With more and more businesses opting to go digital, it seems logical to find the right tool to address the dependency that organizations have on paper-based documents. Over the years, companies across the globe have resorted to internet-based activities to cut down costs and make data conveniently available to employees. When a company is committed to making processes more convenient for its employees, it inevitably creates a positive impact on its people and the workplace culture.

Every business in this present day and age looks for ways to not only streamline business operations, be cost-effective, and save time but also to modernize its workplace. So when you have stacks of paper jammed in filing cabinets or on desks, it makes a business look archaic. Here is where digital files come into the picture, especially when it involves storing and sending out hundreds of documents regularly. What makes businesses even more practical and user-oriented is the adoption of technologies like electronic signatures for their paper-related woes.

With the increasing number of people going mobile, secure and instant access to data is now a necessity. Tools like DrySign make signing documents on the move effortless and convenient. When an organization goes paperless, it becomes not only a sustainable business but also a digitally progressive one.

Here are some ways how implementing an electronic signature platform into your business can help modernize your work culture:

Paperless On-boarding:

When a company has bulk-recruitment, the adoption of electronic signatures can make a big difference – not only to the HR team but also to the candidates. An eSignature platform allows for new hires to sign their offer letters, contracts, and agreements without having to step foot in the office. Simultaneously, digital additions make an organization look modern and adaptive. This way, new employees can spend time understanding the job rather than spend their first few days signing dozens of joining forms.

Policy Updates:

Distribution of policy updates is an essential procedure for any organization. When it relates to the risk and compliance of a company, making sure that all employees have read, understood, and acknowledged the update is vital. And the best way to do that is by having employees sign the document. With electronic signature platforms, communicating updates to thousands of employees at the click of a button can be a painless process, and getting acknowledgments in the form of signatures – even easier.

Performance Management:

Gone are the days when a manager had to print out an appraisal document, write comments, carry a discussion, and then wait for the employee to sign it. With eSignature platforms, managers and employees can do away with age-old practices of following up with people for missing signatures. Managers can track the real-time status of pending forms and highlight where an employee needs to sign. In a process where confidentiality is critical, a completely secure electronic platform will allow only the designated user to search, access, and download the forms.

Tidying Desks:

With businesses striving hard to achieve superior levels of efficiency, a cluttered workspace will usually be inversely proportional to an employee's productivity and performance. Electronically signed documents eradicate the need for employees to have stacks of papers at their work desks and facilitates the need for virtual documentation. Operations integrated with tools like an electronic signature platform, make businesses methodical, and mitigate risks of losing business-critical documents in the clutter of a messy desk.

Convenience is something that everyone enjoys. When a business tool reduces hassles like signing and storing paperwork for a workforce, it always contributes towards a positive employee experience and a healthy work culture.

An Electronic Signature platform like DrySign empowers businesses to go paperless – in a speedy, simple, sustainable, and secure way!

Electronic signatures and digital signatures – these are two terms that are thrown around quite frequently in today’s modern, digital age. Looking at how similar they sound, it is easy to get confused between the two. However, in reality, there is a significant difference between these two terms. All digital signatures are electronic signatures, but not all electronic signatures are digital signatures. Confused? Read on to find out what sets these two apart and figure out which one suits your signing needs the best.

What are electronic signatures?

The concept of electronic signatures is rather broad and generic, and may or may not prove to be a secure medium to bind the signer to the agreement. An electronic signature is an online medium that captures the intent to approve the content of an electronic document. For example: your name typed in an email, a captured image of your paper-based signature, or typing your initials at the end of any message.

What are the drawbacks of electronic signatures?

Based on the definition, an image of a wet signature or simply typing your name at the bottom of a document can also be considered as an electronic signature. The challenge is, this does not necessarily verify the authenticity of the signer. For example, chances are someone else can easily forge your signature or capture an image of your wet signature. History is replete with such lawsuits, leaving businesses with severe impacts. On March 9, 2011, in the dispute between Carrefour Banque and Fort de France, scanned signatures were deemed to be insufficient to enforce the agreement, owing to the lack of authenticity of the signer’s legal commitment. To prevent such situations, digital signatures were introduced.

