Transforming SMBs with Electronic Signatures

Transforming SMBs with Electronic Signatures

SMBs go digital with electronic signature tools

Small or Medium Businesses are all about getting more from less. That right there is the core essence of technology. Harnessing every ounce of functionality offered by transformative digital tech is the key to unlocking any growing business’s true operating potential. When it comes to transforming the document signing workflow, electronic signature solutions can go a long way in helping SMBs reduce expenses and TAT. Not only are electronic signatures legal, secure, and efficient, but they also help growing startups operate with tighter budgets.

The whole point of implementing an electronic signature application is to get rid of all the vulnerabilities and inefficiencies brought forth by traditional, manual workflows. Small businesses have to operate on a tight budget and have a lot of stakeholders to answer to. Electronic signature platforms help fill in the gaps present in the admin workflow and eliminate deceptive and surprisingly hefty hidden costs. In the long run, businesses stand to gain a lot compared to what they invest in a suitable electronic signature platform.

We have listed some sensitive and vital documents that benefit from the security and convenience of electronic signatures.

Founder’s agreements

What begins as a ground-breaking idea on a tissue paper between friends, brainstorming at a café can quickly grow into the next big thing in the market. When the stakes are high, the chances of disputes and disagreements are higher and can easily escalate to a judicial level. In such cases, contracts that are tampered with or forged often lead to disastrous consequences. A classic example of such an agreement going wrong would be the lawsuit filed against Facebook in 2012. Paul Ceglia, who has founded many other businesses, was arrested for forging evidence in his favor to procure a significant share in Facebook.

It is highly recommended that all founder and partner contracts be drafted and signed digitally using electronic signatures to ensure that all stakeholders, investors, and co-founders stay on equal grounds.

Employment offers

A well-drafted and digitally signed employment offer letter clarifies the responsibilities, benefits & salary, and confidentiality. In most cases, the investors or capitalists insist on getting the confidentiality and invention assignment letters signed to ensure that the business ideas invented during the employment do not cause any proprietary issues.

Service/Sales contracts

If yours is a service-providing company, electronically signing your service agreements helps avoid lawsuits and conflicts that may cost your business a small fortune. A service agreement, when signed online, will help your company prevent disputes regarding the terms under which you provide your services and avoid liabilities. Using electronic signatures to sign contracts will also help avoid conflicts regarding fees and additional charges.

In the case of a product-based company, an electronically signed sales agreement will go a long way in helping your business avert disputes regarding terms of sales, warranties, and price adjustments.

Non-disclosure agreements

Protecting your company’s intellectual property can be tricky. Your employees are accessing confidential and sensitive information daily, increasing the chances of corporate espionage incidents. In addition, stolen confidential information can damage the company’s image and may even cost a small fortune to get the situation under control.

Also read: Delivering Operational Excellence for Educational Institutions Using Digital Signatures

Top 5 critical areas SMBs can focus on using electronic signatures

A few unforeseen blunders can cost your business dearly, be it the initial stages when everyone is excited about starting a new venture or during the prime of its operation. The chances are that a startup may be working on something ground-breaking or on some product that can potentially become the next big thing. But due to certain shortcomings, this paradigm-shifting plan never came to fruition. Following are five critical areas SMBs can strengthen using electronic signatures.

Paperwork management

Unfortunately, when it comes to maintaining documents, physical paperwork can cost your business dearly in some of the most deceptive ways. Costs associated with document cabinets, paperwork handling, office supplies, and document shipping can add up to form a hefty sum. All of these can be eliminated using a comprehensive electronic signature application.

Protecting intellectual property

Theft of ideas has been going on for a long time. For example, ever since Nikola Tesla concluded that his charged Tesla coils could be used to transmit messages over long distances, an Italian inventor named Marconi used the Tesla oscillator to get a similar device patented in his name. So the next time you have an idea worth filing a patent, be sure not to write it down on a piece of paper. Instead, prepare the documentation digitally and submit your patent application online using electronic signatures ensuring protection and digital security.

Monitoring administrative costs

When you have a tight budget to operate and stakeholders breathing down your neck every time you spend the company’s money, administration is the last thing that should take a bite out of your expenses. That means making it as cost-effective as possible by saving time, infrastructure, and funds at every juncture. This is where electronic signatures shine by eliminating subtle expenses. In the grand scheme of things, this allows your company to do what it does best. Make this world a better place, one problem statement at a time.

Enhancing customer experience

If your company requires the end user to sign documents, making them sign physically is the proverbial crack in the lens of customer experience. However, making your customers sign documents digitally could prove to be one of the key factors in making your company stand out from the competition.

Manual Signing of Letter of Intent

A letter of intent can help your company boost its momentum when closing a deal. It can either be a binding contract or a non-binding communique. In either case, confidentiality and security have a significant impact on the execution. For example, if the deal can affect your share prices, having a secure and private medium to execute the deal drastically reduces the chances of insider trading.

Cutting down TAT and streamlining the administration of SMBs using DrySign

DrySign is a smart and intuitive electronic signature platform, providing all the necessary and usable features any emerging business would benefit from when accelerating its growth. With reasonably priced plans and features like legal compliance, group sign, audit trails, 256-bit encryption, password protection, and secure login, companies can save funds and invaluable business hours, enabling them to focus on their core offerings or employee development. After all, the key is to let technology take care of the administrative end. The best part about DrySign is that it’s simple and user-friendly.

Contracts are better executed when E signed

The most significant advantage of having electronic signature software is that electronically signed contracts are just as legally binding as physically signed paper-based contracts. Along with security features like 256-bit encryption, password protection for documents, and online document storage, the integrity of sensitive documents remains intact so that the following documents can be signed online.

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