Signing Documents Online
The contract signing world is transitioning toward digitization due to how technology transforms every aspect of existence. It is increasingly common for businesses and organizations to sign documents online free, gradually gaining popularity. Online signing is a safe and cost-effective way to certify documents and get into agreements. While retaining a high level of trust in the document signing process, online document signing with a reputable eSignature platform can assist increase corporate productivity.
Need for Signing Documents Digitally
Each organization’s daily operations include a significant amount of paperwork. Numerous agreements, contracts, papers, and paperwork need to be signed. The most recent technique saves time and effort by having you electronically sign documents online free. There is no need to print or fax the documents. Instead just upload the document and add recipients, e-signing application will do the rest.
The benefits of using eSignatures for corporates often start with less paperwork, enhanced productivity, and increased performance. Return on investment for your company is typically higher with just one wise investment in esignature software.
An efficient technique to translate wet-ink paper signatures to the digital world is through visible digital signatures. By their very nature, invisible signatures are less evident, yet they guard against illegal alteration. The security and encryption provided by signdocs.co is quite strong and uses numerous international standards for global compatibility. Without this protection, unnecessary corporate data is vulnerable to misuse, manipulation, fraud, denial, and theft.
Why Sign documents Online?
Here’s why the need to sign documents online for free is:
- Obtaining proof of the signature’s authorship, the date it was signed, and the level of trust they currently enjoy (by checking and validating the signer’s digital certificate)
- To verify that the document has not been altered at any point in the past, whether it is now or in the future in a few days, weeks, months, or even years (by verifying the digital signature)
- To ensure that the originator intended to approve it, that it is not an unsigned draught, and that the originator cannot dispute that they approved it (by verifying the signature)
- To reduce the amount of time and money spent each month on invoice printing, paper, postage, and storage (by enabling paperless workflows)
- To satisfy the requirements of numerous statutory and regulatory frameworks.
Document Signing Online Process
Here is our five-step guide to how the digital signature process works:
You must follow these sign document steps to sign your documents digitally. The steps to sign documents online free are as under.
1. Create the document
First, convert the document to PDF (Portable Document Format) before signing. This format is the best overall since it allows for incorporating digital signatures into the document and is accessible from any device. Create the document using the PDF/A standard since it is designed for preservation. Additionally, it confirms that the document’s portrayal is accurate.
2. Upload the document
There are several possibilities when it comes to digital signatures. The selected provider entirely relies on whatever digital signature features are necessary. There are simple, free apps, paid membership services with premium capabilities, cloud-based services for signing documents while on the go, and apps that have links with your CRM.
Depending on the kinds of documents to sign, pick the one that works best. It might be OK to use an essential electronic signature, such as scribbling a handwritten signature on a screen, if you need to sign a less formal document without paying anything. There will be no proof of the signer’s identity in this. However, if you are working with contracts or legal papers, you should use a digital signature that has identity verification integrated into the program to keep you secure. Digital signature encryption helps to confirm the signature’s legitimacy and guarantees the security of the data connected with the signed document.
3. Send a signature request
To transmit the signed document to the signers, create a signature request. Each signer will receive the document and then have the choice to sign it using a means specified by the sender, such as an eID, by uploading identification, or even by drawing a signature on a screen with a good level of security. In contrast to the first two, the latter does not attempt to reveal the user’s identity.
Several users can expand a signature request to include those who may sign sequentially or concurrently. To manage the documents that need to sign and to contact the signers, utilize a system like Signdocs. If there are several signers, you will receive updates on the request’s status and another update on completing the signing process.
4. Wait for signatures
Each signatory will get an alert indicating receiving a document to sign. Different ways to sign the documents are available depending on the user and their region. The user can sign in using only their Signdocs credentials. The identity of the user is already verified and used again for signing. The user can sign using their ID paper and a self-portrait if an eID is not accessible. Despite requiring extra user effort, this will provide reliable identity proof. An OTP (One Time Password) is delivered to the user’s mobile phone to sign using a simple write on the screen and prove ownership of the device if the user’s identity is already known or the risk is low.