What are digital signatures and what’s the big difference between the two?

The distinction that sets the two apart is the fact that digital signatures offer a legally enforceable way to identify the signing party through digital certificates obtained from certifying authorities. A digital signature platform offers detailed logs of document edits, as well as security measures to prevent document manipulation by any external agents and make sure the signer’s identity is verified.

Furthermore, to authenticate online identities and secure online session from cyber eavesdroppers, trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs) such as Entrust generate cryptographic keys. Digital signature solutions like DrySign are authorized and certified by such legal entities.

Laws and regulations involving digital signatures in the United States

Nations worldwide have adopted electronic transactions and digital signatures to improve online shopping transactions and make signing agreements/documents smoother and safer over the internet.

• The ESIGN Act introduced by President Bill Clinton on 30th June, 2000, granted legality to electronic signatures.
• The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) was adopted to establish a consistent framework that defines the legitimacy of electronic signatures in online transactions. In order to standardize e-signatures, the following criteria were set:

1. The intent to sign should be clear.
2. The consent to conduct online business must be acknowledged by the signing parties.
3. There should be a concrete way of associating the signatories with the agreement.
4. Detailed records are to be maintained and made available to all the signing parties. 
    

Which one should you choose?

Be it for personal use or enterprise-level operations, any contract or agreement has its own depth of legal implications, depending upon the context. When it comes to legally enforcing the contract, there is no better alternative than a secure digital signature solution that offers all the necessary features to keep the document safe from external manipulation and maintains the signer’s authenticity. Moreover, digital signatures are easy to implement and come with tons of integration options.

Also read: DrySign Freemium has Arrived – Here’s Everything You Need to Know

Conclusion

Broadly speaking, electronic signatures are more about simply verifying a document with the intention of signing, without too much focus on authenticity and security. On the other hand, digital signatures warrant the authenticity of the signing parties, keep the document secure, and legally bind the signatories to the contract.

The essence of any agreement, contract, or enforceable document signing lies in its legal implications. The lack of enforceability of any legal covenant beats the point of signing it in the first place, and this is where electronic signatures fail to make a significant impact.

In the grand scheme of things, investing in digital signatures not only avoids lawsuit settlements, but also speeds up your workflow, reduces inaccuracies & file handling costs, and cuts down any hidden costs associated with office supplies, document storage & preservation, and so on. All in all, going for digital signatures is definitely a step in the right direction.

Sources:

https://docplayer.net/201596011-Whitepaper-electronic-imperative-french-law-to-remain-in-the-game-insurers-must-transform-their-customers-experience.html

https://blog.pandadoc.com/ueta-act-and-the-legality-of-electronic-signatures

https://www.globalsign.com/en-in/ssl-information-center/what-are-certification-authorities-trust-hierarchies

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Most businesses are very paper-heavy, and banks are no exception. Loan documents  and customer applications are the gateways to providing services and bringing in revenue. Millions of dollars have been spent on electronic record technologies to help banks eliminate paper. However, when those documents require a signature, digital processing often goes by the wayside.

The forms may be filled out on a computer, but then they are printed out, mailed, and then signed. Several banking transactions, such as loan approvals, account openings, and investments, have not experienced this digital revolution because of the stringent requirements of customer signatures. It puts extra responsibility on the bank to manually process the documents.

This requires a scalable electronic signature platform that has the flexibility to accommodate the requirements of any business process – from complex, high volume customer-facing processes to simpler internal and B2B signing processes. DrySign bridges this gap, allowing banks to finally achieve the returns on investment promised by paperless systems already in place. DrySign can eliminate the need for ink signatures and can dramatically alter how banks do business with their customers.

The business benefits for banks with DrySign are:

Elimination of the Outdated Paper Process

DrySign allows you to process paperwork entirely online. You can save on paper and printing costs. Documents are easier to store and retrieve as and when required.

Better Customer Relationship

Banks face customers daily and have a strong emphasis on relationships. Loyal customers play a critical role in banks’ business. DrySign can get the paperwork processed faster and error-free, letting clients sign documents from anywhere, anytime, and from their preferred device.

