Now that consumers are being attracted towards online engagements and the digital technology, businesses have no other choice but to follow where the today’s market is heading.
A traditional marketplace follows zoning, wherein a certain area, like a state or a region, is being served with its own market and vendors peddling essentials. Each zone has its local businesses operating, where mostly small businesses thrive without much growth, since it is hindered by geographical boundaries thus limiting its client base.
The modern marketplace or the internet is an expansive and broad public network that bypasses geographical limits with its accessibility. The internet serves as a gateway platform, for all the aspects involved in the business like marketing, sales, finance or even the physical shop.
The E-Business
E-business, or e-commerce, has been seen with a significant growth over the past years, in which, according to an e-commerce statistics, it was predicted to grow by 45% in the US alone. The popularity of smartphones will further intensify the progress, that it was expected to overtake desktop in terms of revenues in online sales. At the end of 2015, the share of mobile online sales was over 40%, and it was predicted to reach 70% by 2017. These figures just prove the stronghold and potential in terms of growth of online businesses in the world market.
An e-business is a strong and foundational wherein all aspects and processes involved work on a single platform, which makes integration and streamlining of processes more efficient to do. It also enables a centralized management system to be observed, making it a bit easier to manage than the traditional businesses with multiple branches dispersed across different geographical areas.
Under a single platform, called the internet, an e-business can stage all its business processes of marketing, sales, finance, distribution, operation, and even infrastructure in one place. All of these are easily accessible with internet enabled devices such as from a desktop computer, or from mobile devices. This makes business transactions easier to execute, and the business is transparent across multiple places, or multiple channels, for greater visibility in the market. Customers can also take advantage of its accessibility from their own desktops or mobile devices, encouraging more sales and transactions to take place.
Business transactions in e-business usually happen electronically and remotely. Through internet technology, the overall customer journey is automated – from being a lead, purchasing and ultimately, payment. The absence of face to face, or personal meeting between the business and the customer gave birth to an alternative but strong method of authenticating business transactions, electronic business document verifications, and other electronically related aspects, which is also honored and protected by legal laws, called digital signatures.
Paper Signatures
Paper signatures correspond to handwritten signatures, which denote the owner’s distinct mark or, the owner’s affirmation to a specific contract or agreement. Paper signatures gain more importance when the owner is subject to formal transactions, or those with legal implications like banking, employment or contract executions. But alone, paper signatures don’t hold any significance unless it is associated with a name or a person, or accompanied by a specific purpose that requires an act of signing.
Authenticating paper signatures could be downright daunting, because it requires sophisticated methods of handwriting or signature analysis, and multiple cross examinations of previous and present documents undertaken by the concerned person under study. Handwriting is also naturally changing as a person ages, wherein even banks require a depositor’s appearance to update his information, including his specimen signatures, from time to time. But nonetheless, the legal impact of paper signatures is indisputable. It is also the most traditional way of imposing formality, wherein most of the time doesn’t require additional verification, and is also recognized legally.
However, the loopholes in authenticating paper signatures originate from fraudulent insinuations and forgery, especially when paper signatures are always exposed publicly or many could recognize it. While authenticating free hand paper signatures could be challenging, businesses look for additional ways of adding additional authentication seals like notarizing signed documents or getting witnesses.
Paper signatures are important in business transactions, especially that it concern payments, invoices, acknowledgement receipts and contract agreements. A successful business transaction always ends up with the client affixing his signature on the contract.
However, paper signatures are hard to deploy in e-business, which we know, deals with digital documents, electronic payment modes in the absence of face to face meetings. Both the execution and authentication are challenging, and will require a significant amount of time to take place. Deploying a fast, secured and trustworthy transaction in an e-business using paper signature is most likely not possible.
Needless to say, paper signatures will remain to be the simplest and most convenient way of implying identity and agreement over a hard copied, written document content. Paper signatures are still one of the aspects of traditional business transactions and won’t go outdated for a longer time.
Digital Signatures
Paper signatures are actually capable of entering the digital world through electronic signatures. Electronic signatures are the exact replica of an actual paper signature. This is done by scanning the paper signature image to turn it into an electronic form. It can then be affixed to an electronic document in this format. The printed document can also be signed, and scanned altogether, to be able to be transmitted electronically through the internet. However, this poses challenges and increased exposure to forgery.
