If you’ve been following this blog, then you’ve hopefully gained a good understanding of the types of benefits your business can experience from digital signatures. Among them are expedited business processes, reduced organizational costs, and improved collaboration and efficiency. Perhaps you’re at the stage of learning about digital signatures and considering whether your organization should implement them. Or, maybe you’re already using digital signatures and you’re discovering more ways to put this time- and cost-saving technology to use.
In this post, I’m interested in hearing from you. Has your organization implemented electronic or digital signatures? Make your vote in the poll below and let me know!
In a previous post entitled “Are you in on the digital signature 4-1-1?” I shared a first-of-its-kind research called Digital Signatures for Document Workflow and SharePoint. The study, conducted by AIIM (a leading authority in the field of document management and workflow automation), revolves around the uses and benefits of digital signatures as perceived by non-users and as experienced by actual digital signature users. One of the areas AIIM explored was: of all the documents you print out, how many are printed solely for the purpose of obtaining signature approvals?
Considering the documents that are printed out as part of your formal approval processes, what proportion would you say are printed for the purpose of adding one or more signatures? (N=290 non-users)
As you can see from the results above, in 42% of organizations without digital signature solutions, three-quarters or more of printed documents are printed only for adding signatures. Imagine what not needing to print these documents could mean for these and similar organizations and their business processes – considering the price of paper and of routing documents to the appropriate signers, and adding that to the amount of time it takes employees to fulfill this process – that’s a heavy handful that digital signatures can completely eliminate. Download the AIIM study for free and find out how organizations use digital signatures to avoid this type of problem, and enjoy added benefits along the way.
These days, there are endless ways to take advantage of the vast capabilities the internet offers. One of the more interesting uses that organizations are adopting is external-facing web portals, which provide a secured area over the internet where internal employees and external partners, collaborators, clients, etc. can connect and manage documentation and other information.
A case study on Duke Realty’s use of digital signatures highlights how one of the largest owners, managers and developers of commercial real estate in the United States enhanced their web portal with digital signatures to increase collaboration and employee satisfaction. By doing so, they eliminated the need to print and route documents solely for the purpose of obtaining approvals (as well as the delays this process typically incurs), and enabled internal and external employees and collaborators to quickly, easily and securely sign off on documents online. Can you imagine how thrilled external collaborators were with the new capability to submit forms like payment applications so easily?
Check out the Duke Realty case study to learn more about how digital signatures can enhance organizational web portals.
What happens when engineering documentation and drawings are submitted and approved more quickly than ever? Clients are happier, houses and buildings go up faster, and new places to live, work and play are available sooner. With digital signatures, this reality is within reach.
A recent press release entitled Digital Signatures Raise the Bar in Engineering Service Quality explores the ways that engineering firm Star Building Systems’ commitment to innovation drove their adoption of digital signatures, which generated measurable organizational improvements including greater efficiency and improved customer service. A leading manufacturer of custom designed metal building systems, Star’s use of digital signatures enables their engineers to provide approved drawings within minutes instead of days. Digital signatures also make it possible for Star Building Systems to embrace electronic submissions, which are gaining popularity in the engineering industry. Read more about how digital signatures bring innovation to engineering at Star Building Systems.
What happens when an organization with 17 different offices, which handles upwards of 10,000 paper documents a day, takes their workflow digital? If you’re interested in finding out, you’re welcome to check out this case study on the South Carolina Department of Mental Health’s (SCDMH) use of digital signatures.
As digital signature use in Healthcare grows, the SCDMH (a comprehensive mental Healthcare provider) joins other organizations in the industry that have discovered the huge benefit that digital signatures provide – from the level of greater customer satisfaction to improved organizational efficiency. Aside from the $4 million that the SCDMH saved in only the first year of implementing digital signatures, they have gained secure and compliant electronic approval processes that cut process times, eliminate paper-related expenditures, and significantly improve collaboration. They’ve even become more environmentally friendly – according to Pay It Green, the amount of paper SCDMH saves annually due to digital signatures equates to over 11,000 trees!
If you’re interested in hearing about digital signature use in Healthcare from professionals in the field, register for a free webinar called Digital Signatures for Healthcare, which takes place on July 21st at 2:00PM EDT. The webinar will cover regulatory and compliance issues, common applications, best practices and more.
Have you ever had the experience where too many options feels more like a curse than a blessing? For me, this experience is even more prevalent when it comes to choosing something as important as a new, business-transforming solution.
Thankfully, ARX has put together a short, informative “how to choose” white paper that simplifies the process of choosing a digital signature solution. Equipped with this comprehensive list of criteria for digital signatures, you’ll know that you’ve got every detail covered as you embark on your digital signature selection process.
Have you noticed the growing trend of organizations adopting electronic content management (ECM) or document management systems in order to turn their business operations electronic? (If not, where have you been?) Even FIFA, the international football (soccer) association,uses digital signatures integrated with their ECM to enable electronic approval of invoices (in bulk!), saving them endless hours of paper-based signing.
So, what happens when the need for a signature arises and an organization’s ECM lacks a digital signature component?