Secure and Compliant

A paper document can be modified after being signed by an unauthorized person. DrySign adds an extra layer of security, helping banking and financial institutions to stay protected against fraud.

Improved Sales and Operational Efficiency

With reduced turnaround times and no physical records to manage, sales and operations teams can focus on their respective core goals - getting in more customers and revenue and keeping the day-to-day processes seamless.

Sole reliance on the typical pen-and-paper signature exhibits inflexibility and an uninventive mindedness to the future of business practices.
The adoption of DrySign into these banking processes will prove to deliver significant and quantifiable results in terms of reduction in cost, speed of transaction completion, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Electronic signature solutions have been around for quite some time now; however, not all businesses have managed to incorporate this simple solution into their daily workflow. Most organizations talk about digital transformation and its benefits, but that transformation is impossible if document processes aren't automated, and if there is a constant dependency on paper-based practices.

Quick and easy-to-use, implementing electronic signature can help businesses instantly pave the way for paperless working. Besides being an environmentally sustainable solution, eSignature platforms not only help reduce time, effort, and costs, but also eliminate the need for businesses to store hundreds of paper documents, ultimately saving storage space.

Let's look at the top five industries that can significantly benefit from putting this technology into effect:

• Legal

Whether they are litigators or transactional lawyers, attorneys have an enormous dependency on filing paperwork and getting signatures. The implementation of the eSignature functionality can help relieve law firms from the overwhelming paper burden by digitizing the signature and document management process. Also, the elevated level of security that accompanies an electronic signature makes it easier for lawyers to have records and evidence available at all times.

• Insurance

The insurance sector is another such industry that has a high dependency on paperwork. With insurance firms relying on revenue and efficiency, convenience and ease of business is something that both consumers and insurance agents demand. Electronic signatures automate the process of document signing and management, enabling insurance agencies to provide better customer experience.

• Banking & Financial

One of the most significant advantages of a digital signature platform is that it makes it virtually impossible for documents to be forged or tampered with. Electronic signatures simplify document processes and reduce error rates, making it easier for banks and financial institutions to focus on building better customer relations. The adoption of an electronic signature platform that is compliant with the ESIGN ACT and UETA adds an extra layer of security, helping banking and financial institutions stay protected against fraud.

• Real Estate

The real estate industry relies heavily on a signature on the dotted line to close deals and simplify mortgage transactions. With the dependency being on getting signatures as fast as possible, the utilization of electronic signatures eliminates the need for agents to travel from one place to another to get clients to sign documents. By digitizing document processes, real estate industries reduce closing times by becoming faster and more efficient.

• Retail

The retail sector being highly competitive, has a greater dependency on customer satisfaction to drive revenue. By eliminating paper processes, retailers get rid of inefficiencies while dealing with vendors and simultaneously reduce the cumbersome process of managing paperwork for customers, ultimately providing better customer service.

In this digitization era, it's imperative for all industries to implement electronic signatures in their workflow. No organization is digitally transformed or completely paperless without the adoption of an eSignature platform.

Find out which DrySign plan works best for your business.

Even with the proliferation of technology and digitalization into our workspaces, several crucial departments are still held back by traditional, time-consuming processes. Take, for example, physical paper documentation. If there’s one thing that is a constant in different departments of any business, it’s paperwork – lots and lots of paperwork! For example, in HR, an executive could end up processing anywhere between 10 to 60 documents for the simple task of onboarding a new employee. Same for the sales team. Every pitch and subsequent sale contains contracts, MOUs, quotations, proposals, etc. The list is endless.

All these daily tasks require careful documentation, but printing, gathering signatures, and storing hard copies take up precious time and space, directly leading to confusion, loss of business hours, and the worst of all, productivity!

Similarly, there are many more reasons why a team’s productivity can drop considerably over time. Poor management, extreme stress, and burnout are some of the top causes for employees facing more than their fair share of challenges.

