Not long ago, companies still sought traditional wet signatures in order to process business documents. In the past, signing a document, especially with more than three recipients, was a genuine torture. The whole process could take a week or even longer, and if there was something wrong with the said document, then all the efforts were in vain and thus unavoidably slowing down the business process.
Thus, this situation brought forth an inevitable question: Can we steer clear of the annoying paperwork and signatures? Obviously, we can’t, at least not in its entirety. However, we can embrace e-signature to help us out. So let’s dive deep into the definition of e-signature, how you can add e-signature to a PDF and how this new method benefits big and small businesses alike.
What Is an E-signature?
An e-signature, or electronic signature, refers to a signature in electronic form, created initially to provide a secure authentication of a digital file with a recognizable mark. This type of signature requires no physical pen and paper. It has the same legal binding as a handwritten signature if it conforms with the specific regulatory requirements under which it was created. The usage of e-signatures has been widely accepted for several industries, especially in the legal, government, and business fields.
Electronic signatures usually include the following forms:
- A scanned image of an ink signature (usually uploaded from scanners or local folders)
- A hand signature created with a mouse
- A typed name with a keyboard
- A voice signature
- A video signature
The former three are the most common types of e-signatures.
Though electronic signatures are usually used interchangeably with digital signatures, these two signatures vary and actually refer to two concepts. However, digital signatures are much more complex because it is a cryptographic mechanism used to implement electronic signatures.
Advantages of E-signature
Improve Productivity and Save Time
The essence of e-signature is to enhance working efficiency and streamline the process as a whole. Dealing with extensive amounts of paperwork is definitely a boring task, but it’s still a part of the working process. For example, before e-signature, if you wanted to sign a paper file or send a copy to somebody, you had to go through several steps: printing, signing, scanning, and finally sending to the recipients. What’s more, this process could be extended because it sometimes involved too many unexpected situations, such as incorrect or inappropriate signatures, and mistakes on the original document.
With e-signature, you just need to move your fingers and modify certain parts if mistakes occur. E-signature does make the signing process much easier and allows for error tolerance.
E-signatures allow people to deal with business documents anytime and anywhere, even in the Covid-19 context where people find themselves working from home. We don’t have to show up in offices and sign paper documents like before, and we don’t have to wait for a mailing service either.
Now, everything can go electronic, including signatures. If you manage a team with members from different regions, you may find it highly convenient to smooth out the communication process. E-signature makes remote work and signing possible. Within seconds or minutes, you’ll receive the document needed to be signed. The simplified process will inevitably save time and improve efficiency.
Save Money and Space
E-signature proves to be more cost-effective because you do not have to print out and mail documents when your PCs have been equipped with any e-signature software. Therefore, when we go paperless and make full use of e-signature, costs allocated for these materials (ink, paper, shipping services, package supplies) can be cut. Don’t ever underestimate how much money you can save. Over years, every dollar can make a huge difference. The money saved can be allocated to grow your team and business.
In addition, traditional paper documents need a special room or location to store. That means we need to purchase file cabinets to accommodate these physical documents. You’ve probably never considered space as one of e-signature’s advantages, but it is. Businesses usually need large amounts of space to store piles of documents and client files. However, by turning to e-signature, you can downsize your office and hence save space.
Protect Environment
Paper consumption will continue to put more burden on the environment. Utilizing e-signature is somewhat environmental-friendly. Paper use will be significantly reduced and substituted as we switch to digital documents and e-signatures that can be applied directly on certain files, which is conducive to the environment. Since we need less paper, fewer greenhouse gases will be emitted. Further, ink and toners used in printing and signing contain volatile compounds and non-renewable substances that negatively influence nature. That is to say, the transition to e-signature helps us live a more sustainable life and protect the environment.
Minimize Risks
If your business involves sensitive information, you’ll want to make sure that your security measures are as effective as possible.
When storing paper documents, you may need to worry about plenty of potential risks: the file may be lost or damaged by an accident, and the physical signature can be ruined by liquid like coffee or tea. What’s worse, the signature can easily be forged for any malicious purposes because signing a document with a pen isn’t a once-and-for-all matter and can easily be traced. Once deposited, the signature will never go away, either.
When it comes to working from home and signing documents electronically, people are equally concerned about cybersecurity and information leak. However, thanks to the robust encryption algorithms employed by certain e-signature softwares, e-signatures can be highly protected with passwords, and nearly no third parties can access documents without authorization. In addition, with sound audit trail, e-signature can display traceable information indicating who signed the document and when it was signed. A trustworthy e-signature program promises you control over your documents and can monitor all adjustments made within your documents as well. Let’s face it – that’s much more trustworthy and reliable than physical signatures!
Conclusion
E-signature is increasingly conducive to small and large enterprises as it simplifies the time-wasting signing process and streamlines the workflow. If you need to electronically sign a PDF document, SwifDoo PDF, Foxit PDF, Nitro PDF, and Soda PDF can be good signature creators.
