Saving time, reliability, security... the electronic signature offers many advantages over its paper counterpart. However, it wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic and remote working that electronic signatures were widely adopted by businesses and became part of their daily routine. Yannick Delsahut*, trainer and specialist in digital transition, tells us all about its advantages.
The electronic signature is not a new process. This technology makes it possible to identify and authenticate the signatory of a digital document and to ensure that the content has not been altered or modified. Which documents are concerned? While there are solutions for binary formats (images, videos), the PDF format is still the most widely used. What is its legal value?
The law of March 13, 2000 grants him the same legal value as a handwritten signature on paper. The widespread use of teleworking and digitised documents has encouraged its development and highlighted its many advantages.
1. Saving time for signatories
Processing paper documents takes a considerable amount of time, often several weeks: the contractual document to be signed is first sent by post or e-mail to the customer, who then has to print it out and give it to the right person to sign, and you still have to wait for the document to be returned by post or e-mail.
Thanks to electronic signatures, this time can be reduced from several weeks to a few hours. The combined use of document dematerialisation and electronic signatures streamline the process of validating and bringing contracts into effect. It's a win-win situation for your company, your service providers and your customers.
This is all the more important given that in the commercial process, the time between sending a contract and signing it is a period during which the customer may hesitate, renegotiate the terms or even withdraw.
Another advantage is that the dematerialised document is time-stamped with the date and time of signature, information that is not available on a paper contract.
2. Greater security for signed documents
Le European eIDas regulation (Eelectronic IDentification, Aauthentication and trust Services) of 23 July 2014 defines three types of electronic signature, classified according to increasing levels of security :
- simple electronic signature. It is used for routine deeds with minor legal and financial consequences. For example, employment contracts, membership contracts, leases, etc. Elements that identify the signatory may be used (e-mail, code sent by SMS, etc.).
- advanced electronic signature. It requires a digital certificate associated with the signatory, enabling the author to be formally identified. The identity of the signatory is verified by his or her identity document. This signature is used in particular to validate legal and financial documents: credit contracts, life insurance policies, property sales agreements, etc.
- qualified electronic signature. This is the most secure signature. It is rarely used because it is very restrictive and requires the intervention of a certification authority controlled in France by theANSSI (Agence nationale de sécurité des systèmes d'information). It requires a physical or virtual meeting with the certification authority, delivery of a certified token (USB cryptographic key or smart card) and secure storage of the token. It is used to sign documents by legal professionals: notaries, lawyers, court clerks, public authorities, etc.
It is advisable to check with your advisers or your signature operator the type of solution to be used depending on the nature and level of risk of the document.
3. A financial advantage, fewer costs
Gone are the costs associated with handwritten signatures: printing (paper, ink, electricity, etc.), postage, mail processing (dispatch, receipt), reminders, filing, archiving, etc. Manual signature processing is much more expensive than electronic signature processing, if you compare it with the hourly rate paid to an employee.
However, you should be aware that the unit cost of an electronic signature (often referred to as the envelope) varies depending on the signature operator you choose. You need to check the features linked to the price. For example, a simple signature service without SMS verification will be cheaper, but you will have fewer elements to provide proof of the person's identity.
4. An ecological advantage thanks to zero paper
Eliminating paper from the entire contract management process reduces your company's ecological footprint, and therefore its carbon footprint. Electronic signatures eliminate the need for paper printouts, photocopies and envelopes. This represents an enormous saving in paper, especially as contracts generally contain dozens of pages, including annexes, and are often printed in several copies.
When you consider that the production of a sheet of A4 paper alone consumes five litres of water, not to mention electricity, ink, the cost of using the equipment, etc., it's easy to see why electronic signatures and their corollary, the dematerialisation of documents, are increasingly attractive to businesses. It's easy to see why electronic signatures and their corollary, the dematerialisation of documents, are increasingly attractive to businesses, which are not hesitating to make them part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy.
5. Saving space and time through dematerialisation
Electronically signing documents means that they can be filed directly in a digital archive. No more need to store papers in cabinets that are never opened. Not only does dematerialisation ensure the integrity of the document, it also eliminates the risk of losing it, while allowing access to be managed by authorised persons only. The use of Electronic Document Management (EDM) also speeds up the search for a contract and allows the employee to access the digital document from any location, meeting the growing need for mobile working.
If you opt to save the signed document in an archiving solution with probative value (as is the case with PluggySign), you have the guarantee that it will be kept for a given period of time, thus complying with the legal retention obligation.
6. An advantage in business processes
The electronic signature can be integrated directly into a business process to finalise a treatment with the customer's confirmation. The company can thus add electronic signature to its main business processes, knowing that other departments can also use tools such as PluggySign to carry out mass processing and have numerous recipients sign online.
7. A benefit for the whole company
Electronic signatures don't just benefit business processes. All departments can benefit. The first is HR, which signs a wide variety of documents: amendments, employment contracts, general terms and conditions, activity reports, summaries of professional interviews, etc.
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Officer (DPO) may ask all subcontractors to sign up to regulatory actions, or employees to sign up to specific actions.
The legal department will also be interested, particularly in securing agreements. It manages a large portfolio of documents: amendments, contracts, confidentiality clauses (NDA), contractual commitments for sales staff, etc.
With all its advantages, the electronic signature has every chance of continuing to make inroads into the business world. It is an opportunity to digitise all your contracts, quotes, purchase orders, etc. and to start digitising your processes. Our training courses will explain how to set it up and make it part of your company's wider digital transition.
