Uses of Digital Signatures in Modern Business Processes

COVID-19 has already been a compelling factor for businesses to move towards paperless solutions. Paperless offices were not even thought to be possible; however, companies have realized the importance of having virtual platforms to support the new normal. This trend is expanding despite security concerns. 2022 may be the year when digital signatures will replace pen and paper altogether. 

If you are among the businesses who are still not familiar with the idea of digital signatures, this post can be quite insightful for you. Let’s begin with the basics. 

Related Article: Difference between Digital Signatures and Electronic Signatures

What is Digital Signature? 

Digital Signatures are electronic versions of signatures. A digital signature authenticates electronic documents as handwritten signatures do for paper documents. 

In digital messages and documents, digital signatures are used to identify users and protect sensitive information. You can easily embed a digital signature in the body of an email. Moreover, it has a much greater level of security than other forms of electronic signature. 

What Are the Uses of a Digital Signature? 

The use of digital signatures increases the quality and transparency of online interactions while building trust between vendors, customers, and stakeholders. Using these help businesses three important goals, including: 

1. Data Integrity 

During data transfer, the integrity of the message is crucial. Data integrity assures the recipient that the message they receive matches the message they sent. However, there is always that risk of messages being altered along the way on the Internet – whether deliberately or by accident, depending on how the messages hop from one node to another. Data integrity measures help mitigate this risk. In addition, they can help you identify tampered messages. 

2. Data Authentication 

Even knowing that the data in a sensitive file is unaltered is not enough when you receive it. Also, it would be best to verify the origin of the e-mail. In other words, the source needs to be authenticated. For example, let’s say you received the design planning for your new product to be released in the next few months. First, check the sender’s identity before responding. You should not reveal this information to unauthorized parties or competitors. 

3. Data Anonymity 

Finally, it would be inappropriate for senders to disown transmissions that they sent in some cases. For example, you would not want a sender to deny sending the report if later found fraudulent. Digital signatures help fix this issue. You can easily identify the sender or user through their digital signatures. 

In addition to the critical uses, digital signature may have multiple benefits. Let’s explore the key benefits below. 

Key Benefits of Using Digital Signatures 

• Cost-effectiveness 

The use of digital signatures saves money for those who use them. With e-signature solutions, businesses can save money spent on paper, pens, administrative staff salaries, postal/courier services, and more. In addition, you won’t experience file loss, swapped pages, and missing pages anymore. 

• Legally Justifiable 

In an age of hackers, it is important that business documents are always authenticated. To ensure the authenticity of a digital signature, biometric capturing systems, and extra-strong encryption techniques are used to provide stronger security measures. Before digital signatures can be used in U.S. laws, both parties and governing bodies must accept their legitimacy. The importance of digital signatures lies in the fact that they are not only legally binding but are also defended in court.

• Time-Savvy 

EQMS software that comprises Digital signature capability like Qualityze EQMS Suite is crucial to mobile signing. The process of obtaining multiple signatures from customers and third parties becomes more efficient and faster. They can also verify signatures instantly because they have access to the internet. A digital signature saves more time than outdated manual methods. 

• Improved Document Control  

It’s a good idea to keep your business documents under your control to avoid letting them fall into the wrong hands. Electronic signatures make document tracking simpler. Tracking your documents as soon as possible is extremely beneficial since you can efficiently send polite, automatic reminders to your recipients who still need to sign a specific document. 

• Increased efficiency 

It was so difficult to sign business documents in the traditional manner, including scanning, printing, and sending via courier. Today, entrepreneurs can improve their business transactions by using modern digital signature solutions. Eliminating the need for courier services, you can create and sign contracts instantly with all parties in the shortest amount of time possible. A digital signature improves efficiency both in multi-transaction and internal contracts. 

• Improved Security 

Increasingly, businesses are embracing digital signatures over traditional manual ways of signing documents. Starting with the fact that business documents should be always kept confidential, you should keep them secure. Secondly, malicious hackers don’t sleep. Their goal is to steal your confidential data to benefit themselves selfishly. Fortunately, digital signatures make signing documents easier and faster. You can mitigate the risks of malicious schemers accessing your documents by using audit trails and digital signatures. 

• Easily auditable 

Digital signatures require document timestamps to identify when they were signed. As a result, impersonators cannot submit electronic records falsely. A digital signature also improves document archiving and e-discovery practices. 

• Positive Reputation  

For an entrepreneur, image is everything. Digital signatures can have an enormously positive effect on your business’ reputation. Also, customers, partners, and vendors will appreciate your efficient and convenient use of advanced technology. 

• Improved Corporate Social Responsibility 

Environmental impact regulations govern modern businesses. Using digital signatures demonstrates that your business is environmentally conscious. You can make a positive impact on the environment by going paperless. 

• Effective time management 

Business is all about time. A company that has not embraced digital signatures wastes so much time managing manual documents. Paper documents signed traditionally can be time-consuming and inefficient. However, digital signatures improve time management skills, enabling companies to prepare and sign contracts efficiently. 

• Improved Customer Experience 

As we already discussed, digital signatures save a lot of time that they generally spend on administrative activities for managing paper-based documents. You can use the saved time to improve customer services and improve their overall experience with the brand. 

If you still have a doubt the digital signatures capability to improve your business process efficiency, request your free demo today and experience the Qualityze difference. 

Qualityze EQMS Suite is a set of eleven smarter quality solutions, each having amazing functionalities and in-built functionalities, including digital signatures. It is cloud-based solution that offers greater flexibility, security, and reliability in managing quality processes. Highly intuitive and configurable, the software makes quality management simple and efficient. 

For more information on Qualityze products and their capabilities, please contact our customer success team on 1 877 207-8616 or email us at info@qualityze.com and we will be there to assist you at the earliest.