cancellation notice of life insurance or health benefits
6. Termination notice of utility services
7. Letters approving hazardous materials transportation
8. Court notices and court orders

Companies use e-signatures mostly because of the following reasons:

1. The software offers compatibility with whatever type of files you utilize such as Word documents, PDFs, SharePoint and AutoCADD.
2. It incorporates your existing software used in the company.
3. Common goals. Helps reach your company’s goals.
4. Privacy and security. It makes sure that your customer’s data does not leak out, especially to hackers.
5. User friendly. It is very easy to use, with minimal training involved.
6. You are able to customize it according to your company’s needs.
7. It is compliant to the international laws of e-signature.
8. It allows multiple platforms that may be used anywhere, anytime.
9. Hosting service. It has several options for hosting, such as cloud solutions or on-premise solutions.
10. Cost effective. It is a great way to improve your return of investment. They are mostly reasonably priced.
11. It promotes teamwork and improved communication between your employees.

Every kind of business can benefit from e-signature. The best electronic signature software

helps increase the effectiveness of any business.  You just need to make sure that the features should your business needs. Forbes.com’s article and TechAdvisory’s article will tell you why every businesses need e-signature for their business.

The use of e-signatures is considered legal worldwide. There are various laws that have been passed to make sure that these electronically created documents and contracts are valid. The top digital signature software must comply with the laws according to country. If you are located in the U.S., it should adhere to the ESIGN (Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce) Act of 2000 federal law and the UETA (Uniform Electronics Transactions Act) state law. There are also other federal laws such as the GPEA (Government Paperwork Elimination Act), the UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) and the Digital Signature and Electronic Authentication Law (DSEA) that is considered in many U.S. States.

If you are not located in the United States, but in Canada, we have the PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) law. In Australia, there is the Electronic Transactions Act of 1999, in India, the Information Technology Act, in the E.U., we have the eIDAS based in the EU Regulation Number 910 of 2014. The United Nations also created the (UNCITRAL) United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in 2001.

There are many websites that provide more information about the legalities of e-signatures. You can check Nolo’s commentary, Johnson Winter and Slattery’s editorial and www.USCode.House.gov’s Chapter 96 of the E-Signature Act Globally article. To find more information about the laws of e-signature, check SearchSecurity’s article here or DocuSign’s article.

E-signatures have improved the way the signing process of paper documents work. It is now more time efficiently, less costly and minimizes delays or workflow barriers. It is legal, just like a written contract, and provides extra security. Just make sure that when choosing the electronic signature software that’s right for you, it should have the following:

1. It has the capacity to store all your important documents.
2. Recognized by e-signature authorities. It should comply with the industry standards of e-signature laws depending on the location.
3. Safe and secure. It prevents hackers from accessing your customer’s data.
4. Accurate recording. It provides correct information that are tracked and documented.
5. Your customer’s data is categorized in an organized manner.

Since you now know about e-signatures and what it can do to your company, why not get one now? CrowdReviews has reviews of electronic signature software that you can search and filter to find out what’s best for your company’s needs. A complete list is available here.

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Jeev Trika

Jeev is an executive leader with successful experience building research portals which recommend the best products and services in various highly competitive verticals.

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