We are delighed to welcome Mike Roberts to the Client Communication News pages. Mike is the European Product Manager at Frama UK Ltd. In this article, Mike shares some very interesting and important information on electronic signatures, all without leaving your email! Over to you Mike.
Retro thinking
Many businesses around the UK are still handling client contracts with traditional paper based documentation. This archaic system of print, scan, sign, scan, post and wait is creating unnecessary costs for business in time, materials and labour.
In addition to the physical costs, cash flow also takes a hit with the amount of time spent waiting for clients to respond and signed paperwork to be returned safely.
How many times has one of your signed documents been misplaced or, frustratingly, lost in the post?
Savings that stack up
Regardless of the size of your business, everyone is looking to save money and increase revenue. Digital signature platforms offer an easy and powerful way to make those savings a reality.
A recent report by AIIM found that:
- 81% of digital signature users saw a payback within 12 months, and 25% saw ROI in three months or less
- Companies lose an average of 17 days per year dealing with paper document issues
- The cost of chasing paperwork equates to an average of £14,800 per employee chasing
- 500 million important documents are sent on an overnight courier service each year at a cost of £100bn
Improving client relationships
In this age of technology, individuals and businesses are operating online. That means they’ve come to expect businesses they work with to provide online services.
A recent report by Deloitte reported that 85% of UK adults own a smartphone and 60% have a tablet computer. With so many clients doing business online, it’s essential to modernise the last step in business operations, the signature.
With electronic signature software, your clients can sign contracts online with nothing to download or install. As long as they have an Internet connection, they can sign documents no matter where they may be, on any device.
This service adds value for your clients by making it fast and easy to do business with your firm.
Faster document turnaround with electronic signatures
Digital signature software makes it quick and easy to sign documents online. You are guaranteed to see faster turnaround of signed documents. It’s also easy to quickly execute contracts that have multiple signers. After the first person signs, the electronic signature software automatically routes documents to the next person to sign in the workflow. This enables your firm to get the documentation completed faster than ever before. We have seen businesses in a variety of industries reporting signed documents being returned up to 500% faster with e-signature software.
Who sent what, where and when?
A common problem with any important document is wondering “Has it been signed yet?” You can finally answer this question if you adopt electronic signatures. Digital signature software makes it easy to track your documents. In addition, some software will even send signers a reminder email if they forget to sign.
Security and compliance with digital signatures
You can secure your paper documents by putting them in a secured filing cabinet. Even with these precautions, someone could still break in and tamper with documents. The only evidence you would have would be a broken lock. Worse still, you could have a fire and your important signed documents might go up in flames.
That type of document security is a liability. With a “digital signature”, you can safeguard your documents with a high level of document security and evidence. Each signature is protected with a tamper-evident seal. That means it alerts you if any part of the document is changed after signing.
Electronically signed documents also come with a highly detailed log of events of the document’s lifecycle. Using this evidence, you can see when each person signed the document. You can also see which signers downloaded a copy of the finished document, and much more.
Finally, electronic documents are stored, well, elctronically. That means they are protected through your data backup systems resulting in resiliance that’s simply unavailable with paper documents.
In conclusion
The future is bright for document signing. Electronic signature software provides a fast and easy way to get documents signed with the added benefits of enhanced security and tracking.
Mike Roberts
Connect with Mike on LinkedIn by clicking here.
Mike Roberts is the European Product Manager at Frama UK Ltd. Mike’s company supplies the worlds first and ONLY Outlook / GMail plugin that gives you the power to send any document for electronic signature, send encrypted emails with no portals, send registered email and MUCH MORE!
In addition, Mike owns another business called #LinkedIn101 – so if you’re interested in smashing your success on LinkedIn, boosting your personal brand and rehumanising the digital side of business through video, then please get in touch with Mike!
You can contact Mike directly on 07545 292 184 , email at mike.roberts@frama.co.uk