Face to face presentation for signing an agreement has been the custom of the world for hundreds of years. However, the world has changed overall, and digitization has become the new norm here.
One of the major changes that we are observing here due to technology is the business on the internet. The companies are more focused on the technology for increasing their businesses, targeting other markets, and reduce the role of the middleman.
Technology is also helpful in reducing the marketing and distribution costs and contacting the customers in new ways.
While talking about the growth of e-commerce, it has astonished the world already. We can give you the example of the United States, which is the hub of e-commerce businesses.
Overall, the increase in e-commerce in the United States was $1300 billion in 2003. Overall, the worldwide-e-commerce sales were around $3200 billion. When we compare these figures with those of 2018, the difference is huge.
Total e-commerce sales in the United States were $8640 billion and, in the world, $25,648 billion.
However, the issue is the legal signing currently. Previously, papers were in use and people signed the papers to make the whole process, legal. It is not as forceable with e-commerce sales as it was in the past.
The digital analysts and experts understood its value and introduced e-signature apps like doc sign pro signature app that has reduced the risk that e-commerce businesses were facing.
The e-commerce transactions have become secure and transparent with the introduction of electronic signatures and the chances of fraud and attribution have minimized.
To reach its potential, however, digital companies need to make the people comfortable with the idea. To address it, the governments and authorities have made the laws.
For example, in the United States, the Electronic Signature in Global and National Commerce Act has been working for many years.
What is an electronic signature?
Before initiating the impact of electronic signature on the global economy, we need to understand what it is and how does it work. Let us explore this term!
The electronic signature is an electronic symbol, sound, or process that you can associate logically with a record. You can also execute these electronic signatures to sign the record to prove that you are associated with it.
To make this signature unique and directly relate to the industry and mode of transaction, e-signature vendors like doc sign pro signature app offer numerous types of solutions that make the use of these sounds, symbols, and processes suitable for all the devices such as computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets, etc.
The legality of electronic signature
Yes, the electronic signatures are legal and you can consider them, the equivalent to the ink signature. However, you need to meet the following legal hallmarks to fulfill all the legal requirements and obligations:
➡ The signer’s identity should be confirmed. It means that a signer should be authenticated.
➡ The signer should confirm and communicate the parameters of the transaction.
➡ The signer needs to make the process through which the other party can verify the electronic signature.
➡ It means that the process of signing the document, the action that a signer took to complete the document, and the support documents for electronic transactions should be available.
How can businesses use electronic signatures in their business processes?
Businesses can utilize e-signatures in numerous ways. We are providing some business processes in which you can include electronic signatures here:
➡We can utilize e-signatures in sales and purchase invoices and orders.
➡Electronic signatures are used for licensing agreements.
➡The companies also use it to sign an agreement between them and the end-user.
➡The electronic signatures are also used for onboarding the employees.
➡You can use e-signatures for sending acknowledgment statements, timesheets, and tax forms as well.
➡The companies can also use electronic signatures in buying the insurance policies for the business, signing the policy agreements and notifications, claiming for the processing documents, and requesting for policy or service renewal.
➡The companies can utilize it for account opening processes, loan applications, and disclosures.
Generally, electronic signatures have been playing a major role in the boost for many industries like retail sales, insurance companies, Human Resource organizations, legal services, and finance departments.
Overall, the major impact of electronic signatures can be observed in the online selling businesses where the companies need to confirm their online customers and clients by providing them the legal comfort and ease while doing business.
What is the role of Electronic Signature in improving the world economy?
To describe the role of electronic signatures in the world economy, we need to understand the value of authentication and identification of the people that are going to involve in business transactions.
The businesses are more aware of the process of transactions and changes, which are made during the whole process. The electronic signatures also help the businesses verify that the process is safe and secure.
The products and services can also be verified, as you know as a businessman what did you request and what are you receiving.
The process of generating E-Signature?
An electronic signature defines you on the internet. Therefore, it should be secure, authentic, unique, and encrypted.
To achieve this target, the e-signature vendors prepare a mathematically scrambled or encrypted document that may consist of numerous characters, which are appended as a string of characters.
This string provides the services of sender identification and integrity establishment of a document.
The electronic signatures can also be decoded, however, to complete this process, proper software is needed.
The generation process is very difficult but it is only due to the procedure, involved in making it secure and unique.
Using an asymmetric cryptosystem is the best way in which two software codes are involved. The private key, the first code, helps the owner keep the electronic signature unique and use to decode the transmission.
The persons, who need to decode the transmission, use the public key. These software codes are mathematically related that makes the relationship in such a way, which deduces the chances in the case of knowing one key only.
This whole process makes the whole process of designing, deploying, and preparing the foundation for an electronic signature.
Overall, the electronic signatures clear the companies about the law that provides them the opportunity to bind the companies via an agreement. For that, three non-exclusive factors are involved, which are:
➡Sender authentication
➡Message integrity
➡Non-Repudiation
As the e-commerce businesses are rapidly getting the opportunity of doing business in a far better way, so the electronic signatures are being involved as well due to the legal requirements and obligations. It becomes more relevant to the business people, who are involved in electronic contracts.
The businessmen should also know the laws of electronic signatures along with the relationship among them to keep them relevant in the industry.
The Benefits of Electronic Signature for a Business
Paper agreements are still a part of our daily life but the future does not belong to these documents. After the introduction of the internet, the involvement of these documents has been reduced. However, still, the people fill the documents on the computer, take the print, sign these papers, scan them again, and send it to the receiver.