If increasing office productivity and employee efficiency are on your mind, you’re in the right place! Here are 5 essential tips to ensure that your team is high on productivity as well as morale:

Take time for planning

1 hour of planning can save 10 hours of doing! - Dale Carnegie

If to-do lists and post-its are your best friends, you are on the right path. But if you are not acquainted with the myriad advantages of planning, you must know that workload management for your team starts when you begin with a Group To-Do list. Working in tandem with your team and then executing your tasks as per priority is the best way to handle a tough day or week. Set priorities for yourself and your teams and ensure adherence to them. Whether you work in a highly charged environment like a lawyer’s office or a more structured and composed space like a School Principal’s office, having a well-planned day can increase your ability to perform at your best.

Pro-tips!

• Get behind your team and their goals.
• Set realistic but precise deadlines.
• Schedule planned downtimes for the team every few weeks so that work doesn’t become too tedious and overbearing.
• Adopt a cross-functional approach and ensure every team member is trained to take over in case of contingencies.

Also Read: Top Digital Trends to watch out for in Business!

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

The Art of Communication is the language of leadership! - James Humes

Whether a company opts to utilize email, face-to-face meetings, or even an SMS alert system, the important thing is for employers and leaders to practice effective and positive communication. Effective communication allows employees to get clear and definite instructions, enabling them to act according to what is expected of them. Improvement in accountability then increases productivity in the workplace. Efficient communication, which includes clear instructions, fast message delivery, and proper explanation, is the key to solid cooperation between managers and employees. It plays an eminent role in getting things done, ultimately increasing the department’s productivity.

Pro-Tips

• Create regular newsletters and inclusive conferences to share the latest updates of your achievements, performances, etc.
• Create a work culture that appreciates open communication and transparency.
• Ensure that inter-departmental communication is strong and open. If the Sales team of an office does not clearly communicate the need for high client spend budgets to the finance team, let’s say, for a month, you can bet that there will be delays in your reimbursement processes. Stressful for the sales rep and inefficient for the finance man!

Delegate and develop!

Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders. - Tom Peters

Identifying the strengths of your teams or employees goes a long way when it comes to handling the workload. Once you ascertain the strengths of your team members, dividing and delegating work should be an easy next step. Delegating empowers your team, builds trust, and assists with professional development. According to Harvey Mackay, founder of MackayMitchell Envelope Co., delegation gives you the chance to make workloads more manageable, but more than that, it can provide highly valuable teaching opportunities for your employees.

Pro Tips:

• Make sure the person you are delegating your work to understands why they are doing it and how they should go about it.
• Delegate a few minor tasks here and there and see how your team members handle them.
• Don’t forget about feedback!

Clean up that desk!

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. - Hans Hoffman

More often than not, you will find papers stacked at the front desk, piled around in the cubicles, shoved in drawers, tucked in cabinets, and stashed in storage closets around the office. Not only does this excessive paper use and practice of physical documentation leave your workspaces in disarray, but they are also expensive to manage and can considerably affect every employee’s efficiency scale. It’s no wonder that messy desks lead to stress, distractions, lower self-confidence, and reduced overall productivity. Studies show the average person wastes 4.3 hours per week searching for papers, which adds stress and frustration to the workplace while reducing concentration and creative thinking. You may think you’re not bothered by your overstuffed filing cabinets or the stacks of paper on your desk. But scientists at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute show that our brains like order, and that constant visual reminders of disorganization drain our cognitive resources and reduce our ability to focus. They also found that when clutter was cleared from their work environment, they were able to focus and process information better, and their productivity increased.

Pro Tips

• Marie Kondo your way through office decluttering. Organize a ‘Spring Cleaning Drive’
• Go paperless and introduce your team to DrySign e-signatures so that they don’t have to wait around for physical signatures from partners and clients.
• Incentivize cleaning - Give out annual or monthly awards to the best-looking home or office desk!

Inject technology to empower the team!

