From signing a lease agreement to completing the onboarding process for new employees, e-signatures are used for a range of different circumstances. They’re a solution used in contracts throughout the world, and offer a safe, convenient way to obtain signatures. E-signature use is growing, and fast, with reports showing that in just five years transactions increased from 89 to 754 million. The government states in their guide on Electronic signatures that:
“More and more businesses and individuals are using, or are seeking to use, electronic signatures and trust services and, with an increasing number of government services available digitally, there will be continued growth in this market for some time to come.”
However, in spite of this, and the multiple benefits it can provide, there are some businesses and organisations who are hesitant to use e-sign technology, unsure of how it works, and when it can be used. In reality, e-signatures solutions like an effective e-signature API for businesses can be used for a whole host of different situations, especially within the business sector; easy to implement and even easier to execute, streamlining numerous different contractual processes. Below we explore just some of the many areas where e-signatures can be used.
Employee Onboarding with E-Signatures
Hiring a new employee typically comes with a large amount of paperwork, with consent forms, contact forms, performance appraisals and more. Working your way through the onboarding paperwork can take up a considerable amount of time, and if handwritten, requires people to take time out of their day to meet up and sign the agreements together. E-signatures can help to improve this process, with all the forms listed above, and more, able to be signed quickly and efficiently. When using e-sign during employee onboarding, all parties can fill in the numerous documents anywhere, anytime, making the process a lot more efficient.
Legal Agreements
E-signatures can also be used in a variety of different legal documents. This again, helps to speed up the process of completing contractual agreements, improving the efficiency, and overall ease, in which these practices are conducted. E-sign technology can be used for intellectual property licensing and for NDAs, in addition to a multitude of other legal agreements. Lawyers, and other professionals within the legal industry, will work their way through a fair amount of paperwork, much of which will rely on signatures from clients and other relevant parties. By using e-sign technology, those in the legal industry can save time previously spent chasing up on unsigned documents.
E-Signatures and Sales Agreements
Whether it’s business-to-business (B2B) or a business-to-consumer (B2C), sales agreements can be made faster with e-sign technology. Using e-signatures can take a lot of the hassle out of signing a contract, enabling businesses to close on deals faster than ever before. For a multitude of organisations, sales contracts are one of the most frequently used documents, and often, one of the most important. Therefore, helping to streamline this process and making it faster than ever can help businesses to improve their overall efficiency and productivity.