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Published August 06th, 2016 by

Important Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Digital Signature Tool

Important Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Digital Signature ToolThe computer technology has given birth to new products and services, even to ideas and systems. It also introduced a new dimension in executing mundane tasks, whether at home or in the workplace. It significantly improved business processes and transactions, so that accomplishing tasks are done faster, and more efficiently. Your employees’ talents and capabilities are also maximized, so that they can be more productive in their workplaces.

Some technology based solutions, just arrive at some logical point, without the clamor for it. It could be in the form of an upgrade, or an alternative. It could also be a replacement for something outmoded by time, or just a result of an evolution. In the case of paperless trends, it just arrived, and flourished naturally because of the advancements in computer technology.

Think about these for a moment. When was the last time you actually jotted something on paper, and not to your smartphone? When was the last time you read news directly from a newspaper? When was the last time you consulted a physical dictionary, or an encyclopedia for your son or daughter’s homework, and not Google? Did we see some paperless trends here?

When you listen intently to the noises that a traditional office is making, what do you usually hear? The first thing that can come out of your mind are the printer, photocopier or fax machines. Some employees could be printing files, receipts, documents, or invoices.

Transform yourself in a modern office scenario. Desks could be more organized. Printers don’t get to act around as much. Most likely, employees just sit at their desks, managing their emails or are engaged in a remote meeting. And there will be occasional walkers that either go on a break or is about to go home – less noise, less clutter, less mess. Welcome, to paperless offices.

Digital Signatures and Digital Correspondence

If there is less paper, what else is then, more? More technology paved the way for a lot of business aspects to go digital. The increased growth of paperless adoption in businesses was proven in a study from TechNavio which said that it found out that there will be an increase of 14% in investments made for digital document management system by the year 2019.

It is more likely since that we are in a digital, almost paperless world. Digital correspondence will imply the use of email in business. According to Wikipedia, email is the method of exchange of digital messages between computers and its users. Email is actually the shorthand form of Electronic Mail. Today, emails are being sent and received through the internet. Emails are also not just a form of message of exchange, but a professional way of correspondence in digital form. In more crucial cases, it should be authenticated by the digital signature, or an eSignature, of the owner of the account used in sending the email.

A digital signature is an algorithmic, mathematical scheme of authenticating the source of an electronic document used in digital correspondence. It ensures the identity of the sender in the document itself, in the absence of a literal signature affixed to it.

Digital signatures in the business are actually an important aspect of a legal and professional working relationship between businesses, or between the business and its clients. Each has separate impact, which will be addressed later on.

eSignatures are important in client-business transactions in the context of correspondence, because it can distinguish an authentic business email from a fake, or spammed one. It can also validate the authenticity of the receipts, documents, notices, requests for information, or other sensitive information sent and requested by businesses from their clients. Digital signatures can increase the level of trust and professionalism aspect of a business to the market.

Digital Signatures and Digital Contracts

A contract is a voluntary, mutually acknowledged, enforceable agreement between two competent parties that have legal implications and obligations. It is also binding, and may imply a more professional agreement in cases such as tenancy, lease, sale, or employment.

In a business, contracts are common and are part of its internal and external affairs. Internally, contracts are prevalent in terms of employment arrangements. Externally, it is a commonplace between a supplier and a business, which is the concluding part in closing deals, after many meetings and discussions have taken place. Contracts are also important when demanding a compensation for liabilities in court, in which the specifics are already written in the contract clauses.

Sending authenticated contracts through electronic means can be quite challenging, especially in the absence of a real signature, which is a traditional way to do it. One may argue that you can send the contract through email, print it, sign it, scan the document, and then send it back – just as simple. But this method would use more time and resources (paper) in the process, whereas it would be different in digital signatures. It would also be more formal to use digital signatures instead of the print-scan-email method, which also preserves the original state of the document.

Digital signatures are secured, and have corresponding details with it for added verification like a date or time stamp, which makes it hard to be altered or tampered, making it efficient in documents that have a legal aspect. It is also applicable in sending documents that have sensitive or confidential contents.

Digital signatures in business to business relations greatly support the legal aspect of agreements and transactions which usually involves financial obligations and product or service receipts. Digital signatures also complete a full electronic documentation and are an important part of an efficient electronic documentation management system. Digital signatures play an important role in making professional, transparent and legally accountable transactions between businesses and client-business relationships.

How Digital Signatures Work?

Digital signatures work using encryption and keys. Encryption is likened to a coding of the information prior to sending, then decoding (decrypting) it at the receiving end using an authorized key. The keys appear as private and public ones, which are both used in authenticating a document, depending on which part of the process you are in.

Public keys can be used to encrypt messages. A private key can also do the same, but is the only one who can decrypt the message.

Let’s suppose Jonah has a set of keys. She gave one public key to Rhyan, and the other public key to Joaquin. Jonah has a private key which is the only one of its kind.

Rhyan wants to send a message to Jonah. He used the public key given by Jonah to encrypt it. Jonah used the private key to decrypt it. Joaquin cannot decrypt the message using his public key, even it is identical with that of Rhyan’s.

Jonah wanted to send a document to Rhyan and Joaquin. To ensure that she is the real sender, she puts a digital signature to the message using an eSignature tool and her private key. This is done through the process of “hashing”, or turning the document into a digested form. The digested document is then encrypted by the private key, and the result, is a digital signature.

The eSignature software affixed Jonah’s digital signature to the document. Jonah can now pass the document to Rhyan and Joaquin. Rhyan and Joaquin, first, will decrypt the digital signature using the same digital signature software and their public keys, back to its digested form. If it is successful, then they can say that the document is indeed from Jonah, and has not been altered in any way.

These are the ways on how digital signatures prove,

  1. The Contract Authenticity

Authenticity is the act of being real, true, accurate, genuine, or verified to be the original. In business documents, authenticity is verified against the true facts like its sender, and its origin. The authenticity of an electronic document or contract is verified through the use of digital signatures. Like in the previous illustration, a combination of the right keys and a digital signature software can make authenticated documents, and verify it as well.

  1. The Contract Integrity

Integrity implies wholeness, honesty, and reliability. In business documents, especially with contracts, this means that the clauses included are impartial and mutually beneficial to all concerning parties. Being whole implies completeness up to the least details, which is important when legal implications needed to be studied and considered.

A digital signature tool can preserve contract integrity, in such a way that the collaborative agreement indicated in it are mutually verified and authenticated by the concerning parties. A digital signature, needed to be appended to the document so that when there is a need for the contract to be put on exhibit in court, it will be acknowledged as a valid form of evidence.

  1. Non Repudiation

Non repudiation in digital document security implies a guarantee that both the sending and the receiving parties acknowledge that transmission and reception of documents indeed took place between them.

One of the ways that non repudiation can be proved is by using digital signatures. It serves as a unique, or a distinct mark in the document by the sender, or its origin. This can be verified both on the transmitting and receiving parties end.

In this digital, paperless trend in the business, all of the management practices and technologies would be empty efforts without clients and co-businesses who will entrust their needs and transactions with your business. Digital signatures are not just personal authentications, but also a guarantee that a business deal with a secured and honest transactions all the time. A top eSignature software can help create that stamp of quality for your business.

Get to know how eSignature softwares impact the way business deals with their electronic data management systems. Check out these eSignature software reviews for honest and detailed client feedbacks.

Trevor Price

Trevor Price helps small businesses leverage mobile technology to reach their audience and extend their capabilities in delivery, information, and tracking.

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