Sign Documents Digitally and Save 22,000 Hours a Year!
The opportunity of switching to a paperless office is a great benefit of the 21st century. Before we had to send documents by mail and wait ages, until others send them back signed. Today the whole process may take just a couple of minutes. You don’t even need to print and scan your documents to sign them and send back, as this can now be done digitally.
E-signature is the key to quick and effective signing of documents digitally. Let’s start with the overview and benefits and get into how to sign documents in text and PDF formats in Collabio Spaces*.
*Yes! — This is the latest addition to our app functionality! ;)
What’s an E-Signature and How Is It Useful?
An electronic signature is a convenient tool to get an approval or a consent on digital documents or forms. This feature can replace handwritten signatures in numerous cases. Don’t confuse an electronic and digital signature, the latter is a cryptographically secured key for authorisation. Here we’re talking about leaving an autograph in a text or PDF document. In other words, it is a digital representation of your handwritten signature.
The Forrester’s report and DocuSign’s research on using e-signatures present fascinating numbers that speak for themselves:
- The turnaround time reduces by 80%.
- The number of errors decreases by the same 80%.
- Overall productivity increases by 85%.
- Companies can save around $20 per document.
- They also save time on operations — nearly 22,000 hours a year.
- Customer loyalty increases by a surprising 500%.
Also, a business can save up to 55%–78.62% of the budget on document processing due to migrating from paper to e-signature apps, consider the material, shipping, administration and subscription costs.
What’s more, businesses that went paperless reduced their processing errors by an average of 90%. Physical documents can be easily lost in tons of papers, digital files are always stored in one place and are easier to search for. You can have difficulties with navigating through the heavy structures of folders, but the search option always finds a necessary document in a couple of seconds. So, no way you will lose anything important!
And, the last and very important advantage of electronic signatures — you’ll be saving the environment. As we noted in our article about switching to paperless offices, paper manufacturing, together with toners, ink, and non-renewable elements find their final refuge in a landfill which is severely damaging our planet. So by digitising your workflow, you will help to save the Earth for future generations.
When Do You Need E-Signatures?
We sign documents daily. E-signature will be useful when you accept a job offer, sign an invoice for a service or negotiate on business contracts.
As for the fields where electronic signatures work best, those are:
- Sales. Conducting deals should be swift and convenient for users, customers and partners. The faster the documents are signed, the quicker they get access to what they need. This is a great way for sales managers to get rid of time-consuming bureaucracy.
- Hiring. Candidates don’t have to visit the office just to sign an offer. This is especially convenient for those who work remotely or freelancers, that cooperate with companies around the globe. Even sending documents via the fastest mailing service takes time and costs to deliver.
Sign Text and PDF Documents with Your iPhone or iPad
With Collabio Spaces, you’ll save tons of time and money when you sign documents electronically. We present a fully-mobile office, in which you will be able to sign invoices, offers and contracts from anywhere, even without accessing the Internet.
Everything you need is the app installed on your mobile device and your finger ready to draw your autograph!
Here’s how the process looks like in Collabio Spaces:
1. Once you open a text document you want to sign, tap on the icon with a plus on it and choose “Signature”:
If you want to sign a PDF document, open it, find the signature icon at the very end of the toolbar:
2. A new window will appear. Draw a signature with your finger and choose one of three options:
- Close, if you changed your mind and don’t want to sign this document.
- Done, if you are ready to sign it.
- Clear, if you want to erase your signature and give it another try.
3. Once you click on the Done button, it appears in the list of signatures. You can edit the existing signature or add a new one.
Here is how this window looks like when you have more than one signature:
If you have added signatures in the text editor, they will appear in the PDF editor as well. And on the contrary, if you started to work with PDF, your e-signatures will appear in the text editor.
You can add a maximum of three signatures that are saved in the app and you can use them in any text or PDF document. After you add the third sample, the button “Add new signature” will disappear.
4. Next, the signature of your choice will appear in your text document, you can move it anywhere, as well as cut, copy, paste, delete or replace it.
To change your signature’s size, switch to the Page View mode and drag the frame:
In a PDF, resize the signature or move it anywhere with your fingers:
5. To delete one of your signatures, go to the Signatures toolbar, long tap on the one you need to remove and tap the Delete option. If a deleted signature was previously added to your document, it will disappear. You can choose another one to add.
As you can see, signing electronic documents is as reliable as doing it, in the traditional way. It is easy and all you need is an iPhone or iPad with Collabio Spaces on it! Try this feature now and increase your own and your team’s productivity, and benefit from the fantastic savings for your business!
