Almost no one likes change. As human beings, we are wired to become comfortable with the status quo and say, “But this is how we do things. Why change what’s not broken?!” And herein lies the rub. We often don’t realise that things are in fact broken. We simply don’t want to rock the boat. This goes for any organisation in any industry, particularly when it comes to technology adoption.
In this article, we will talk about one particular technology that you might have heard of, but are reluctant to adopt – digital signatures. What’s stopping you? What has you convinced that digital signatures will clean bowl you and your company?
Let us convince you that digital signatures won’t clean bowl your company. If anything, they will help you hit your competitors for a six!
But first, a quick detour into what a digital signature actually means. If you are already familiar with the concept and technology, feel free to skip the next section.
What is a Digital Signature?
A digital signature is not a scanned version of your physical/pen-and-paper signature. Rather, it is a digital attachment or virtual “fingerprint” that authenticates and confirms your identity when you transact digitally. It works due to complex mathematical signatures and cryptography that protect your identity from anyone trying to alter or manipulate it, or worse, pretend to be you for their own gain.
When you sign a digital document with a digital signature, the contents of that document will remain unchanged so your recipient will get exactly what you sent. Plus, the recipient will have to generate a unique key to decrypt the document. No one else has this key but the recipient. So, if an identity or data thief tries to modify the signature, it will become invalid and the document will become redundant. This entire process helps maintain the integrity of the transaction between you and your intended recipient.
In addition to transactional integrity and data security, digital signatures offer many other benefits. For one, you don’t have to spend money on printing or couriering papers or expend energy on physically signing hundreds of documents. In this way, digital signatures lower costs and reduce the need for manual effort. They also simplify documentation workflows, and eliminate common document processing errors. Finally, by using digital signatures, you can save lots of time on paperwork and focus on your core activities of serving clients and growing your business.
To know more about how different industries benefit from digital signatures, click here
And now, let’s tackle the bouncer on the pitch – your concerns about digital signatures.
Myth: Digital signatures are not legal
Truth: Digital signatures are legal in almost every country
Is your company is hesitating to adopt digital signatures because of worries about the legality of digitally signed documents? If yes, you can stop worrying because digital signatures are legally acceptable and binding in almost all countries. Simply, this means that your recipients cannot refuse to accept the document by making excuses about its legal validity. Even courts accept digitally signed documents, so business users definitely can.
In general, electronic signatures – of which digital signatures are a specific type – are legally binding almost all over the world. While the details of the laws governing these signatures vary, you can be assured that any document you sign electronically and its underlying transaction will be legally valid. As the signer, you won’t have to provide separate evidence about your identity or send separate documentation about the transaction to prove its legality.
Myth: Digital signatures are not secure
Truth: Digital signatures are much more secure than regular paper-based signatures
Do you think that old-fashioned wet signatures on printed paper are more secure than digital signatures?
You have it backward!
As mentioned earlier, digital signatures are based on cryptography methods and mathematical calculations. That’s why it’s almost impossible for bad guys to steal your identity or tamper with your digital documents. Can you say the same about paper documents? What if someone steals them from your desk or filing cabinet? Makes unauthorised copies? Or tampers with your courier person? None of this can happen with digitally signed documents!
When you digitally sign your paperwork, you can to communicate securely and remotely with your recipients even if you don’t have a stable encrypted connection. This is because digital signatures provide three verifiable aspects to boost the security of every message:
- Authentication: Recipients can verify your identity with the help of a decryption key that’s unique to them.
- Data integrity: Of a message is intercepted during transit and manipulated by a third party, your recipient will be unable to verify the digital certificate. This will tell them that their data security has been compromised so you can discard the old transaction and start a new one.
- Non-repudiation: In addition to verifying your identity, your recipient can also use the digital signature to prove that they have received your message the way you intended it.
Myth: Digital signatures can only be used for certain types of transactions
Truth: Digital signatures support a wide variety of transactions and organisations
You can use digital signatures regardless of your company type or size. Thousands of companies all over the world use digital signatures to sign their documents and secure their transactions. This includes law firms, healthcare organisations, manufacturing units, financial services organisations, insurance companies, and much more.
Moreover, you can use digital signatures for any kind of transaction, whether it’s legal, financial, or operational. Digital signatures provide a secure and legal way for you to sign documents related to sales and marketing, contracts, financial reporting (e.g., bank statements), M&A agreements, and any other transaction that involves senders and recipients and where data security and party authentication are crucial requirements.
Conclusion
Digital signatures provide an easy-to-use, affordable, secure, and legal way to streamline your business processes and speed up your various transactions. They can also reduce human error and help make your employees more productive and efficient. All of this will help you and your staff to focus on the important things that can increase the firm’s revenues and profits.
