Best Ways to Secure Document Workflow with eSignatures

In this digital environment, people should adopt online business. The Covid-19 outbreak has heightened the need for remote work as people were unable to meet in person. So, it is critical to remain on top of the technological game when you want your firm to keep in pace with the competition.

What is eSignature?

Electronic signatures leverage virtual validation of any user’s identity in order to sign contracts. With the help of appropriate tools, making sure that right people are signing contracts without using pen and paper is also possible. There may be numerous concerns arising about online security, eSign software providers have taken adequate steps to ensure that integrity remain intact.

Many cloud-based electronic signature systems provide multi-factor authentication, so people don’t fake about their identities while signing contracts. Such protections can keep them from screening contracts that they are not permitted to view.

Provide Access

The initial step of this workflow method is to decide who needs the access. Many times, you require multiple signatures for a particular contract. But this may include confidential details, so you don’t want everyone to view it. So, once you can decide who can have the access, there can be several aspects to invite the signers to the agreement.

Mostly, organizations rely on emailed invitations for eSignatures. As many people check the email various times every day while working and cannot miss out checking their emails. This email provides a link to the document and needs the person to either log in to the account or create a new one.

When your business has a website portal and other means of communication, it also works. For instance, it can come up under “notifications” tab for the signer in the portal.

Validating Signer’s Identity

Next is validating a signer’s identity and preventing any unauthorized users from accessing contracts. The signers should be able to prove that they are the right people before they are allowed to check the document/add eSignature. The access rules of the signer may depend on the document’s nature, but firstly they require proving their identity.

At the time of logging in, employees can put staff number and other critical details that your business has assigned. But if you require signers from outside your business, things may turn a little difficult.

There are various ways to authenticate signers.

a. Email authentication to validate email ID
b. Biometrics like facial scans and fingerprint.
c. Robust knowledge base questions created instantly
d. OTPs to validate a phone number

But, you can select to authenticate the signers, once they have been identified and validated, they can shift to the next step.

Checking Documents

Many organizations keep online contracts, so only the authenticated people can take a look. Basically, after inserting the validation, the browser will open a new window automatically with the agreement they require to go through. It’s a convenient process as the signers will not have to download any special system.

But this may not be the secure way to keep all the confidential agreements. A few companies need decryption systems for the signers in order to access sensitive contracts.

Making the Alterations

It is optional and depends on the nature of contract. Sometimes, the signer requires adding more number of contracts as supplements to demonstrate their identities further. In this case you must enable changes to the agreement or let them include add-on.

You may need to enter additional details in several forms. Hence, you must ensure that the solution vendor has ways to designate certain fields where the signers can insert the information. Cloud-based eSignature software enables the signers to upload and fill out the needed details before signing.

Contract Signing Simplified

When we talk about online document signing, eliminating the roadblocks to completion is significant to evolving the bottom line for business. Making sure that the method of sending and gathering signed documents is mostly effective is critical to business success.

Robust eSignature platforms eliminate the barriers of signing by making it easy to sign online contracts with a few clicks. Plus, the signatures are legally-binding. With leveraging the online solution, the companies can save productive hours, money, and be free from the burden of handling legacy systems, such as scanners and printers.

Earlier, the forms had to be signed physically followed by mailing the document to the other signer. And this process could take days, even several weeks, especially if the signatories were situated in different locations. Today, a growing number of companies are moving away from pen and paper-based contracts and embracing eSign technology. Such advances help workflow automation, boost effectiveness, minimize mistakes, and promote transparency.