5 Reasons To Start Using Electronic Signatures

An increasing number of businesses are turning to paperless documentation these days. This is in line with the overall trend toward sustainability and waste reduction. Introducing eco-aware practices is likely to boost your reputation if your target audience is interested in protecting the environment, and electronic signatures are a great way to cut down on paper and postal services.

Here are five reasons to convince you if you are still hesitant.

What is an electronic signature?

Also, colloquially referred to as e-signatures, electronic signatures are data that exist in the electronic form and have a logical association with other electronic data. The purpose of such data is to act as an individual's signature with the same validity and legal standing as a handwritten signature. Of course, this is only true as long as legal prerequisites are met.

Be mindful of the difference between electronic and digital signatures, in which the latter refers to an encryption mechanism used for security purposes. An electronic signature is used as an identification mark to authenticate a document. It has come to replace handwritten signatures in most contexts and is mainly viewed as an alternative to the traditional option.

What are the benefits of using e-signatures?

Electronic signatures offer a number of advantages as compared to traditional document signing. Here are some factors to take into account as you consider the possibility of going paperless or simply reducing the amount of paper waste you produce through e-signatures.

1. Reduced costs

Cost-effectiveness might be far from obvious when it comes to petty costs such as the price of ink and paper. However, signing your documents by hand is also associated with postal services, which are required to get the papers from one place to another.

Finally, (and much more importantly), signing dozens of documents and getting them delivered takes time, which translates directly to money.

2. Improved convenience

Given how geographically dispersed the environment is in which most businesses operate today, it's only natural that exchanging physical copers of documents is a time-consuming process. It takes a lot of effort, too. By contrast, electronic signing brings traceability to a new level. Documents are no longer a burden if you only need to use a pre-saved signature and share them in a couple of clicks.

3. Faster turnaround

The moment you go paperless, you also eliminate several links from the chain that connects you and your partners. There's no more printing, scanning, and copying. The delivery company won't let you down. All you need to down is sign the document and send it on the automatically managed journey to its recipient.

4. Enhanced security

Some business owners feel apprehensive about the security aspect of electrical signatures. In fact, however, they are much more secure provided that you use quality software because they also carry information about who signed the document and when which helps trace each copy and investigate into incidents shall any arise.

5. Signing is a piece of cake

Another common fear is that singing a document electronically might require serious technical expertise. It does not. As long as you use software with a well-design user interface, finding the necessary tools and applying them the right way is quick and easy. We'll use PDFLiner as an example.

With their features, you upload a document, put signers, and send them a secure link to the PDF doc. The recipient signs the document, and the process is finished. If you can open a link and click a button, you can use electronic signatures.

A lot of effort is being put into making such products as beginner-friendly as possible to encourage the transition to paperless documentation.

Time to make the right decision

You needn't panic if you find yourself still relying on the good old ink and paper now that everyone seems to be in transition. However, it's time you considered e-signatures as a nice environmentally aware touch and a way to reduce costs and fuss.

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