Electronic Signatures In Industry

  Since the legalization of digital signatures, we have seen a significant reduction of paperwork and enhanced streamlining of document signing processes worldwide. Organizations, governments, schools, individuals, and various other domains have started appreciating and implementing digital signatures to restructure their operations. One such domain that has begun reaping the benefits of digital signatures is Foreign Trade. When we look at the import and export of the   USA, the numbers are staggering. In 2019, the net worth of trade between the U.S and other countries was $5.6 trillion — $3.1 trillion in imports and $2.5 trillion in exports of goods and services. Looking at the sheer volume of commodities being traded, there is still plenty of room for the digitization and modernization of the existing process. The problem statement The import-export ecosystem involves tons of paperwork. If this paperwork is forged, damaged, or tampered with, it can lead to severe repercussio...

  Every new film or web series you watch goes through several changes, contracts, deals, and a lot of hard work. The media and entertainment industry ensures that the best content is delivered to people, and there is never a dull moment! It takes an army to produce what we see, especially with crazy deadlines and unprecedented obstacles. Let us take a quick look at some of the documents that need approvals in the entertainment and media industry: - Content Approvals - Publishing or launch approvals - Contracts for costume, make-up, sound, music, sets, etc. - Casting Contracts - L o cation Rentals - Purchase Orders - Production Sign-Offs and much more. It is a never-ending reel of deals being struck every minute. The pandemic, however, brought many industries to their knees, and the entertainment and media industry is one of them. This is when giving up traditional methods of paperwork emerged as an option for safety reasons and to save time and costs. As several industries move tow...

  Digital transformation is an inevitable, unstoppable phenomenon. The path to a smarter, greener, and efficient tomorrow is paved using technology. As a result, the entire world has begun adopting digital transformation solutions. Riding the tides of this transformation are digital signatures that have established their roots globally, across virtually every industry vertical. With the growing demand for digital signatures, various laws and regulations emerged across countries, granting legality to e-signature platforms. There are three types of laws: Minimalist E-Signature Laws Minimalist or permis s ive e-signature laws allow minimal restrictions on the usage of digital signatures. The idea behind minimalist e-signature laws is that no electronic signatures may be denied legality just because they are in electronic form. Due to this unrestricted nature, some may argue that this might lead to legal uncertainties owing to vagueness. However, this approach focuses more on market pe...

  The world produces 300 million tons of paper annually, out of which 45% ultimately ends up in the trash! But the future need not be laden with massive heaps and landfills of paper waste. Instead, may we see one that is greener and smarter with minimal paper usage. If you’re wondering how we’re going to get there, the answer is simple — digitization. Countries world over have started giving up paper-based workflows & processes, while initiating the transition to efficient, digital counterparts. How badly do we need digitization? This might n o t feel like the eleventh hour, but in reality, we would be rapidly nearing it if we continue resorting to our current paper usage. In the U.S. alone, over 68 million trees are used to produce paper. An average person from the USA, Japan, and Europe uses 250–300 kilograms of paper every year. Speaking of paper wastage in offices, an average office employee uses around 10,000 sheets of paper every year. These are some stats we don’t want t...

  Picture yourself enjoying your day-off or a vacation, and suddenly you find out that your signature is being used to sign up for a policy, sign off a QA report for the pilot batch of a prototype drug, or even sign a set of forged release papers! The consequences in such cases could be dire beyond imagination. We are looking at the unauthorized release of wrong medication, corporate espionage scenarios, and even potential prison breaks. As bizarre and unlikely as it may sound, signature forgeries are more common than we think. However, there are ways you can reduce the damage to a certain extent and deal with the mess in the best possible manner. Step #1 — Report the incident In most cases, the ripple effect of your forged signatures can be felt within a short period. Either way, your first step should be to inform the signing parties and authorities. This gives the signing parties some room for damage control. Depending upon the nature of the contract with your forged signat...

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you accidentally signed a contract under the influence o f  alcohol? Would the contract still be valid? The answer is a bit tricky. History is replete with hilarious instances of people doing unbelievable things while being under the influence of substances. Imagine yourself having a wild night out with your colleagues at an office party. There’s always one person in the group who has never had alcohol before but ultimately gives in to peer pressure and tries a drink. As the night progresses, one glass becomes two, and two becomes three. Before anyone realizes, things are spiraling out of control and nobody remembers what that person was up to while the rest were partying. What if a stranger approached him and wooed him into signing something that might have disastrous consequences? For all you know, he might have accidentally outsourced an entire department’s work to an unknown agency or agreed to sell out his shares to this stranger! A ...

  We, as humans, are obsessed with choice. Ever since our days of hunter-gathering, we have been hardwired to pick only the best of what is available. Our survival instincts were probably at their strongest at the time, and we could not afford to die by a mere stale berry or a rotten piece of meat. Even today, when we go out shopping for clothes or groceries, we make sure we take our time to pick the best of what is available. We do this subconsciously. So why not learn today how to pick the best digital signature provider and look for subtle details while choosing them? INTEGRITY When it comes to digital signatures, integrity is ensuring that a user’s signature is tied to the version of the document they are looking at while the signing happens. Also, the documents must remain the same once they are done signing. If in case the documents are tampered with after signing, the digital signature provider must have the ability to provide strong tamper evidence for those documents. AUDI...

  Today, Blockchain technology has penetrated almost all markets, changing how we do our day-to-day business. So, yes, blockchain technology is changing our world. But how? Let’s find out more. Digital signatures are widely used today in many industries, e.g., for authorizing bank payments (money transfer), exchanging signed electronic documents, signing digital contracts, etc. However, digital signatures cannot identify the person who created a particular signature. This problem is solved in combination with an online certificate, which binds a public code key owner with an original identity. Invented by Sa t oshi Nakamoto in 2008, blockchain technology was initially used in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as its public transaction ledger. This technology allowed users to control their money in such a way that no third party nor the government could access or monitor it. It was a novel invention and the first digital currency to solve the problem of double transactions without the need...