What new technology does is create new opportunities to do a job that customers want done - Tim O'Reilly

Technology is a beautiful thing, and it has come quite a long way over the years. One of the many things technology has done is increase business productivity. Turning over recurring and monotonous tasks to powerful computers increases productivity. It also reduces the chance of human error. What’s more, letting technology do the heavy lifting allows you and your employees to focus on core business tasks and revenue-generating activities. Never has there been a wider selection of technologies, apps, and programs to choose from that can reduce workload and increase productivity for you and your staff. Many successful businesses use applications for streamlining complex workflows and processes. They have features that ease repetitive and time-consuming tasks. These tech innovations have improved overall business ability to execute, pivot, and scale, and many of these technologies are still growing more efficient and innovative.

Pro Tip:

• Incorporate automation tools. Find tools that automate just about everything, from scheduling and bill pay to email responses and contact update lists.
• Take advantage of free trials and versions.
• Choose wisely when it comes to technology that can change the way you and your team work, for the better.

Reducing the workload and improving the efficiency of your team translates into direct gains and business growth. By adopting these techniques your office space and the team is sure to flourish and in return strengthen your business.

DrySign is a tool that can streamline and declutter your paper documentation and can be seamlessly integrated into your process workflows. There is no need to train your team on how to use the solutions and expend even more resources. A super user-friendly e-signature solution, DrySign allows you to sign, upload, send and receive important documents in minutes, from anywhere, anytime.

Why just sign when you can DrySign!

If you want to know more about DrySign and its role in improving productivity, click here.

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Digital transformation is taking over the business world with the vast majority of businesses already engaged in planning or launching initiatives. Using electronic signatures is among the simplest and most cost-effective ways to begin transitioning to a digital business model. Here are six of the best reasons for using e-signatures:

Money savings

•  Direct

In the U.S., offices use about 12.1 trillion sheets of paper a year. Much is wasted on printing documents no one ever reads. E-signatures allow you to close transactions without printing, copying, faxing, or otherwise transporting a single page. This translates into direct savings on paper, ink, and printing equipment. In addition, e-signatures enable location-agnostic business transactions, thus eliminating travel costs altogether.

• Indirect

Ideally, an e-signature platform is more than just a place to affix your e-signature. For example, Exela’s DrySignâ also provides secure storage of e-signed documents in searchable format that is accessible from any internet-connected device. Secure, searchable online storage means you will need less office “real estate” to record retention. It also means less time spent searching for documents, including for compliance purposes (time is money).

Time savings

Transacting business via electronic signature is not the same as teleporting or traveling through time. However, it is the closest you can get, at present, to being in two places at once. For example, DrySign allows you to review, sign, and deliver a document while waiting in line at the DMV or waiting for a doctor’s appointment. In other words, you virtually can be in two places at once.

Environmental sustainability

Relying on paper to conduct business forces our reliance on many other things besides paper and ink. For example, it forces us to rely on printing equipment, electricity for printing equipment, writing utensils, paper cutters, scissors, and scanners. All such things must be manufactured, run, maintained, and eventually disposed of. So, whatever you are spending on printing, it is costing our planet’s resources as well. Accordingly, adopting e-signatures benefits not just you and your business, but also, the planet.

Enhanced security

Electronic signatures powered by digital signature technology are more secure than handwritten ones. They contain traceable data as to who signed a document, when, and even where they signed it. Therefore, digital-signature-enabled electronic signatures reduces the possibility for forgery and other forms of fraud. It even reduces the possibility of mistakes (i.e., digital pages will not go missing or  may not be inadvertently changed or swapped out for older versions), providing an extra layer of security paper and pen can’t compete with.

Ease of administration

E-signatures can go a long way towards eliminating administrative headaches. For example, DrySign lets you send automated notifications to signatories and track the status of signatures—all without delay - or paper cuts.

Optimized business

Because e-signatures reduce the amount of time it takes to close transactions, they can also speed up the payment cycle. An added bonus of DrySign is that because it enables digital storage of your documents, it can streamline the payment process through the lifecycle of your contracts. Enabling secure, searchable, digital ingestion and archive storage, DrySign sets you up for optimizing your business through business process automation.

For more information on what DrySign can do for you and your business, be sure to check out https://drysign.exelatech.com/

We, as humans, are obsessed with choice. Ever since our days of hunter-gathering, we have been hardwired to pick only the best of what is available. Our survival instincts were probably at their strongest at the time, and we could not afford to die by a mere stale berry or a rotten piece of meat. Even today, when we go out shopping for clothes or groceries, we make sure we take our time to pick the best of what is available. We do this subconsciously. So why not learn today how to pick the best digital signature provider and look for subtle details while choosing them?