Reintroducing paper into the workflow after having invested in business automation tools like ECMs shrinks the sought-after benefits of the investment, which can be quite pricey. Among other disadvantages, it increases costs and process times, and decreases efficiency and productivity. Fortunately, one of the greatest aspects about today’s digital signature technology is that it can be integrated seamlessly with popular ECMs, like Microsoft® SharePoint®, at a fraction of the cost.
By implementing a digital signature solution into an electronic content management system, you can gain the greatest benefits from your investment in automation – like never having to print out another piece of paper again solely for obtaining a signature approval. This will lower your costs and expedite your business, while enabling you to remain legally compliant. Using a digital signature rather than an electronic signature solution even avoids vendor lock-in; digital signatures are standards-based, which enables anyone, including outside parties, to view and verify the digital signature. Pretty cool, huh?
If you’re the type of person that needs to get their hands dirty and experience first-hand what a new solution is all about, then I have good news for you. ARX is offering a free 30-day trial of the CoSign® digital signature solution, so you can get a real taste of all the digital signature benefits you’ve been reading about – at no risk whatsoever.
Save time. With your CoSign digital signature, you can eliminate the time-consuming processes of printing, scanning, and mailing paper documents for the sake of approvals, and provide your approval in a matter of minutes rather than days.
Transferability. No need to worry about whether receiving parties will be able to trust your digital signature. With CoSign, any third party can easily verify your digital signature for signer identity, intent, and document integrity (meaning the content hasn’t been changed since signing) – without the need for any verification software.
Simplicity and ease of use. With only a quick and simple download, you’ll be able to digitally sign any of your favorite document formats, including Microsoft® Word, PDF, Excel®, and others.
Sign from anywhere, at any time. Forget about carrying a printer or finding the local post office when you’re traveling or working on-the-go. With only a click of the mouse, you can use your CoSign digital signature to approve electronic documents from anywhere at any time.
Provide better service. When your customers or clients no longer have to wait for your approval to arrive in the mail, they’ll be more than thrilled. By optimizing your response time, you can close the deal faster.
There’s a reason that most enterprises (like corporations, banks, universities, etc.) have an HR or similar department for issuing employee IDs, or a customer-screening department to do the same for customers. These departments have been established to verify a person’s identity when establishing them as part of the organization. I doubt whether any enterprise that takes itself seriously would allow an employee to use a self-issued Employee ID, and rightfully so! The idea even feels iffy.
When it comes to digital certificates, a self-issued certificate is as untrustworthy as a self-issued Employee ID. That’s because a self-created digital certificate is one where the same person that created the certificate also signed off on its legitimacy. As such, the identity of the digital signer can never be established or trusted, making this type of digital certificate useful only among businesses that operate solely on a leap of faith.
For this purpose, it’s preferable to use digital certificates that are centrally issued and managed by a designated authority within the Enterprise. This good practice for digital certificate management is essential for trusting that the person using the digital certificate is indeed who s/he claims to be.
With the rate digital signature use is spreading within industries and organizations, like clinical research organizations (CROs), it seems digital signatures ARE contagious! Honestly, it’s great to see people and organizations embracing technology for good reasons, especially when they’re up to good and important things. As I mentioned in a previous post, CROs are in the business of developing new medicines for the people who need them, and by embracing technologies like digital signatures, they do so even more efficiently.
A press release entitled Digital Signatures within Investigator Portals Accelerate Clinical Processes examines how CROs use investigator portals when developing new drugs during clinical trials. These investigator portals are automated management systems that enable CROs and other parties involved in clinical trials (like investigators, sponsors, and institutional review boards) to maintain the highest quality of data, ensure regulatory compliance, and optimize collaboration – thereby gaining greater quality trial results. By providing real-time data on the status of regulatory documents, patient visits, enrollment information and more, investigator portals enable clinical trial coordinators to see a complete picture of the trial they are conducting. The press release on digital signature use within investigator portals explains how integrating digital signatures within investigator portals enables these coordinators to digitally sign forms and documents that comply with FDA requirements, thereby keeping approved documents electronic, easily accessible and easily shared. Turns out even doctors can be technology geeks… and it’s a good thing, too!
and collaborators to quickly, easily and securely sign off on documents online. Can you imagine how thrilled external collaborators were with the new capability to submit forms like payment applications so easily?
What happens when engineering documentation and drawings are submitted and approved more quickly than ever? Clients are happier, houses and buildings go up faster, and new places to live, work and play are available sooner. With digital signatures, this reality is within reach.
What happens when an organization with 17 different offices, which handles upwards of 10,000 paper documents a day, takes their workflow digital? If you’re interested in finding out, you’re welcome to check out this 
of person that needs to get their hands dirty and experience first-hand what a new solution is all about, then I have good news for you. ARX is offering a free 30-day trial of the 
With the rate digital signature use is spreading within industries and organizations, like clinical research organizations (CROs), it seems digital signatures ARE contagious! Honestly, it’s great to see people and organizations embracing technology for good reasons, especially when they’re up to good and important things. As I mentioned in a previous post, CROs are in the business of developing new medicines for the people who need them, and by embracing technologies like digital signatures, they do so even more efficiently.
