Living immersed in the digital world has seen tasks we perform online become increasingly challenging from a security point of view. In the last few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many businesses, to adapt to a more digitalised way of getting through their day-to-day activities.
According to the CEO of LAWtrust, Maeson Maherry, as South Africa moves towards the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), the ability to conclude agreements electronically and on the go is becoming more important.
“To unlock the potential digital solutions offered in terms of improved efficiency and cost savings, businesses should consider using electronic signatures (eSignature) to sign contracts and approve transactions,” says Maherry.
Digital signatures use a standard, accepted format, called Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), to provide the highest levels of security and universal acceptance. They are a specific signature technology implementation of eSignature.
“Advanced eSignatures carry the highest trust and are considered to be very reliable signatures. These types of signatures are good for signing sensitive documents and in order to be issued with these, the signer is required to pass through face-to-face identity verification,” adds Maherry.
Even though digital signatures are still not widely used within business processes, they offer numerous benefits such as increased productivity, cost and time efficiency, as well as enhanced overall customer experience.
“Businesses need to consider eSignatures not just as sophistication but as both an essential security feature and a tool of the future — a sign of the changes to come.” concludes Maherry.
The tools to help businesses seamlessly operate remotely, on a large-scale and permanent basis, are here; all that remains is for them to make use of them.