INTEGRITY

When it comes to digital signatures, integrity is ensuring that a user’s signature is tied to the version of the document they are looking at while the signing happens. Also, the documents must remain the same once they are done signing. If in case the documents are tampered with after signing, the digital signature provider must have the ability to provide strong tamper evidence for those documents.

AUDIT TRAILS

This is one of the most important features to look for while choosing a digital signature provider. An audit trail is simply a feature that keeps a log of every action that the signers perform on every document in each transaction. Audit trails give the user a detailed track of everything that happened in each transaction. It would help if you also enquired more about how this information is stored and how safe it is from tampering.

LONGTERM VALIDITY

Paper signatures are valid forever. Take the US Declaration of Independence as an example. The entire declaration was written on a piece of paper and signed by 56 signers 245 years ago. That document is still valid and honored today. This is what digital signatures must provide – a method based on standards that can help prove the document’s validity not just today but even in the years to come.

ASSOCIATION

Association is nothing but a method that proves that the signature must be linked to the data or record being signed. You must understand beforehand whether or not the digital signature provider provides a method that permanently embeds the signature in the document or simply attaches an image of the signature on the document. The absence of this method is one of the primary causes of forgery.

Also read: The ESIGN Act and the UETA under the Microscope

INTENT OF SIGNATURE

This is yet another essential feature to look out for. While going through the signing process, digital signature providers must make sure that the signers go through enough deliberate steps to complete their signing. This clearly indicates the intention to sign.

NOTICE OF CONSENT

Digital signature laws in some countries require the signers to understand that they are engaging in a digital signature process before they start the process. This allows them to either continue or opt-out. Signers should be able to opt-out if they wish to. This feature helps avoid unintended signatures, especially in the elderly population, which are unfamiliar with modern computerized technology.

IDENTITY AUTHENTICATION

Don’t overlook this feature while choosing a digital signature provider. Signers must prove their identity through a government-recognized 3rd party authenticator or by sharing personally identifiable information and proofs of that information within the digital signature application or website. This feature is important because it ties the signature with the person who signed it and is available for all to see even after the signing process is complete.

DrySign is a highly sophisticated digital signature provider that incorporates all the above-mentioned features right into the application. From robust audit trails to lifetime validity, DrySign has you covered from all vulnerabilities. Try it out for free.

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Have you ever wondered what would happen if you accidentally signed a contract under the influence of alcohol? Would the contract still be valid? The answer is a bit tricky. History is replete with hilarious instances of people doing unbelievable things while being under the influence of substances. Imagine yourself having a wild night out with your colleagues at an office party. There’s always one person in the group who has never had alcohol before but ultimately gives in to peer pressure and tries a drink. As the night progresses, one glass becomes two, and two becomes three. Before anyone realizes, things are spiraling out of control and nobody remembers what that person was up to while the rest were partying. What if a stranger approached him and wooed him into signing something that might have disastrous consequences? For all you know, he might have accidentally outsourced an entire department’s work to an unknown agency or agreed to sell out his shares to this stranger! A tragic mishap like this could destroy the company’s brand image and cost them a fortune to rectify the wrongs. As bizarre as these instances may sound, they do happen. Here’s an example:

The Lucy-Zehmer case

Back in 1954, the Supreme Court of Virginia witnessed a historic case (Lucy - plaintiff v. Zehmer – defendant, 196 Va. 493; 84 S.E.2d 516 (1954)) that found its way into law books – a classic example of how intoxication affects a contract. 

