In this age of digital connectivity, many businesses still struggle with managing document workflow. Nowadays, you can easily manage documents anywhere at any time and even sign them digitally. Utilizing this technology can transform your overall operations and improve customer satisfaction as well.
Customers expect efficiency and convenience. When service providers cannot process paperwork promptly, clients can feel frustrated, irritated, and disappointed. Client servicing is the backbone of customer loyalty, and the use of esignatures paves the way for greater convenience and simplicity in transactions.
What are e-Signatures?
Before anything else, let us discuss what is digital signature and how it works.
Electronic signatures, e-signatures or e-sig for short, are signatures in a digital format. They are a legally valid way of providing consent or approval on an electronic document or form. Much like a traditional hand-written signature, an e-signature can be used in sales, human resources, and many other transactions while saving you time and money.
As people become more environmentally friendly and look to maximize the full use of the internet and all it has to offer, digital signatures have gained so much more popularity. According to a recent study, in the United States alone, more than 4 trillion paper documents and the number is growing by 22 percent annually.
More and more offices are turning to digital signatures to make their offices and business transactions more efficient, secure, and cost-effective. Electronic signature process flow has been credited to reducing operational costs while improving efficiency and performance and keeping clients happy.
5 Tips to Optimize Workflow Using e-Signatures
Understanding the benefits of using e-signatures and getting people to actually use it are two different things. Implementing a workflow that maximizes digital signatures is a great investment and a step in the right direction but where do you begin? Here are 5 tips on using e-signature software to optimize document workflow:
1. Review your company’s needs and routine
Before anything, you need to know what you need the e-signatures for so you can build a routine that makes your internal processes more efficient. The best way to begin is to identify your bottlenecks – where do you experience delays and where can you make the process easier for your customer?
2. Develop e-signature policies and protocols
Based on your understanding of what the problems are and where you could gain more operational efficiency, establish an electronic signature workflow that gets everyone on the right page. Having a strong esignature policy provides guidelines on when esignatures are to be used and by whom. It also makes it easier for people to organize and track documents.
3. Advocate within your firm
While e-signatures are nothing new, they do require some advocacy. Those who do not understand the technology or prefer the comfort of a handwritten signature may need some convincing. It is important to have a champion and easy-to-digest information about e-signatures, especially in your company policy, to minimize uncertainty.
4. Maximize the internet and cloud storage
The more people get used to using e-signatures, the easier data management will be. With files and information shared so easily, you will find storage may become an issue. Developing a more reliable and spacious digital document management system and storage can improve productivity while cutting down on physical paperwork and storage space,
5. Choose the right platform/ provider
While e-signatures have become more acceptable and widely used, cybersecurity remains a top concern, especially when talking about e-signatures and legal documents. In order to minimize risk and issues of alteration, you need to have a platform, software or service provider that can be trusted. When looking for secure digital signature firms, explore providers that offer digital encryption, authentication features, and passwords that will help verify identities and authenticate authority.
Digital Signatures Can Transform Your Workforce and Customer Engagement
When dealing with customers, especially young professions and those who have grown up with technology at their fingertips, speed is king. Asking customers to wait because your manager wasn’t around to sign the invoice or processing paperwork days at a time because you need X number of signatories does nothing good for your business. By using e-sigs, companies can reduce the time it takes for customers to get what product or service they want. With faster business processes come a number of results that include:
- Generating for positive customer referrals;
- Strengthening customer loyalty
- Increasing overall revenue
- Enhancing customer relationships
- Developing a better competitive advantage
Integrating e-signatures and making a case for it at work to ensure rapid and widespread adoption can transform the capability of your workforce. Digital signatures mean minimizing lost documents or losing signed printouts; Streamline your workflow and provide customers the service they expect and deserve by using e-signatures today.