Boost HR agility – Simplifying and speeding remote work with e-signatures.

The impact of the global pandemic on businesses revealed inefficiencies in outdated processes and highlighted the benefits of digital transformation. There are still many organisations using paper-based document processes that are slow, cumbersome and difficult to manage. In addition, they are highly insecure and vulnerable to fraud. Digital document processes, in particular E-signatures, have a critical role to play in an organisation’s digital transformation journey; as well as assisting in improved business resilience and continuity.

Over the past year we have seen businesses across industries including Alphabet, Nedbank, Twitter and PwC shifting to a hybrid remote work model. This decentralised structure makes adopting tools that streamline workflows and improve efficiencies more important than ever. The implementation of automated digital processes impacts almost all aspects of business from speeding up hiring or procurement processes, to helping close deals faster. A powerful and integrated e-signature solution delivers streamlined performance, robust security and enhanced document management. Adobe Sign is an enterprise class e-signature service that is scalable and compliant, allowing you to send, sign, track and manage the process using a browser or mobile device.

E-signature services are gaining rapid traction and adoption with organisations across Africa as we begin to understand the process and legality behind them. Electronic signature is a broad term referring to any electronic process that indicates acceptance of an agreement or a record. Typical e-signature solutions use common electronic authentication methods to verify signer identity, such as an email address, a corporate ID, or a phone PIN. With Adobe Sign, multiple authentication methods can be applied to guarantee the identity of people signing documents.

Moving to digital signatures can deliver incredible benefits for your business, like reducing document handling costs by up to 85% and an average decrease in processing errors of 90%. Adobe Sign can help organisations realise a massive 420% ROI and is on average 28 times faster than paper-based processes.

Benefits of Adobe Sign

• Improved Efficiency – through scalable automation of signing and approval workflows and real-time visibility;
• Increased Satisfaction – by delivering a solution that is accessible and easy to use for both customers and employees; and
• Enhanced Security & Compliance – by using trusted, verified, and validated e-signatures and automated processes that reduce the risk of human error.

As part of the Acrobat DC family, Adobe Sign helps you rapidly facilitate end-to-end document workflows – organisations can benefit from the most comprehensive integration into Microsoft 365 applications. Recognised by Microsoft as its preferred e-signature solution, and the 2021 winner of Microsoft’s Partner of the Year award for Modern Work & Security.

As a consequence of this collaboration, Adobe Sign is now fully integrated into Microsoft Teams – allowing users to create, share, review and sign documents from inside Microsoft Teams. With the new integration into the Approvals app users can quickly and securely add Adobe Sign e-signatures to documents that need to be approved — directly inside Approvals in Teams. They can also easily access and manage all e-signatures and other approval requests in a secure, authenticated, and auditable way.

The transition to digital document processes can come up against some resistance, but the reality is that making the switch is easier than one expects and well worth it. Businesses of all sizes and across industries have recognised the ease and impact of implementing Adobe Sign e-signatures on business processes and customer satisfaction.

BT Group is one of the UK’s biggest telecommunications and network providers delivering customer solutions in 180 countries. “With Adobe Sign, our average turnaround time for contracts has gone from 28 days to seven hours. Customer satisfaction is going up because turnaround is so much faster.” Andrea Swann – Global Admin Lead, BT.

“Adobe Sign improves the experience for our sales people, it makes their lives much simpler and they can spend more time working with customers, which improves customer experiences even further,” continues Swann.

ITV is the largest commercial television network in the UK, reaching over 30 million viewers a week. Having implemented Adobe Sign across their business, Group Technology Director, Joanne Coll, notes that remote signing is hugely beneficial for members of senior leadership who can quickly and securely sign documents online.

“Working with Adobe Sign has been a game changer particularly in the context of virtual and remote working,” says Coll. “No need to ‘catch me’ at my desk to get a document signed and it’s quick and easy to do from my laptop or mobile, wherever I’m working,” continues Coll.

A recent study by Aberdeen reflects these statements and shows how HR departments that use e-signatures onboard new employees 4x faster than their competition. Read the study for more insight and see how e-signatures can support today’s workforce.

Dax Data is running a Proof of Value programme designed to help you evaluate Adobe Sign. Email sales@daxdata.co.za or visit www.daxdata.co.za/adobe-sign/ to get started.

Jeremy Matthews is CEO of Dax Data.