E-signature or digital signature? The answer is both — and more.
In recent years, the recognition of electronic communication channels and digital administrative services as comparable if not better tools for operating a business or running an organization has made massive improvements in time management and overall efficacy.
Agreements, contracts, and other documents that constitute an important segment of conducting business online inevitably needed to adapt to that trend, which resulted in the development of e-signatures leveraging from digital signature tech.
So how does one differ from the other? What can e-signature get you that a digital one cannot? Both terms seem to represent a concept quite similar, however, you might want to double check the services of your e-signature provider before uploading your valuable documents onto their platform.
Electronic or e-signature
From the perspective of a user, the concept of e-signatures is a bit more relatable and easier to comprehend since we can think of it as an electronic version of hand-written signatures. Both represent legal concepts, and by that, an e-signature holds the same judicial power and validity as a hand-written signature on a paper document.
Much like the old-school pen version, an e-signature validates the critical components of a signed document: its content and data, the identity of the signatory party, as well as their intent and consent of signing.
As such, an e-signature serves as a legally binding proof of the provisions of the signed document and its signatory.
Digital signature
While e-signatures mostly validate the content of a document and authorize the identity of the signatory, its reach doesn’t go much deeper than that.
Here is where digital signature comes in. A digital signature represents an underlying encryption/decryption technology that supports and enhances the strength of content-validating e-signatures. The main effect of encryption mechanisms of digital signatures is to protect the validity of e-signatures and consequently the contents and authorization of e-signed documents while providing end-to-end privacy and security.
Digital signatures are typically signed based on a three-step process: first, generation of both private and public keys; second, the creation of a digital signature; and third, verification of the signed content, signature and public key.
Still, despite its technological strength, a digital signature tech can only protect the documents that have already been e-signed. Also, a digital signature by itself cannot bring a document to a legally binding status nor can it capture the intent and consent of the signatory the way e-signature can.
Which one then?
Your best bet is going with both. On the one hand, your documents need strong legal validity, and on the other, they should be securely protected against frauds and content rewrites.
E-signatures can vouch for the validity of the provisions stipulated in an agreement or document, while the digital signature tech supports the said validation by encrypting its sensitive data.
E-signatures can seal the deal as final, but a digital signature can help discover hacking attempts and discontinue the validity of documents that were altered post-signing.
E-signatures can represent an agreement between both or all signatory parties, while digital signatures can help boost the trust between them, as they can rely on strong data protection and validity of the document through cryptographic measures.
The best e-signature solutions leverage the underlying digital signature tech, and the combination of both provides benefits to the signatory parties on two levels. And, needless to say, hitting two birds with one stone also simplifies your workflow and process-induced costs.
For SignTag, it doesn’t end there.
Documents sealed with e-signatures combined with digital signature technology undoubtedly reap great benefits of both, still, we like to push it a bit further.
By implementing the blockchain technology, cryptography, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), SignTag takes the safety and trustworthy factor to a whole new level. Your documents e-signed with SignTag defy the test of time, content and signature hacks, as well as central point of attacks, and bring the evolution of e-signatures to a decentralized level.
Reap the benefits of cutting-edge technology, Sign up for SignTag Beta and join us in launching the next-gen standard in e-signed documents.