There was a land spanning over 471.6 acres called the Ferguson Farm, belonging to a couple, the Zehmers. A man named Mr. Lucy, an acquaintance of Mr. Zehmer, expressed his interest in purchasing the farm for $20,000. Mr. Zehmer backed out of the deal after thinking it through. Later, during one of his outings with Mr. Zehmer, Mr. Lucy approached him for the second time to purchase the property for $50,000. After few rounds of drinks, both the parties signed a contract making Mr. Lucy the farm owner. However, when it came to enforcing the contract, Mr. Zehmer claimed that he was joking when he agreed to sell the farm. It was then Mr. Lucy decided to sue the other party and enforce the contract. The verdict was in favor of the plaintiff, seeing how the court and the attorneys concluded that the defendant was not intoxicated enough to invalidate the contract.

In this case, it is observed that the mental assessment or the parties’ intentions beyond the contract have not been deemed relevant during the formation of the contract.

What does the law state in such cases?

In legal terms, every contract consists of an offer, the terms of the agreement, meeting of minds, and consideration so that the court can enforce them if either of the parties sues the other. In such cases, the point to be noted is that the intoxicated party might not fully understand the terms of the agreement and hence render the contract void. As a result, the party may defend by stating undue influence, coercion, or misrepresentation. This does not necessarily mean that any party can back out of the contract after signing it while claiming to be intoxicated.

Although after claiming to be impaired, it’s not like the other party is rendered defenseless. Likely, the other party might also have suffered a loss as a consequence of signing the contract. In such cases, the other party can exercise “quasi-contractual claims” stating that the contract was signed in good faith.

Also read: How to Deal with Signature Forgery?

Digital Signatures – the solution to this problem

The factors that affect the court’s decision are based on the circumstances under which the contract is signed. If such a situation arises, the first step would be to lawyer up. However, there’s another solution that is far more efficient in preventing such situations in the first place – digital signatures! 

Digital signature software makes it virtually impossible to log in and sign the document while being intoxicated. These ingenious applications come with secure logins that require serious motor skills, presence of mind, and precision – all of which are next to impossible to come by when one is intoxicated. To sum it up, signing contracts while being impaired can turn out to be a taxing procedure with dire consequences. The only way to avoid it is to eliminate paper-based workflow and implement a digital signature solution.

Sources:

https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/is-a-contract-valid-if-i-signed-while-drunk-36845

https://study.com/academy/lesson/incapacity-contracts-joint-obligation-contracts-with-intoxicated-persons.html

https://www.mondaq.com/uk/contracts-and-commercial-law/722770/are-drunken-contracts-binding

https://tuplerlaw.com/is-contract-signed-while-impaired-valid/

https://www.lawyers.com/ask-a-lawyer/entertainment-law/is-a-contract-still-valid-if-it-was-signed-under-the-influence-of-alcohol-1631465.html

https://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/contracts/contracts-keyed-to-murphy/the-bargain-relationship/lucy-v-zehmer-2/

https://onlinelaw.wustl.edu/blog/case-study-lucy-v-zehmer/

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Picture yourself enjoying your day-off or a vacation, and suddenly you find out that your signature is being used to sign up for a policy, sign off a QA report for the pilot batch of a prototype drug, or even sign a set of forged release papers! The consequences in such cases could be dire beyond imagination. We are looking at the unauthorized release of wrong medication, corporate espionage scenarios, and even potential prison breaks. As bizarre and unlikely as it may sound, signature forgeries are more common than we think. However, there are ways you can reduce the damage to a certain extent and deal with the mess in the best possible manner.

Step #1 – Report the incident

In most cases, the ripple effect of your forged signatures can be felt within a short period. Either way, your first step should be to inform the signing parties and authorities. This gives the signing parties some room for damage control. Depending upon the nature of the contract with your forged signature, there is a specific time limit before which you must report the forgery. For example, a fraudulent bank transaction can be annulled within 60 days. Reporting the incident as soon as possible helps the authorities to quickly narrow down on the culprit while the trail is comparatively fresh.

Step #2 – Sign an affidavit

After reporting the incident, you may have to sign an affidavit confirming that your signature has been forged and stating your intent to annul the effects and implications of the contract. It will also help the recipient to investigate the matter from their side further. The affidavit will relinquish the signing parties of any responsibilities mentioned in the contract, thus saving their time and effort.

