5 questions every legal department must answer before implementing an e-signature tool

Manage time, reduce costs, achieve operational efficiency, ensure compliance and data security, be audit-ready, improve customer experience, focus on sustainability – the Board has many expectations from the modern legal department. To keep up with the pace of the digitalisation journey of the business, in-house lawyers need to identify gaps in workflows and optimise processes.

How much time do you spend to have a contract signed and approved using the traditional print-sign-scan method?

Between receiving the document, then reviewing, printing, signing, scanning, and mailing it back, we are looking at hours wasted on tasks that can easily be digitised. Implementing an eSignature tool can streamline this entire workflow and save time. You can complete up to 82% of agreements in less than 24 hours and 50% in less than 15 minutes by using eSignature.

While your business can surely benefit from an electronic signature, there are many factors to consider before investing in one. Here are 5 questions every legal department must answer to ensure they make the right choice.

1. What are the needs of my business?

To understand the scope of the investment, you need to reflect on your business needs in-depth. How many documents are signed? What is the nature of most documents signed? How often are documents signed? How many departments/ colleagues require signatures on documents? How many documents need urgent approval? On average, how many stakeholders need to sign a contract? Answers to these questions can help you figure out the type of e-signature that is best suited for your business and define the scope and objectives for the implementation. 

2. Which manual workflows will be optimised with the new e-signature tool?

 As mentioned at the beginning of this article, manual processes to collect signatures are tedious, costly, and risky. By evaluating the current workflows that are in place to sign documents and identifying loopholes in them, you can ensure that the tool you invest in will fill in those gaps and replace manual processes that hold the business back.

3. Does the new e-signature tool fit the budget allocated by the Board?

There are many vendors in the market offering attractive packages with many features. However, the tool you select must be within the budget that is allocated for it and must address needs unique to your business. After all, what is important is to ensure that the e-signature solution you invest in helps overcome the challenges that your business face daily.

4. Can I integrate the new eSignature tools with the current systems employed across the business?

Identifying the scope of the implementation and the workflows that will be replaced by the new e-signature solution alone won’t be sufficient to choose the right tool. You need to understand the current solutions are used by different departments across the business and see how if and how the e-signature solutions in consideration can integrated with them. The tool you invest in must fit the technology roadmap and digital transformation journey of your business.

5. Does the e-signature provide the level of security my business requires?

Making sure that the e-signature tool you invest in is secure is a must. However, how advanced the security level is determined based on the nature of the documents signed. Are the documents that require signatures confidential? How sensitive is the information that is within these documents? Do you need to share documents with external parties to collect signatures? Answers to these questions will help you ascertain the level of security needed in the e-signature tool you invest in. The e-signature solution you choose must be compliant with EU regulation eIDAS. Learn more about the level of security provided by eSignatures here.

If you are looking to digitise document workflows, it is nearly impossible to keep e-signature tools out of the tech implementation plan. The answers to the questions above will help you make the right choice when choosing the e-signature partner.