Not Using eSignatures? Here’s What You’re Risking
eSignatures are an important part of growing your business
Running the day-to-day operations of any business is a full-time job, but one of the most difficult challenges is finding the right tools to make your business run smoothly and set you up for future success. In an ideal world, everything in your business runs without disruption; no paperwork is ever lost, no data is ever incorrect, and every signature is legally binding and captured quickly. But how many businesses live in that ideal world?
Thankfully there are software platforms that can get you closer to that ideal business picture, but prioritizing a digital transformation in certain areas of your business is key to successful growth. Some places that you ideally want to focus on first would be your accounting and payroll processes, talent acquisition and recruiting, as well as payment and transactions. For many of these areas, especially supporting digital transactions and payment processing, you’ll need to make sure you invest in an E-SIGN Act-compliant signature solution.
Why Focus on eSignatures?
Electronic signatures may not be new, but if they’re new to your business then it’s important to know where they came from. Specifically, over the last 20+ years in the U.S., they’ve been regulated by the Universal Electronic Transaction Act (UETA) and the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN Act), which was signed into law in 2000. There have been additional regulations set in place from other various industry regulators and international jurisdictions, and even modernization updates to the E-SIGN Act proposed in 2022, indicating that eSignatures are to remain a top priority for global commerce in the foreseeable future.
“Global e-commerce sales jumped to $26.7 trillion in 2019, up 4% from 2018, according to the latest available estimates. This includes business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, and is equivalent to 30% of global gross domestic product (GDP) that year.”
With eCommerce and a growing emphasis on electronic transactions, it’s no surprise that your business should be looking to implement an eSignature solution. But with so many options available for digital signature capture, how do you know where to start?
General E-SIGN Act Compliance
When it comes to making sure your electronic signatures are legally binding, you’ll need to make sure that your solution meets the basic rules laid out in the E-SIGN Act. These can be broken down into five general elements:
Intent. There must be a clear indication that the signer intends to conduct business electronically.
Consent. The signer must consent to sign records electronically.
Identity Confirmation. The electronic signature must be attributed to the signer.
Authentication. There must be a way to logically associate the signature with the signer, and the record being signed.
Secure Electronic Record. There must be a secure audit trail available to all parties including access to the signed record.
At first glance, these seem fairly straightforward, but it’s important to keep in mind that simply asking somebody to sign a digital document doesn’t always qualify for E-SIGN Act compliance. But legally binding signatures aren’t always required for your documents either.
Generally, in the United States, any platform that adheres to the regulations outlined in the UETA and E-SIGN Act will support your mission to be legally binding. However, in some industries, such as those governed by the U.S. FDA, there are additional compliance guidelines to follow. Additionally, in certain local areas, or international jurisdictions, there are entirely different eSignature compliance guidelines. The best way to make sure you’re capturing electronic signatures that will hold up in the case of a legal dispute is to discuss your business use case with a trusted business advisor or attorney.
What Are the Risks of Not Using Electronic Signatures?
When it comes to needing a legally binding signature, such as with contracts and payment agreements, not having an E-SIGN Act-compliant signature is a big risk in the case of a dispute. But legal implications aren’t the only reason your business should be exploring eSignatures.
You Minimize Your Audience
Customers, especially in B2B environments, are speaking out that they prefer digital interactions over in-person sales experiences, a substantial shift in the way business has traditionally been conducted. As more of your potential customers desire virtual sales cycles, it’s critical that your business be able to support those needs. Electronic signature capture allows your team to move through the sales process quickly, and virtually, giving your customers the contactless interactions they prefer. If your team is still pushing face-to-face meetings and sales pitches, you could be missing out on potential customers searching for digital presentations.
“A recent global Bain & Company survey, conducted with Dynata, found that 92% of B2B buyers prefer virtual sales interactions, up 17 percentage points from our survey in May 2020.”