Step #3 – Keep your legal team in the loop

The other signing party may likely try to sue you when you cannot fulfill the conditions mentioned in the contract with your forged signature. In that case, your legal team should be ready and prepared with all the facts regarding the incident. Besides your legal team, you may also want to seek help from a handwriting expert who might be able to affirm that your signature is forged.

Also read: Signature Forgery: Enhancing Transparency and Security with Digital Signatures

What happens to the contract?

After reporting the incident of signature forgery, the contract is rendered void. The critical point to be noted in this scenario is that being “void” is different than being “voidable.” The key difference lies in enforceability. In this context, the party that has its signature forged is called the injured party. In case of a voidable contract, the injured party gets to decide whether to maintain the contract or rescind it, meaning that the enforceability rests in the injured party’s hands. But in the case of a void contract, it cannot be enforced by either of the two parties.

Digital Signatures – the smartest way to avoid signature forgeries

The only solution to this problem statement is to move your signing process online. Digital signature solutions are built like cyber fortresses. These applications keep unauthorized users at bay while keeping the distribution of sensitive documents and contracts in check with all the detailed logs. With digital signatures, users can benefit from a plethora of safety features such as:

• Passwords, verification codes, and Personal identification numbers (PINs) – These options work as full-proof measures to authenticate the identity and approval of the signer.


• Validation from Certifying Authorities (CA) – CA’s are trusted certifying authorities that authenticate and issue digital certificates and verify websites or organizations you communicate with online.


• Digital signature laws – Various countries have their own laws and regulations that make digital signatures enforceable and legally binding.


• Audit trails – Powerful audit trails help digital signatures enhance their traceability and internal record-keeping, leaving no scope for errors.

Sources:

https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/effect-of-forgery-on-a-contract-37071

https://www.upcounsel.com/false-signature-on-contract

https://www.sapling.com/10004817/somebody-signs-signature-you

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The world produces 300 million tons of paper annually, out of which 45% ultimately ends up in the trash! But the future need not be laden with massive heaps and landfills of paper waste. Instead, may we see one that is greener and smarter with minimal paper usage. If you’re wondering how we’re going to get there, the answer is simple – digitization. Countries world over have started giving up paper-based workflows & processes, while initiating the transition to efficient, digital counterparts.

How badly do we need digitization?

This might not feel like the eleventh hour, but in reality, we would be rapidly nearing it if we continue resorting to our current paper usage. In the U.S. alone, over 68 million trees are used to produce paper. An average person from the USA, Japan, and Europe uses 250-300 kilograms of paper every year. Speaking of paper wastage in offices, an average office employee uses around 10,000 sheets of paper every year. These are some stats we don’t want to carry forward into the future.

Also read: Guide to Going Paperless with DrySign

How does going paperless helpful?

Apart from saving costs associated with paper and stationery, going paperless also helps companies save on infrastructural costs. By moving your document storage online, you are practically getting rid of a roomful of cabinets and the efforts & time required to store, preserve, and search for documents manually. In doing so, we are looking at a potential saving of 1.4 trillion pounds of paper every year which roughly translates to 728,000 trees. Systems like digital signatures and cloud-based document management platforms play a significant role in helping companies go paperless. Opting for such smart solutions is definitely a step in the right direction.

How to go paperless?

The notion of printing documents to get them signed is on the verge of extinction. Looking at the exponential growth in digitization, signing and storing documents online is going to become the norm. With digital signatures, traditional processes like printing, scanning, and shipping documents will be drastically reduced, thereby helping companies go paperless. This is how e-signature solutions are paving the path for a greener, paperless, and smarter tomorrow.

Now that the foundation for the paperless mission is laid, it’s time to build on it. Let’s get started with DrySign, a digital signature platform that goes beyond ticking all the right boxes when it comes to legality, usability, and functionality. It’s simple to use and even simpler to register. For a greener and brighter tomorrow, now is the time to go paperless. Go digital with DrySign.

Sources:

https://www.igyaan.in/8972/how-many-gb-does-your-average-filing-cabinet-hold/

https://www.recordnations.com/2016/02/how-much-paper-is-used-in-one-day/

https://mydatascope.com/blog/en/how-much-paper-waste-is-costing-your-business/

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