5. Finalize the document
Following the signatures of all required signers, generates a signed document. The signatures will identify the signer and examine it to make sure the document wasn’t changed after being signed. The document contains all the information acquired throughout the signing procedure. Later, this information could be used as evidence in court. In the past, sending signed paper documents to the receiver required a courier. Still, today you can transmit everything finalized with the click of a button and know that everything is valid and validated.
Identity assurance at a higher level when signing documents
Many regulated businesses need a higher level of identity assurance. Digital consumer loans, auto leasing, and real estate transactions are rising, but merely tapping a finger on a computer to sign documents is insufficient without identity confirmation.
For many businesses, the ability to incorporate identity verification in an electronic signing procedure has changed the game. Using an electronic ID or a digital service that verifies a person’s identity by scanning their ID document while in transit and even combining it with a picture or liveness verification, an individual’s identity is confirmed across international boundaries.
These procedures reassure the other party that the signer is who they claim to be, and the electronic signatures contain a result of this verification.
The following are possible components of the solution, depending on the customers’ needs for assurance:
- Write on a screen
- Additional SMS message-based one-time passwords
- ID document scanning,
- Verified digital identity represents a high level of assurance for consumer authentication.
Here’s how a digital signature is delivered securely:
- The sender selects the document that will digitally sign into the document platform or application.
- The sender’s computer calculates the unique hash value of the file content.
- This hash value is encrypted using the sender’s private key to produce the digital signature.
- The recipient gets the original file and its digital signature.
- When the recipient launches the related document application, he recognizes the digitally signed file.
- The recipient’s computer then uses the sender’s public key to decipher the digital signature.
- The recipient’s computer then calculates the hash of the original file and contrasts it with the now-decrypted hash of the sender’s file.
Benefits of Signing a Document Online
The advantages listed below should persuade you to use electronic signature software immediately if you consider getting one for your company. Let’s now examine how signing a document can benefit your company.
1. Increased security
With security measures, such as automatic independent verification, you can be sure that your papers will reach the correct recipients. This independent verification process, also known as Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA), keeps your clients’ documents secure and is necessary for several IRS forms like 8878 and 8879.
2. Straightforward to utilize in all sectors and states
Regardless of who their clients are or where they live, users are familiar with the signature experience and prefer the ease of signing a document right away from their phone or tablet.
3. Workflow monitoring
You can easily keep track on who has read, signed, or approved a document and who is delaying it. Without the actual paper, you will still have a complete paper trail of who viewed the document.
4. Your convenience
Get approvals and signatures on several papers without printing a single page.
5. Considerably better client satisfaction
Clients can swiftly sign using any device, from anywhere! Connecting your eSignature solution to your client portal software is essential when clients demand instant access to documents.
6. Faster payments
To safely gather all the data you need to get your clients up and running—including the payment to you—ask for your signature and payment details on the same page.
7. Centralized document storage
A central document repository is an advantage of using eSignature and document storage together. The days of looking through stacks on your desk, filing cabinets, or various computer systems in search of a late document.
8. Process without paperwork
There is no need for printing, scanning, or in-person meetings when your eSignature solution has an integration with other technologies you already use, such as document storage. You receive a notification when all parties sign and the signed document is begun and returned to the same spot in your application.
9. Promote cooperation
To boost collaboration and keep projects going, gather permissions and signatures from several stakeholders in the order of your choice.
10. Save cash
All these advantages add significant cost savings for your company, from cutting back on paper and printing expenses to speeding up the signing and payment processes for new customers.
Conclusion
Electronic signatures don’t compel or impose modifications to how your business runs. There are many e-signing options to sign documents online free that interface with products you already use for your business, such as PDF, Google Docs, Dropbox, Microsoft Word, and others. As a result, you have no excuse for not getting one. The benefits of using electronic signature software are immeasurable. Based on its requirements and the system’s capacity to meet them, each organization, administration, or business is certain to discover unique benefits of electronic signatures. Check Signdocs pricing or signup for a free 30 days trial