A Digital eSignature Tool (DST) provides the ability to capture a signature in a secure manner using something called cryptography. Depending on your location, these digital signatures can be legally binding, as long as both parties have given consent. These solutions speed up the process of signing contracts and documents and help you track progress; they also ensure the authenticity of the signer.
We recommend comparing at least three products, each having at least the following features:
1 – Top 10 features
- Identity authentication – signers should be required to provide validation to prove who they are to ensure the right person is signing.
- Task progress and changes tracking – ask for the ability to track where all contracts are in the process at any time, with the ability to cancel a contract or replace a signer at any time.
- Data Integrity – The DST is able to prove that the contract has not been modified since signing.
- Document Storage – gives you the ability to collect, upload, store, and share documents in a central location.
- Mobile Signature Capture – the ability to use on all devices including mobile.
- Audit Trail / Document Analytics – allows you to collect data on the entire signing process from the signer’s email address, device IP to document fingerprint and timestamp, tracking each transaction, documenting evidence of the entire process.
- Customisable templates and branding – ability to customise the document workflow with your logo and branding.
- Reminders and notifications
- Ease of use
- Multiple users – allows multi-party signing, which means that you can share documents with multiple users and collect multiple signatures in a chosen order or simultaneously.
2 – Scalability
The tool needs to be scalable and cost-effective as your business grows, if not, it must be easy to cancel the contract.
3 – Ongoing support
You should be able to access support either via email, phone, or live chat. If the tool is hosted, your vendor should have an availability SLA. Ensure that they do not require you to have an ongoing contract to validate signatures.
4 – Security
Whether it’s your own or your client’s data, data should be encrypted and password-protected. Also, look for Single Sign-On capability (SSO) and multi-factor authentication.
5 – Cloud vs on-premise
With a cloud version, you don’t need a server or technical expertise at your premises. All the data will reside on the vendor’s server. With an on-premise model (server resides on your premises), you own the software and it is physically hosted by you on your hardware. You have direct access to the servers, and the contracts and documents are stored on your devices. There are no recurring subscription charges, however, this model incurs higher upfront costs.
6 – Integration
Ensure the tool integrates with your existing infrastructure or has an API (Application Programming Interface) solution for integration.
7 – Vendor assessment
Ask about the company stability, reputation, get references, and understand the adoption rate. Request a demo and test drive a free trial.
8 – Total cost of ownership
Weigh up the initial investment and ongoing costs to your business, including implementation, updates and maintenance. Setup should be fast and simple without extensive training. Watch out for expensive plans, or lock-in contracts.
9 – Ownership of data
If the software and data are hosted in a cloud environment, the ownership of the data becomes more important. Ask the vendor if they will have access to your customers’ data, and who will retain the data when you cancel the subscription.
10 – Legal compliance
Obtaining consent before using digital signatures is a legal requirement, especially in the event of a dispute. Ask the supplier for their GDPR clause. Evaluate the purpose and location of your contract and confirm that a digital signature would be legally acceptable.
