Digital signatures are a revolution in the digital world. Shifting from the traditional paper-pen method to electronic format, digital signatures allow validating and authenticating documents remotely. Given the uncertainty posed by the pandemic crisis, organizations across the globe have been looking for alternatives to physical signatures.
And it is now that the importance of digital signatures has risen to a new height, becoming more important than it ever was. To put it this way, the crisis has expedited the acceptance as well as the adoption of tools as for example CocoSign, promoting digital signatures.
While the impact of digital signatures has been phenomenal and across all sectors, the financial industry seems to benefit the most. This article will outline the prominent advantages of digital signatures in the financial sector.
Digital Signatures in the Financial Industry
Digital Signatures are cost-effective
The first and most obvious advantage of using digital signatures is eliminating the need for paperwork. Since all of the documents are created and shared online, the financial department is relieved of the need to print documents, save them, or maintain for the future.
All of this reduces the overall cost and expenses incurred by the organization. Online tools allow you to sign a document in a minute without having to scan and print them for the same further cutting down unwanted expenses. Hence, digital signatures tend to be cost-effective.
Digital Signatures help build customer trust
When trading through paper documents, there lies the possibility of losing out on information or the signature being forged or tampering the same. This is one of the reasons why organizations have been skeptical about the process and had to be super vigilant when making the move.
Digital Signatures, on the other hand, are transferred electronically and protected via robust security protocols. This reduces the possibility of forging documents, helping you build trust and gain customer confidence.
Digital Signatures are security-rich
Apart from the fact that digital signatures are routed over the web, reducing the possibility of forging documents, they also follow certain protocols enhancing the overall security.
To begin with, they support multi-factor authentication methods, ensuring that the document is passed through stringent steps before being accessible to the user. This way all of the sensitive information of the organization is protected and kept private. Under no circumstances will the same be revealed to unauthorized users.
Digital Signatures accelerate transaction time
Relying on the manual processes, you need to wait for days before getting the final document. Imagine opening an account in the bank. The customer would first visit the bank, spend some time there knowing about the policies. The customer would then fill-up the form and sign the necessary documents.
If by chance, the executive at the counter fails to get all the documents signed or needs additional information, he/she would then need to ask the customer to revisit the bank to complete the process. This adds to the completion time of a transaction.
Now imagine the same happens for thousands of customers. On the flip side, electronic signatures reduce the time by giving customers the ease to validate documents remotely. All that a customer needs to do is browse through the application and done.
Digital Signatures are traceable
Another fascinating feature and an excellent advantage of using digital signatures in the financial industry is their accountability. Staying updated on the process is one thing that is not practically possible when it comes to paper documents.
However, with online tools that facilitate digital signatures both the concerning parties have access to the document and any changes made in the document are visible. Irrespective of where you are and what device you are using, digital signature tools can be effectively used to trace the document and stay updated on the status of the same.
Conclusion
Having said all of the above, it is pretty clear that digital signatures aren’t a choice but a necessity for every organization, let alone the ones in the financial sector. The sudden outbreak of the virus forced organizations to move their infrastructure to the cloud, paving way for remote culture. Digital Signatures has emerged as a game-changer allowing industries to continue running their business, connect, and collaborate with clients remotely.
About the author: Shivanshi Srivastava writes about innovative digital solutions and their impact on different industries, with a goal to help businesses in utilizing technologies right. Shivanshi Srivastava can be reached at: s4cca@gmail.com
