How to Choose the Right Digital Signature for Your Business

Digital signatures have become an essential tool in business, especially in small to medium businesses. Not only do they streamline the business process, they also cut down costs and reduce time spent on administrative tasks.

With the amount of options available for digital signatures in the market, selecting the right one for your business could be time-consuming. This article provides comprehensive criteria for digital signature providers to help you choose the best one.

Table of Contents

What is a Digital Signature?

A digital signature validates and verifies the authenticity of a digital document. The use of a digital signature ensures that the data and information provided come from a credible and correct source.

In addition, digital signatures have several other functions, such as:

Ensures security and authenticity even across borders, preventing data leaks.
If a dispute arises, electronic evidence may be used in court.

Criteria to Consider

There are several criteria to consider before selecting the best vendor to meet your specific e-signature requirements. The first step is to determine your needs.

You can start with these questions:

What types of documents do you need to sign digitally? Contracts, tax forms, enrollment documents, HR paperwork, and invoices are some examples.
How are workflows for paper-based signing currently managed? Do they use fax machines, mail, face-to-face meetings, etc.?
How many documents are sent and how many signatures are needed each month? Is there any seasonal variation?
Which experiences do you wish to facilitate for signers? Desktop signing, mobile signing, remote in-person signing?
How soon do you need documents that have been signed returned? Are there deadlines for compliance to take into account?
What techniques will you require for identity verification or signer authentication?
In terms of document storage on vendor platforms, what data privacy requirements do you wish to have?
Will it take years for signatures to be validated? Do short-term signatures suffice?
Which current workflows and systems—such as billing and CRM systems—need to be integrated?

Tips on Selecting the Right Provider

The right digital signature app can streamline processes and enhance efficiency, while the wrong one may lead to negative outcomes. The provider forms the most critical aspect of your digital signature solution. Factors such as credibility, reliability, and track record need careful consideration.

Here are some key considerations to evaluate your digital signature providers:

1. Understanding Your Business Needs

Make sure that you understand the requirements for your business and evaluate every possible use case across your organization. E-signature should be placed where they can generate the most impact in your business.

Use cases and requirements may vary depending on the type of business you have, whether it is business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), or any other type of business.

2. Prioritize Authority, Security, and Compliance

A signature is typically considered a mark that ensures the legality of documents. When selecting an e-signature app, legal compliance, security, and availability need to be the ultimate considerations to ensure it adheres to relevant regulations, which are different in every country.

E-signature app usually provides various compliances for numerous legislations, such as the eSign Act, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), eIDAS, and other regulatory legislation.

Additionally, ensure that the e-signature app has features such as audit trails and secure authentication methods to guarantee the legality of your signatures. Prioritizing this aspect keeps your transactions safe, providing peace of mind in your digital dealings.

3. Platform Reliability and Performance

E-signature platform should be readily available at all times. In choosing an electronic signature platform, make sure that you ask the corresponding team about the historical uptime metrics and if any backup infrastructure is provided.

Additionally, you should also ask for security precautions such as encryption, audits, authentications, and most importantly, whether the provider has complied with ISO regulations.

Ready to Choose?

The best e-signature platform is the one that can streamline processes and improve efficiency. Pick a provider that checks all the boxes above. We also recommend taking advantage of a free trial period or sandbox account if needed, so you can get first-hand experience for which tools work best for you.

Mekari Sign is an e-signature provider from Indonesia that offers globally recognized digital signatures and Indonesian legal compliance. Supported by its incredible features such as bulk signing, e-Meterai, templates, and others, Mekari Sign has been used by thousands of users ranging from various industries and sizes. It offers free trial and sanbox to be used which can be accessed here.

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