Predictions for Electronic Signature Growth

We’re in the midst of an electronic signature craze. With businesses moving to the cloud at a rapid pace and people settling into remote offices, e-signature has swiftly become a necessary tool in the new digital workplace. As the new year begins, it’s a good idea to assess how your company handles signatures and consider new ways to expand. Here we will see some of the Predictions for Electronic Signature Growth.
Wesignature has looked at the recent expansion of e-signature and examined current trends. We’ve compiled a list of seven predictions for the future of e-signature in 2022 and beyond.
1. E-signature will no longer be a nice-to-have option; it will be a required feature.
Businesses have altered dramatically in the previous two years to retain continuity and accommodate customers in new situations. For many teams aiming to transition to remote-friendly operations, e-signature was a simple first step. We found that 95 percent of firms use e-signature now or plan to use it in the future, according to study conducted by Wesignature in 2021. Furthermore, two-thirds of businesses who use e-signature have only done so in the previous two years. In a nutshell, e-signature has taken off. It’s now all over the place. Organizations who continue to use antiquated signing procedures will lose a significant competitive advantage.
What does this entail for people who utilize electronic signatures? Your rivals have caught up, and the playing field has transformed. It’s no longer a differentiation to have an easy signature process for internal cooperation and external transactions. To reclaim your operational advantage, you must think bigger. To provide a better customer and staff experience, add more tools to your signature stack. Use integrations to automatically fill in agreement details rather than relying solely on electronic signatures in word. To avoid duplicating work, utilize templates instead of generating contracts from scratch. Verify the identity of the signer digitally. Customers will receive SMS alerts if they sign up for mobile signing. Looking for new areas of the experience that can be tweaked or improved via integrations or APIs once you’ve replaced the bottleneck of ink-and-paper signatures.
2. E-signature will evolve from a team-specific tool to a strategic requirement for the entire firm.
In most modern firms, the teams most likely to be involved in digital agreements possess : legal and IT. According to recent Wesignature data, one of these two teams is the major lead for internal e-signature expansion in more than 70% of firms. Though legal or IT teams may have been the driving force behind the adoption of e-signature, ownership of the agreement process is something that transcends any single team.
Every team in a company is interested in becoming a part of the larger e-signature picture as more agreements are digitally developed, negotiated, executed, and kept. HR will seek to make the hiring and onboarding process as simple as possible (especially if those new employees are remote). Sales will want to make contract creation and approval as simple as possible. Procurement will strive to increase its negotiation flexibility with both new and existing vendors. Legal and IT will continue to be major owners, but other teams will become more invested in the success of e-signature.
3. New legislation will make it easier to use witnessing services for electronically signed contracts.
Some aspects of the contract transaction process are still carried out in person. In response to the need for more multi-party transactions to take place without face-to-face encounters, there has been a lot of momentum in some jurisdictions to legalize remote internet witnessing services as a viable alternative.
This advancement isn’t likely to stop anytime soon. This kind of trend can only go one way. States and countries that have embraced distant electronic witnessing will continue to develop rules to address new use cases so that they can profit even more from a more modern, efficient, and secure digital infrastructure. States and countries that have not yet taken this step will keep an eye on what other regions are doing and will likely follow suit in the near future. Remote electronic witnessing services, such as remote online notary, are a natural progression that allows numerous parties to interact with essential agreements in a robust manner. Organizations that deal with multi-party transactions on a regular basis (especially in highly regulated industries) and need to communicate with third-party witnesses should keep an eye on changing rules and regulations in order to take advantage of new opportunities.
4. The partnership on digital agreements will be expanded to cover additional features.
E-signature is frequently used just at the very end of the agreement procedure. All of the parties concerned might draught an agreement and negotiate it the old-fashioned way before completing the process using e-signature. This method is still superior to traditional paper-based methods, but it barely scratches the surface of the possibilities. The capacity to sign papers electronically has lately been identified as a significant gap filler in enabling end-to-end digital operations.
A document no longer needs to be printed, signed, and scanned. Rather, in recent years, the success of digital tools has demonstrated that the entire agreement workflow can remain digital.
5. The popularity of touchless experiences will rise.
Touchless encounters, in which a consumer can completely avoid physical contact with new people or technology, is a choice. According to McKinsey, the preference for contactless operations has increased by 20% in the United States. Patients can, for example, use their own devices to identify themselves, submit personal information, and even end the process with an electronic signature instead of needing a pen to fill out a clipboard full of papers before medical visits.
To build up these touchless environments correctly, a lot of technological foundation is required, and some are easier to put up than others. If you want to provide a touchless experience to your customers. You’ll need to sketch out that journey and put together the digital toolkit to make it a reality. Make sure to conduct your homework on vendors and pick the one that best suits your demands.
6. Consolidation of agreement technologies will begin.
Many businesses begin their agreement digitization efforts by implementing an e-signature solution. Most respectable firms have already taken this simple initial step. The next steps in the overall contracting process, on the other hand, are not as consistent across the board. Before and after signatures, there are activities to take. The demand for tools to finish each of those distinct procedures has spawned a slew of new suppliers who specialize in specific areas of the process management.
Creating a system of agreement based on a succession of stand-alone point solutions is not a long-term answer. Each new product added to the agreement stack increases the chances of inconsistency, delays, and expenses. Every transfer from one product to the next has the potential to fail. Rather than looking for the best solution for a single agreement phase. Take a step back and envision a digital toolbox with the most end-to-end capabilities and the fewest providers. Companies that offer agreement tools will respond as well, either by integrating with other companies or expanding their feature set.
7. The partnership on digital agreements will be expanded to cover additional features.
E-signature is frequently used just at the very end of the agreement procedure. All of the parties concerned might draught an agreement and negotiate it the old-fashioned way before completing the process using e-signature. This method is still superior to traditional paper-based methods, but it barely scratches the surface of the possibilities. The capacity to sign papers electronically has lately been identified as a significant gap filler in enabling end-to-end digital operations.