It means that the businesses are spending a lot of time in fulfilling the legal requirements. In this digital age, there should be a solution to save money and time for the business. Several new inventions are available in the market to help the business in this regard.
However, in making the whole process of signing, the best practice is to use an electronic signature. Many apps like doc sign pro signature app help the businesses allow to complete the documents in seconds and access them whenever you need them.
The feedback of the business world has great relevance to this topic. According to them, the implementation of electronic signature has helped them a lot. They think that they can avoid unnecessary delays with a great sense of authority.
Security is another major concern that a businessman always has, and electronic signatures also helpful for him in this regard.
According to the business people, the following benefits are the best while talking about electronic signatures:
Less time is required now!
In sending and obtaining signed documents, the businesses save huge time. In the past, the signing process consisted of four to six days. Now, with digital signatures, you need only five to 10 minutes that creates a huge difference in processing the documents and starting the transactions.
Money-saving initiative
Indeed, the businesses also save money while using an electronic signature. Now, they do not need to use printers at a huge level. In this way, they save a huge amount of money in buying papers, replacing toner, sending the documents through courier, and wasting the employee’s efforts in a useless task. While using the electronic signature, you do not need to spend money on paper, toner, and shipment.
Security Enhancement
Protecting the private and legal documents has always been a major concern for businesses. Online signature tools and apps help you protect these documents in an upgraded way. If you are using these tools, no one can find these documents, copy them, and use them in malfunctioning. These tools keep you on toes as well in the case of any breach from an outsider to access the document.
Legal value
As the electronic signatures have legal value now, so the concern of the businesses about the legality of electronic signatures has been addressed. With the implementation law for using an electronic signature, people are more comfortable than in the past.
However, reluctance is still there, and to overcome it, more legal frameworks and laws should also be prepared. With that, the IT sector should launch awareness programs related to this topic as well.
Quick and fast processing
The whole process is smooth, straight, hassle-free, and time-saving activity. You only need seconds in signing the documents and send them in time. The other party will also follow the same process.
It means that the processing has now become quick and faster. The involvement of post offices, paper industry, and the courier company has been minimized.
Overall, saving the turnaround time and money are the benefits, which are unignorable. According to the experts, the cutdown time is 80% less than the time, while using an ink signature.
This opportunity has made the electronic signatures, the best to manage the business transactions more effectively and efficiently.
The Impact of Electronic Signature on World Economy
About 15 years ago, “Go Paperless” was a campaign that hit the world generally, and Silicon Valley specifically. This campaign encouraged the digital world to develop such platforms that that would help the multi-million-dollar companies might use and improve the business transactions.
The introduction of E-Commerce solutions was also a huge step towards shifting the world economy on the internet. However, something was missing in these solutions, as the documentation and legalization of online business transactions were missing.
In this situation, the most important step was the introduction of an electronic signature that is considered the paradigm shift for the world economy.
What is the reason behind the introduction of E-Signature?
Identity matters a lot. For online businesses, it has been a huge concern. When you plan to become a part of the world economy, you need to transact with the multinational companies and explore the new markets. For that, you need to prepare documents and sign agreements.
Previously, businesspeople were exploring the international markets and doing business with multinational companies as well. But for signing the agreements and doing transactions, they were bound to gather at some point to sit face-to-face and sign the documents.
With time, the process of preparing the documents, signing them, scanning, and sending the documents to the other parties got popularity. However, there was still an ambiguity, as the process was long and costly. Along with that, e-commerce solutions were working blindly with international customers because the process of online payments was very successful.
The missing item here was the identity, as the general business transactions, the customers did not show their identity. These reasons helped the digital experts introduce a framework of an electronic signature to make the whole procedure transparent and legal.
The importance of electronic signatures has been increased in such a way that cross border standardization is a need of the current world where economies are interconnected. Every country has its own rules and regulations for business transactions.
However, the laws regarding electronic signature are almost the same. So, having an electronic signature makes the whole process smooth. The businesses can do their business in the international market with a digital identity named electronic signature.
According to the experts. The highest impact of electronic signature has been in Europe since its introduction. The reason is that many third-world countries encourage their businessmen to work in Europe, and for the European companies, it is good to have the client with a clear identity.
Electronic signature provides it to you, which means having an electronic signature is a key in the business transactions that also help the businessmen save money and time additionally.
Major Benefits for Global Economy
➡Electronic signatures have shortened the sales cycle drastically. Now you can complete the whole process in less than three hours, which was six to eight days long in the past. it is a huge benefit for the businesses, as they can meet with more customers after completing the orders of the previous ones.
➡You can reduce the costs like marketing, distribution, and operational costs up to 30%. It simply means that you can earn 30% more, as marketing and distribution costs and minimized. Along with that, supplies costs are also increased.
➡The process of new hiring has been improved hugely. It will help the world economy hire the right people for the right job. The reason is that you need 80% less time, as the documentation process is speedy and cost-saving as well.
➡Electronic signatures are helping the world economy boost sales at a rapid pace. With papers, the preparation process becomes long, which will not take with the electronic signature. According to the experts, it can be 21% faster.
➡Electronic signatures simplify business operations. With the paper economy, you need to know that the value of every paper is significant, as missing a single paper can damage the reputation of all other papers. With the introduction of an electronic signature, the app can protect all your records for future business transactions.
➡Electronic signature helps businesses minimize the risk. A document with an electronic signature is lawful that helps you survive in the international market. The fraudulent activities and malfunctioning can be protected as well with these signatures.