COVID-19 outbreak: eIDAS electronic signatures to the rescue
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we behave, interact, work and spend time outdoors. It has also affected businesses at large, which now turn to digital technologies to keep their activities running. Unsurprisingly, the requests for eIDAS electronic signatures have also taken off. Why are they so essential in overcoming the current business challenges caused by the pandemic?
Concluding deals and contracts when working remotely is the norm
Signing documents is one of the most recurrent and important process in every business. Even in normal conditions, the entire process is already time-consuming, requiring printing, making amends, exchanging with all signers, mailing. This becomes even more challenging when signers work remotely and need to avoid physical contact as much as possible. Using electronic signatures, physical presence is no longer required to sign documents. You can sign documents wherever you are, on every device. Not only does this limit the spread of the virus, but also enables business to continue sealing deals, thus bringing income.
In addition, electronic signatures simplify and accelerate the signing process, allowing signers to focus more on those things that bring more value to the company. They are also a key component of a fully digital customer journey that creates a positive experience right from the beginning. Ultimately, the underlying advantage is that e-signatures contribute heavily to lowering fraud attempts. In fact, a strong electronic signature applied according to regulatory requirements (eIDAS regulation in EU) provides a high level of assurance over the identity of the signer. It will also be able to detect whether the content of the document has been modified in any way after signature.
What would you need to start using eIDAS electronic signatures at company level?
First, you need an eIDAS certified signing platform that allows you to apply e-signatures. This can be in SaaS mode or delivered on premises. The former is faster to implement and can represent a viable solution if you need to quickly get the things going in your company. The latter presents a higher degree of security. At LuxTrust we offer both. COSI, our eIDAS e-signatures platform, can be implemented on premises via API. It can also work in cloud mode, if timing is a pressing issue. You can check its other functionalities here.
Secondly, you need to equip everyone who is supposed to sign documents on behalf of or within your company with a digital identity. Usually, this process requires a face-to-face interaction to confirm the identity of each of the signers. At LuxTrust, we can propose an equivalent way of doing this, through video identification. The process is certified and recognised. So, no one has to travel and meet in persons the operators.
Once quipped with the right tools, e-signatures are very simple to use. To learn more, we invite you to check our LuxTrust webinar channel. Here you will have access to all our latest webinars explaining e-signatures, but also other eIDAS services es such as the timestamping service, the electronic seal or the e-signature validation service. Enjoy the viewing!