Posted 3rd June 2024
In recent years that has been a significant growth in businesses and organizations around the world looking to digitize their processes. There are various benefits of digital transformation, including the time and cost savings it can provide, the reduction in carbon emissions from minimizing paper use, and the increased efficiency and productivity businesses can achieve to sustain their growth.
Electronic signatures and digital document solutions are a key part of this digital shift, but with the wide range of e-signature softwares and providers available, how will you know the right one to choose to meet your requirements? In this guide, we’ll be exploring the most important factors to consider when choosing a digital signature solution.
Before we break down the factors you should consider when choosing an e-signature provider. We first wanted to discuss the pitfalls of selecting a digital solution solely based on price. There is a growing number of softwares available to users looking for electronic signatures, with varying price differences between them.
Whilst it’s tempting to always go with the cheapest option. When it comes to something as important as an electronic signature, which needs to be legally binding and secure for many sensitive documents, the cheapest option not be the best quality solution. It’s essential to look at the quality of the provider and the platform rather than simply the price.
By opting for the cheapest service your organization might ultimately end up paying more to reach the standard you need. Or dedicating more time and resources searching for a different provider that meets those standards from the beginning.
Do your research before making a quick decision based on price. It could save you time, money, and stress when finding the right provider for your business. Let’s see the factors you should be looking at during your search below.
When signing important digital documents, users need to feel confident that their data is fully secure. Therefore, any e-signature providers you consider should be able to demonstrate that they are meeting or even exceeding the required industry standards for security and compliance with relevant regulations within the areas they operate.
For example, in the United States, all providers must comply with the definition of an e-signature under the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act. In addition to ESIGN, which regulates e-signatures and records across all 50 states when federal law applies, providers should also be compliant with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).
At E-Sign, we are committed to ensuring that our e-signature and digital document solutions are fully compliant, and we maintain up to date security systems, policies, and protocols. We understand the importance for organizations sending documents for e-signature, that the documents maximize the highest quality security measures and when signatures are applied, they will be valid and legally binding.
As well as complying with various international regulations for the use of e-signatures across many countries around the world (including ESIGN, UETA, and the EU’s eIDAS), E-Sign goes above and beyond to ensure all data is protected.
Our platform features a 256-bit SSL encryption, which keeps data safe from hackers, malware protection, vulnerability testing by third parties, code reviews, digital audit trails and certificates of completion for all signatures, and much more.
Security is at the core of our values and policies as a software provider. When using E-Sign both your employees and your customers can feel confident that their information is protected when electronically signing documents.
Whether you’re a large scale enterprise or an SME looking for an e-signature provider, you will want to ensure that the system is user-friendly. The ability to sign documents in just a few seconds is a compelling feature of e-signature platforms. But this can be somewhat diminished if the platform is poorly designed and difficult to use, for both the business and the document recipients.
Some providers can end up making their platforms too overcomplicated, which overshadows the convenience of being able to send and sign documents more efficiently than a physical equivalent. The E-Sign team has worked hard to make sure that the platform is as easy to use as possible for all users, regardless of technical knowledge or experience.
Our clients can receive a web demonstration of the platform from one of our specialists to give them a clear overview of the features, and we have many resources, tutorials, and guides for how to use various elements in the software. Also, an important part of usability when considering e-signature providers is if the system can be used on different devices.
Many organizations use multiple types of devices including laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Meaning you shouldn’t be restricted to only being able to send and sign documents from one type of device. E-Sign gives you the flexibility to use the platform from any device, so you can complete essential transactions at any time from anywhere.
Looking at all of a provider’s credentials, including if they have any accreditations, can offer a useful insight into how they build trust and offer assurance to users about the quality of their products and services. E-Sign works with several accreditation bodies and experts to guarantee our adherence to the highest industry and regulatory standards. Some examples of our accreditations include:
Many organizations use various types of digital systems and applications to manage their processes and workflows. Therefore, when considering different e-signature providers, you should see if they can offer integrations with other platforms to help streamline your operations and improve efficiency.
With quick and easy integrations you can benefit from not having to switch between applications in order to effectively complete important transactions. A reliable and high quality e-signature platform will be able to integrate with your existing systems. Making it easier to get a complete overview of your business pipeline and reducing administration tasks.
E-Sign can be integrated with a wide range of different applications and CRM’s. These include Microsoft, Google Suite, SharePoint, HubSpot, Stripe, and more. With E-Sign’s integrations you can utilize our automation features, which can benefit your business by saving time, money and boosting productivity.
For instance, by creating custom automated workflows, you can free up time for your team to focus on higher value, important tasks. These workflows can be built into any type of process, whether it is for a one-off project, or a large-scale task management system.
E-Sign has recently launched our newest integration with SharePoint, allowing SharePoint users to sign, send, and store their documents using E-Sign from within the SharePoint environment. It is a great example of how the platform can be combined with your existing systems, to maximize the features of both applications.
Most industries and organizations at some stage of their processes use important documents that need a legally binding signature in order for the document to be as valid as it would be with a handwritten signature. With that in mind, you should be aware of the legal requirements of e-signatures in your location. As well as whether the providers you’re considering offer an electronic signature solution that adheres to those requirements. The eIDAS regulation for example, defines three types of e-signatures; basic, advanced, and qualified. A legally binding advanced electronic signature has to meet the criteria below:
Both advanced and qualified digital signatures are required to meet additional security measures to ensure their legal standing. Whereas basic signatures can reflect an action as simple as ticking a checkbox to agree to terms. Without any steps needed for identity verification or confirming the authenticity of a document. Therefore, advanced or qualified are the preferred types of e-signatures used by most organizations. Who are regularly handling important document transactions.
When exploring the different softwares and providers, make sure that they offer legally valid and binding signatures that will meet your document requirements. E-Sign provides secure advanced e-signatures and we are currently undergoing the process to meet the regulatory requirements that will allow us to provide qualified signatures.
As you can see there are several different factors you should consider when finding the best electronic signature provider for your business. Even though price may play a role in your decision making, it will be more beneficial for your organization if you research the quality of what each provider and software is offering beyond the cost.
E-Sign is an industry-leading, secure e-signature and digital document solutions provider, offering tailored services to meet a wide range of business needs. If you’re looking to digitize your document processes and experience the benefits electronic signatures can provide, why not give E-Sign a try? We offer a 14-day free trial that allows you to use the features of the platform and see how it can support your document requirements.
If you have any questions or queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us, our digital transformation specialists are on hand to help.
