Electronic Signatures In Industry

  It is that time of the year again. Americans living in the United States and those living abroad have to file a U.S. federal tax return. Each year the last day of filing your tax falls on  April 15 , unless it is a weekend or holiday. For 2022, the deadline to file your income tax is  April 18 . The tax brackets and rates have been adjusted for inflation for the 2021 tax filing that takes place in 2022, while the standard deduction increases to  $12,550.  Filing tax returns overseas or remotely is a bit complex, though. To reduce this burden on the taxpayer community, the IRS allows taxpayers to file tax returns electronically using electronic or digital signatures. Dive into this blog to discover everything you need to know about e-filing your income tax return in 2022. Are you eligible to file a tax return? The first thing that might come to your mind is to check whether you are eligible to file an income tax return this year or not. So, if you are looki...

  Technology plays a pivotal role in all major industries. And companies take extra care to invest in the right technology to gain an edge over their competition. But was technology ever considered this important before? Its adoption has seen a surge only in recent decades. In the early days of the Internet, technology was built to communicate any economic incentive or make products that people wanted to buy. But that changed with the world discovering its ability to scale beyond boundaries. Today, high-tech industries have adapted to the latest technologies to expand their services or build new products. This includes technologies that seem indispensable to us now – cloud, high broadband services, cloud storage, social media, connected devices, and more. Furthermore, digital giants like Google and Amazon have evolved continuously by catering to customer expectations and modernizing in-house processes. The Digitization Boom The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digi...

  Electronic signatures or e-signatures are in high demand among enterprises. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst in bringing about changes in internal operational processes. As companies have begun adapting electronic documentation to sort and manage files, e-signatures are being embraced to reach deals and agreements remotely. Small and medium enterprises are leveraging technology to streamline various verticals such as marketing and sales and improve overall business efficiency. Although online signatures have countless benefits, they create a sentiment of apprehension owing to the sensitive nature of exchange. In order to ensure documents signed electronically stand up in court, just like their manual counterparts, laws have been passed and enforced by governments. If you are a business that has decided to integrate  eSignatures  into your workflows, read on to learn more about the international laws about using eSignatures. Types of Laws Prescripti...

  Digitization of business documents such as contracts, agreements, or even forms and letters gave a new lease of life to traditional, time-consuming operational processes during the pandemic. However, even businesses that were digitized pre-pandemic, still face a major bottleneck in their documentation process – chasing signatures! ​ Attesting your signatures online remains a phenomenon not many organizations have faith in, and not without reason. As always, business documents carry sensitive information that must be protected at all costs. Managing fraud and error rates has become very important for institutions not only because of increased regulatory scrutiny but also due to increased stakeholder expectations and the detrimental effect of the actual fraud loss incurred. Months of planning and strategy can come to a standstill due to a missing or forged signature. Digital signatures have emerged as a novel solution to this problem. A valid  digital signature solution  ...

  In a world where every minute counts and there is a new technological innovation every day, businesses are striving to stay ahead of the curve. However, the growing pressure to stand out in the race of industrial pressure has incorporated several new risks. In this risk-prone business environment, establishing trust is imperative to strengthen corporate bonds with customers, stakeholders, and vendors. Yes, digital transformation is essential to stay relevant and competitive, but the next big dilemma faced by businesses is to ensure digital security and trust. In business, there are numerous instances where you may need to share confidential information with another person. But before doing so, you need to ensure the other person is bound to respect the information you share and not use it to your detriment. The most common way to secure confidential information is through a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Dive in to learn everything you need to know about NDAs – what to include, ...

Work-from-anywhere with e-signatures In 2020, the world was witness to a global challenge. COVID-19 forced everyone to work from home. Even before the restrictions, people worldwide were keen to ditch their 9-to-5 jobs to work remotely. However, at the time, only 5% of remote jobs had the facility to work from anywhere, which led to stumbling blocks for companies. Fast forwarding to 2022, we are living the dream – almost half of the employers offer work-from-home facilities, while others have adopted the hybrid work model. Working from the office seems like an anachronism from another era – the age of office-goers is at an end! Perhaps this is the crux of work from anywhere – employers are providing infrastructure that people really want, empowering them to lead their lives the way they want – whether that’s through a hybrid model, at the office, or from halfway around the world. The new frontier of remote work would definitely help hang onto job satisfaction, productivity, and retenti...

  The future is completely open, and we are writing it from moment to moment. These words by Pema Chodron imply that the best way to transform your future is by designing it – today! A good business leader can recognize patterns and foresee trends before they are set, steering their team into a productive and secure future. Of course, no one can predict situations like COVID. But, the prowess of good leadership does not necessarily lie in anticipating specific conditions but in the preparedness for situational control, even in contingencies. And more importantly, their ability to make good decisions that impact the future of the business and growth, no matter the situation.                        So, how equipped are you to handle contingencies? This theory has become even more pertinent since the pandemic began. With businesses crumbling under the weight of an imminent economic crisis, adaptation has become crucial, espec...

  The eSignature Debate Signatures have always been an important means of approval in all business and personal documentation. The signature is an anchor of trust and evidence. An agreement without a signature is open, floating, ambiguous and hard to enforce. A signature anchors an agreement to a legally binding, enforceable, actionable reality. Today, electronic signatures play the same role, just online. eSignatures are easy to use and consume far less time than their traditional counterparts. According to the eSignature laws worldwide they have the same legal standing as handwritten signatures. Electronic signatures are a legal concept and are separate from digital signatures, a cryptographic mechanism often used to implement the electronic signature. While an e-signature can be as simple as a name or a cropped image entered in as a sign on a Word or PDF online,  digital signatures  are being used in business worldwide to implement signatures in a cryptographically pro...

  Digital signatures: Key to thriving freelance invoices The gig economy is all the hype – it is foreseen to reach 455.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. In a gig economy, people work in temporary or part-time positions or as independent contractors. Around 70% of freelancers get jobs at gig economy sites and online markets, which shows a tremendous demand for freelancers across different niches and industries. Freelancers generally have to play both the roles of an employee and a business owner. Being your own boss means getting your work done and being equipped to run a business. When you start a business of your own, you will have your plate full, for ex: pitching your products or services to the clients, following up on potential clients for projects, creating contracts, sticking to deadlines, rolling out invoices, and getting paid. As a matter of fact, generating revenue is the ultimate goal of any business, and so it remains for freelancers too. The first and crucial stage to ge...