Large-scale reproduction of signatures became possible with the invention of the printing press in 1440. But the real technological turning point for signatures came with the birth of the fax machine in the 1980s.
For the first time in history, signed documents could be sent over a phone line and received anywhere in the world in minutes. Then came another and even greater technological advance that shaped the development of the signature - the Internet.
Companies around the world quickly took advantage of e-commerce and sent scans of signed documents via email. While the Print, Sign, and Scan (PSS) method was much faster than sending a signed document through the mail, it still had several frustrating drawbacks.
This tedious signature method has also often been slowed down by paper jams, printer errors, or simply a lack of ink. Because, as we soon discovered, printers are a real enemy of efficiency.
The E-signature online app, which made PSS superfluous, provided a breath of fresh air at the end of the 1990s. Today they are still the easiest way to do business for most people as it only takes a few clicks to sign and send a legally binding document.
E-signatures were made legally binding in 2000 when the Electronic Signatures were signed into the Global and National Commerce Act.
Since then, the e-signature market has been booming. By 2023, the digital signature market will be valued at $ 5.5 billion, according to the research report "Digital Signature Market by Solution (Software and Hardware), Service, Deployment Mode.
An electronic signature is made up of several components, only one of which is the signature itself. For an electronically signed document to be considered legally binding in court, the electronic signature must be concluded with the consent and intention of the signatory.
The electronic signature should be verified first before anyone use it on the digital document. . There must also be a digital paper path that allows an electronic signature to be verified.
As soon as a document is electronically signed, any attempt to edit the information will automatically invalidate the digital signature - and thus the electronic signature -. E-signatures are, therefore, a great way to protect documents from tampering.
And because the best e signature apps require additional levels of user authentication, they are even more secure than their handwritten predecessors, the "wet signatures."
The exact process varies depending on which solution you are using, but essentially it is uploading the document to be signed to a website. The document is then flagged to indicate where a signature is required before being emailed to all parties who need to sign.
The signatory fills in all the necessary fields, such as B. Name and Date, and then electronically sign/sign the document. The signed document is automatically emailed back to the original sender and automatically saved for safe and convenient access.
The clever use of automation makes DocSignPro Professional the ultimate, effortless E-signature online app. Signed documents are automatically saved and retained, and documents sent for signature are automatically tracked. Users can also send automatic reminders to keep track of documents waiting to be signed.
DocSignPro Professional users can see the status of all of their documents by logging into their accounts. A glance is all it takes to see if a document has been sent, seen, or signed.
Other useful functions are controlling the order in which the signers sign a document and the possibility of being notified via SMS when a certain document has been signed.
When a document is signed, each signer receives a copy of the signed document and a copy of the signing protocol. The log contains all of the information to create a customized contract legally binding and securely stores it to be accessed when needed.