With sophisticated imaging and editing technologies, unguarded scanned copies of paper signatures are more easily replicated and be used in fraudulent transactions than the handwritten ones. While for some, they put passwords in documents for added protection, but the mere fact about its exposure to unsecured transactions, make it more vulnerable and impractical to use.
Another challenge here is the time involved in printing, scanning and emailing the document, for the sake of turning it into a digital format. This can be crucial, especially for business people on the go, or that which requires immediate deployment, or other hurried cases. Electronic signatures don’t fully accord to the idea of paperless offices, due to the need for printing, prior to transmission.
A digital signature is an altered form of a paper signature, where it works with cryptography, algorithms or mathematical schemes. Digital signatures live in the electronic world and are used to demonstrate the authenticity of a certain digital document, or message. It is also dynamic, that it isn’t just attributed to a specific person, but also to a group or body, or even to a company. Digital signatures are like seals, which imply the same characteristics of a paper signature concerning validity, formality and legality.
Digital signatures are important in e-business transactions, wherein there is a need for a greater assurance of trustworthy and secured transactions to take place all the time. This is due mainly because of the absence of face to face transactions, and that it involves risky modes of payment like debit and credit cards. Unauthorized access to these cards can cost you more money, and expose you to greater financial liability.
Advantages of Digital Signatures
Digital signatures are proofs of authenticity when dealing with electronic documents of a wide variety, including sensitive files and that of with legal compliance content. In the business world, digital signatures are important in securing electronic transactions, even remotely, which is the prevalent trend in the market right now.
Digital signatures host a gamut of advantages for businesses, especially the e-business, in enabling transactions, sales, marketing, and other business aspects to function more efficiently and effectively:
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Cost Efficiency
The use of digital signature software and the technology behind it, translates to cost reduction from the paperless process of not needing ink, paper or another equipment. This can also imply more indirect savings from time consumption, in having to print and scan the documents, and its filing and archiving as well.
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Convenience for Customers
The flourishing of the mobile device usage created expectations from consumers that online services will be utilized as well, for their mutual benefits. According to a survey, in 2013 about 91% of the Americans owns a cellphone, out of which 56% being smartphones and 34% also have a tablet. This goes to show a big potential in online services at the time. Just imagine how it will be, fast forward, three (3) years later, to today.
Where in fact, according to an internet fact statistics, that in 2015 alone, the contribution of internet related retail sales have amounted to $2.2 trillion, or 64% of all in-store sales. There is also a reported, whopping 202% increase in e-business sales influenced by social media in 2014. At some point in time, it was the small businesses that penetrated the online market, but today, there is no stopping for the growth their own.
Business transactions are capped off by sealing a deal through digital signatures. As the figures have already spoken, businesses are also rapid in adopting business tools to help them maximize their presence in the market. The added convenience of having to sign, and authenticate online transactions make e-businesses expand more than what it is today.
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Faster Payment Turnaround
Online transactions are most of the time, accompanied by speed. Thanks to the internet. This serves as the gateway platform for e-business transactions to commence. Through an eSignature software, businesses can have the authenticity of a signed and notarized document and transaction in one platform. The sending is also efficient, and the whole process is automated, making payments faster to process as well.
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Tracking Capability
eSignature tools can also make tracking of electronic documents and transactions that require a signature of the other party, possible. Since it records the time of signing as an added “seal” of authenticity, the same manner goes to having a tracking capability as well.
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Tighter Document Security
Since we are dealing with an electronic process and documents, the possibilities of many security measures are always possible. The good thing is that the government supports the authentication compliance and responsibility arising from specialized transactions involving digital processes and documents. Through a digital signature software, the level of authenticity can be increased further, even better than paper signatures. This is a huge advantage for e-businesses, which aside from convenience, they can also be assured of secured and confident transactions all the time.
Transaction and document security is the responsibility of the company. It is always a necessary measure every time transactions are executed, especially in the e-business. Through the advance electronic document and transaction software called digital signature tools, your business can have a companion in ensuring a high level of security and evidence that are apt for your critical and sensitive documents. The best thing about digital signatures is they are tamper proof, which can forego your worries about having a secure transmission process. It also comes with a detailed log that document versions and alterations made prior to transmission. This can further authenticate an electronic document by having a stronger set of evidences that can be verified should the need arise.
The top eSignature tools can help your e-business in fostering a trustworthy business transaction environment for your customers to be engaged in. Get a deeper insight on its benefits on actual business cases, by reading on these eSignature tool reviews from clients that has already tried, tested or adopted it on their own businesses.
Trevor Price
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