Additionally, by operating in a digital environment, you open your sales to a wider audience. This is especially important for B2C businesses that don’t wish to be limited by geography. Conducting your business through electronic communications means eliminating travel costs for your team while still expanding your available market. Both are a great win for your business’s bottom line.
You Risk Losing Customers
Along the lines of limiting your potential customers, you also risk losing some of those you already have within your sales funnels. People are on the go more than ever before, which means they may not be able to stop into your office to sign a contract, or even at home with access to their computers. If your business is implementing tools that bring forms, agreements, and signatures to your customers, on any device, and in any location, you can keep the lines of communication open and move your transaction along at a quick pace. With 11.28 billion devices currently connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) and a predicted 29.42 billion devices by 2030, your business must be flexible enough to interact with whatever devices your customers are using.
You Slow Your Paperwork Processing
One of the best features of eSignatures is how well they can speed up processing all your transactions and contracts. Long gone are the days of hoping a postal or courier service can meet contractual or paperwork deadlines. With eSignatures, your business happens in an instant. Not only will this keep your prospects engaged, and happy to get started on their purchase, but it will also ensure your business gets paid faster.
Of course, it isn’t all payment processing. Even capturing digital data instead of paper forms or checklists can mean an immense difference in how quickly your team completes their work. Manual data entry of any kind is slow, prone to error, and leaves the potential for missed or lost information. Digital forms solutions, even down to timesheet templates and other internal operational data, can keep your business running at modern speeds to the benefit of you, your team, and your customers.
You’re in Danger of Throttling Your Business Growth
If you’re relying on paperwork and penned signatures, then you aren’t setting your business up for future success. Not only are there the environmental impacts of paper-based forms and contracts to consider, but also there are the risks of expanding your business. If you calculate the amount of time your team spends handling manually captured form data and signed documents, from sending and receiving to storing the documents, you’d see a surprising amount of time wasted for your team. A 2021 Zapier Data survey found that 76% of workers spend three hours of their day working on manual data entry, and generally less than three hours a day on impactful work.
“The data entry struggle is real. 76 percent of respondents said they spend 1-3 hours a day simply moving data from one place to another. Additionally, 73 percent of workers spend 1-3 hours just trying to find information or a particular document.”
Now imagine your team’s workload if presented with even three, large-sized, new customers. Would your current team have the bandwidth to handle it? If you’re sticking with manual data capture and physical signatures, they would likely feel the added stress. Having scalable systems in place that allow your business to grow without adding new tools or processes gives you the flexibility to grow on your own terms. With eSignature capture, you lessen some of the burden on your team for handling manual paperwork and give them more time to focus on what they do best.
How to Find a Good eSignature Solution?
At the end of the day, as long as you’re going to a trusted source, it’s difficult to find major differences between eSignature vendors individually. What it comes down to is finding an eSignature provider that meets more than just your signature needs. For example, if you’re searching for how to create a fillable PDF through your eSignature solution, make sure the vendors you investigate give you full flexibility to create digital forms that can be easily filled out and signed with electronic signatures. A simple PDF will still require manual data entry, and in some cases even require that those filling out the PDF have the same software on their devices. A digital form has no software requirements and can be filled out on any device, anywhere.
Alternatively, you can look at eSignature capture solutions that work with the platforms you already have. Finding an electronic signature provider that integrates with your existing CRM or ERP platforms means that you can get signed documents directly into the other systems of your business, eliminating the need for double or manual data entry. In these cases, the best platforms will have an open API for you to build an integration that works best for your business, as well as a Professional Services or Support team that can guide you through getting set up for success.
About GoFormz
GoFormz is a digital forms solution that helps bring your data into a single, actionable place. We believe that everyone should be able to fill out their forms online and deliver products and services that redefine how people and businesses collect and process information. Whether you need forms for your manufacturing, consulting, or even home health care business, GoFormz is the only solution that moves your exact paper forms to a digital space. Let GoFormz capture, digitize, and send your data wherever you need it to streamline all your business processes.