7 Key Benefits of Digital Signature For Your Business

Are you looking to modernize your business or streamline your processes? One of the simplest ways to go about it is to ditch paper. Let’s face it, you have tons of documents to deal with on a daily basis. Having to sign them manually involves printing, signing, and scanning. That’s three separate actions that are time consuming, to say the least. And that’s time you could spend doing more important stuff. So let’s take a look at the benefits of digital signature for your business.

ToC

1. The rising importance of digital signatures
2. 7 Advantages of digital signature
3. Implementation of digital signature with Contractbook
4. Frequently asked questions about digital signature

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The rising importance of digital signatures

It wasn’t until the 80s that the first digital signature software was developed, but even then, it failed to create any real interest. It’s probably because the technology wasn’t all that sophisticated. Then there’s the fact that it wasn’t until 2000 that the US passed the so-called E-Sign Act. It was this act that finally rendered electronic signatures legally valid.

Since then, the digital signature market has experienced astonishing growth. In 2016 it was valued at just over $587 million. But it’s recently been estimated that by 2025 it will grow to a whopping $3 billion. That right there is a growth rate of over 22 percent, which could hardly be called insignificant.

Why the sudden interest? Well, the reasons are numerous. There are lots of benefits of digital signature use. But the most important drivers of growth for the digital signature market are:

• General digitalization
• Process automation trends
• Switching to remote work
  

Of course, there’s also the fact that digital signatures offer plenty of benefits for the modern business, regardless of trends. Let's look into the key 7 benefits of digital signatures.

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7 Advantages of digital signature

You’re probably reading this because you want to know whether this type of technology would be good for your business. So without further ado, here are the potential advantages of digital signature for your business. When it comes to improving business performance, the most important digital signature advantages include:

1. Increased security

Let’s say you’re already using electronic signatures. Although they’re much more convenient than the regular kind, they don’t involve any kind of verification method. This is something only digital signatures provide.  

2. Reduced costs

If you’re still printing your documents so you could have them signed, you’re wasting a lot of valuable resources. This doesn’t just have to do with the cost of paper. It’s labor costs that are involved as well. Just imagine how much time your employees would save if they didn’t have to print, sign, and scan every time a signature was needed.

3. Fewer errors

Of course, the act of signing your own name itself is not the issue here. The problem arises when you need to store or send documents out to other signees. That’s where there’s lots of room for error. But that’s also one of the key benefits of digital signature use. The software doesn’t just allow you to digitally sign your documents. It also allows you to manage the signing order and automatically push them to your drive once they’re signed.

4. Increased productivity

When you make it possible for your team to waste less time doing tedious manual work, it starts to thrive. This, in turn, has a positive effect on your company’s overall productivity.

5. Shorter sales cycle

Would you like to speed up new business generation? One of the most important digital signature advantages is the effect the software has on your sales cycle. Basically, it shortens it. And by doing so, it helps you create room for hunting down new, higher-growth opportunities.

6. Enhanced user experience

This bit is especially important if you’re a B2C company. You want to make it as simple as possible for your customers to do business with you. This is because, if you fail to do so, they won’t hesitate to turn to one of your competitors.

7. Improved company image

And last but not least, you wouldn’t want your business to appear unprofessional or old-fashioned, would you? Suffice to say those aren’t the kinds of companies that use digital signature software. So it seems safe to say that improved company image is one of the key benefits of digital signature use.

Implementation of digital signature with Contractbook

The benefits of digital signature are something your business can enjoy without you having to do any actual work yourself. We at Contractbook don’t just provide you with digital signature functionalities. Our software comes with all the perks of a top-class service. So if you want to improve the overall performance of your business in a zero-hassle way, simply get in touch.

Frequently asked questions about digital signature

What is a digital signature?

To create a digital signature, you need to use some form of technology instead of good old pen and paper. But before we go into what form of technology that is, we need to make an important distinction. Namely, people sometimes confuse digital with electronic signatures. It’s no wonder, really, since electronic and digital in general are often used interchangeably.

What is the difference between Electronic signatures and digital signatures?

Digital signatures are actually a subset of electronic signatures. The term electronic in this case refers to any signature that was created with the help of technology. What does this mean? Basically, you could sign a piece of paper, scan it, and call it an electronic signature.

It’s not the same when it comes to digital signatures. They need to be verifiable, for both authentication and security purposes. That’s one of the main benefits of digital signature use. But it’s also why creating one involves some form of encryption.

How are digital signatures created?

The creation of a digital signature involves the use of three separate algorithms. These, in turn, produce two different keys. This is what the process looks like:

• The first algorithm generates the keys. One is the private key and the other is the corresponding public key. 
• The second algorithm produces the digital signature itself. To do this, it uses the private key and the digital asset in question.
• The third algorithm verifies the digital signature. It analyzes the public key, the digital signature, and the digital asset used to produce the private key. Depending on the results of the analysis, it either accepts or rejects the digital signature.