What to know about Costs, Features & integration when choosing e-signature software for your business

Digital transformation is changing the way we do business. How we manage our paperwork and contracts is no exception. Digital signature software is helping organizations digitize their agreement-making processes, so they can make decisions quickly and maintain the same level of compliance as their paper counterparts.

For knowledge workers, this new method of creating and completing agreements is changing the flow of paperwork through your organization. Rather than having to print, scan, and email files; you can now create, complete and store them digitally inside an e-signature platform. So how do you choose the best e-signature software? By looking at Costs, integrations, and what it does operationally.

How e-signatures help with your workflow

In today's business world, electronic signature platforms enable organizations to execute legally-binding agreements online. In many countries, including those in the european union (eu) and the United States (us), esignatures have been recognized by law and regulation as being equal to traditional wet ink signatures. For Businesses, using electronic signature software makes document workflows easier to navigate.

HR documents, contracts, agreements with vendors, and compliance-related documents can now be sent via an e-signature platform to be signed and then automatically stored digitally. This eliminates unnecessary administrative tasks and significantly reduces approval cycle time.

Many business' workflows look something like this:

- document preparation in a contract management system (cms) or document editing application.
- the document is uploaded to an e-signature platform, where signers are designated.
- after all signers have completed their portion of the agreement, the signed agreement is automatically archived.
- many platforms will also provide audit logs of the time and location of the signers, along with the identity verification associated with each signer.

The importance of digital audit logs cannot be overstated. They serve as tangible evidence that an organization has followed relevant laws and internal governance policies. They also play a critical role in regulated industries. These audit logs will help organizations demonstrate compliance.

Analyzing Costs & subscription Models

When reviewing e-signature platforms, price structures become an extremely important element of consideration. Most providers use some form of subscription model based on the quantity of users, documents, or additional Features included.

There are generally three types of pricing plans: individual plans, team plans, and enterprise plans. An individual plan is intended to support a single user with minimal documents. A team plan adds collaboration Features along with permission-based roles. An enterprise plan includes premium Security, api integrations, and administration consoles.

Before investing in a digital signature platform, companies usually study their options thoroughly and compare their prices. Resources available to help understand pricing options provided by various digital signature providers such as Docusign pricing resources emphasize differences in pricing among competitors and which Features come with each tier.

By understanding cost structures related to an e-signature platform, organizations will better understand if they are able to integrate the software into their current operations.

Core Features to consider

Pricing is significant but more importantly; feature set will ultimately determine if an e-signature platform will meet an organization's needs. Today's e-signature platforms offer a large variety of Features designed to support Businesses with complex processes.

Document automation is one of the main Features offered. Organizations are able to develop templates for frequent use documents. Using templates will minimize manual work involved in producing these documents and assure consistency throughout documents and approvals produced by the organization.

Identity verification is another important function. Some industries require additional levels of identification verification such as two-factor authentication, sms code delivery or digital certificates. Organizations can verify a signer's identity using these functions and prevent fraudulent activity.

Auditing trails and compliance reporting are also essential. Records detailing the signing process may be needed in litigation or during regulatory audits. Most platforms produce a comprehensive log detailing interactions made by each party regarding the document.

Additional Features may include collaborative editing capabilities, approval chain capabilities, and/or workflow routing. These capabilities facilitate efficient movement of documents between stakeholders.

Integration with other company applications

For many organizations, the value realized from an e-signature platform is greatly enhanced when integrating it with existing digital systems. Employees frequently utilize customer relationship management systems (CRM), project management systems, and/or document management systems.

Integrations allow documents to travel easily between applications. For example, a contract developed in a CRM system can be automatically routed to an e-signature platform for completion. Upon completion, the signed document can be returned to the CRM system for archiving with the customer record.

Most integrations are facilitated by application programming interfaces (APIs). Large enterprises utilizing complex workflows often leverage APIs to embed signature functionality within their proprietary systems or customer portals.

Cloud-based architecture enables remote collaboration between teams working across different geographic areas. Without needing physical access to an office or printer, teams can review and approve documents remotely.

Security & compliance concerns

Security is one of the top considerations when choosing a digital signature platform. Often business documents contain sensitive information such as financial data, confidential intellectual property or personal identifiable information.

Platform operators employ encryption techniques such as transport layer Security (tls) for data exchange and advanced encryption standards (AES) for storage to protect sensitive information contained in business documents. Access control measures such as role-based permissions and authentication methods further restrict unauthorized access to protected documents.

Additionally, organizations must also consider compliance with applicable federal or state laws and regulations. In europe, organizations must comply with the eidas framework. In the us, compliance with both the ESIGN Act and uniform electronic transactions act (UETA) provides legitimacy to enforceable digital signatures. In addition to industry-specific regulations, organizations in certain vertical markets may be subject to additional regulatory obligations. As such, many organizations consult with their attorneys or compliance officers prior to implementing a digital signature platform.

Increased productivity

Digital signature platforms improve productivity by eliminating manual steps associated with processing documents. Traditionally, signing agreements would require printing a document, scanning each page after it was signed and manually distributing printed copies of each page. Each step creates delay and opportunity for error.

Digital signature platforms eliminate these manual processes. Documents pass through predetermined approval routes. Signers receive notifications indicating when they are required to take action on a document. Signed agreements are automatically stored upon completion.

Automating many of these steps frees up time for knowledge workers to perform higher-level strategic activities instead of performing repetitive administrative duties. Additionally, improving the speed at which documents are processed benefits numerous departments such as sales, purchasing and human resources.

Implementing a digital signature solution leads organizations to report improved collaboration among departments as well as significantly reduced contract cycle time.

Digital signing becoming commonplace in business processes

With remote work becoming much more prevalent and digital collaboration increasing continuously; digital signatures are being considered by more businesses as an integral piece of their business infrastructure. They provide faster decision making ability, greater visibility into who reviewed/signed the document and increased organizational efficiencies.

Organizations evaluating digital signature products usually look at several key factors: pricing structure(s); how well they integrate into current systems; Security Features; regulatory compliance; etc. Selecting the correct product depends on matching those items with the organizations' needs and workflows.