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DIGITAL SIGNATURES
38
Sign of the times
Qualified approval
New research suggests consumer demand is driving the uptake of digital signatures
A separate survey by Adobe
shows growing interest in
digital signatures, despite
some reservations
The research reveals growing
dissatisfaction amongst consumers for
traditional communication methods and
for businesses that rely on them:
n
62% of consumers don’t feel
comfortable sending important or sensitive
paper documents through the post; two in
five have had a document lost in the post
in the last 12 months;
n
59% of consumers believe that
organisations using legacy processes, such
as paper forms, are outdated compared to
their peers that are digital; and
n
57% of consumers would choose to
interact with companies that offer digital
methods of completing transactions over
those that stick to paper-based processes.
While executives lag slightly behind
consumers in the move to digital, they
are starting to recognise its importance
to their own customers and the future of
their businesses, with 85% citing digital
transformation as a top priority for their
organisations.
The top three areas of business that
C-level executives aim to improve by going
digital are all customer-centric:
n
52% are looking to digital to improve
their Customer Relationship Management
(CRM);
n
51% are focused on enhancing customer
service through digital means; and
n
46% are aiming to improve client
satisfaction and the client experience with
digital technologies.
Despite their intentions many
businesses still face obstacles to digital
adoption, including lack of funding (46%)
and the need to modify infrastructure before
implementation (54%).
There is also evidence of poor
planning and collaboration, with 44%
of senior decision-makers undertaking
digital projects without consulting their
IT departments. Only 29% of business
leaders have had a digital project proceed
without red tape from another department
Almost all executives (92%) agree that
their organisation could be doing more to
go digital and as a result, more and more
organisations are creating chief digital
officer roles to drive collaboration and
success across departments.
Digital methods of doing
business are no longer
viewed as a ‘nice to have’
by consumers or business
professionals but as an
absolute necessity, with
almost 90% of consumers
wanting the option to complete
transactions digitally.
This is one of the core findings of new
research commissioned by DocuSign, the
pioneer and global standard for eSignature
and Digital Transaction Management
(DTM). The research, available in the
eBook,
What do your customers expect?
,
also reveals that more than 60% of C-Level
executives expect businesses to offer
digital options for completing transactions.
Scott Olrich, chief strategy and marketing
officer at DocuSign, said: “If companies
aren’t already going digital to accelerate the
process of doing business internally, they
need to do so for their customers. Today’s
consumers demand the ease, speed and
convenience of doing business digitally, and
if your organisation doesn’t, they will find a
modern business that does.”
Despite the abundance of new
technologies at our disposal and
frustration with of traditional paper-
based processes, Brits still have an
emotional attachment to handwritten
signatures, reveals new research by
Adobe Document Cloud.
In its survey of 2,002 UK consumers,
86% claimed that signing documents still
holds a huge sense of importance to them
when it comes to giving their consent and
proving their identity.
However, there are signs that people are
becoming more open to the use of digital
signatures, with 49% saying they would be
comfortable using digital or e-signatures in
the future.
The digital
what do your customers expect?
business:
Of those who said they would be open to
using e-signatures:
34%
say using e-signatures is
less time consuming;
31%
like the convenience of not
needing to find a pen;
29%
think e-signatures will help
them approve things on any
device; and
28%
think e-signatures will help
them approve things on
the move, across multiple
devices.
Over a quarter of respondents said
e-signatures could be good for signing
contracts and official work documents
(28%) with a further 27% saying they
could be used to give another level of
authentication on the goods they purchase.
A further 16% said that using e-signatures
could save themselves and their employer
money.
Even so, Adobe’s survey shows that
people still have reservations about using
e-signatures:
38%
feel e-signatures can be
easily copied;
36%
don’t think they are secure;
and
26%
say they are untrustworthy
because people don’t check
them properly.
These findings support another recent
European study from Adobe Document
Cloud highlighting the fact that office
workers currently waste significant amounts
of time on office admin, with almost one
day a week being devoted to everyday tasks
(average 6.8 hours). More than six out of ten
European workers (61%) said that chasing
signatures was adding to their frustration.
Three quarters (77%) of UK workers say
that the technology is extremely valuable in
helping to achieve higher productivity and
freeing up time.
More than six billion digital and
electronic signature transactions are
processed through Document Cloud each
year, using Adobe Sign to electronically sign
and send documents from any device.
