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What is a Signature?

A signature is a unique personal mark representing a person's identity and confirming their approval or authorization of a document or message.  In other words, it is a visual representation of a person's name or other identifying information used to signify their agreement, endorsement, or authentication.  Signatures have been used for centuries in various contexts, including legal, financial, and personal communications.

In this digital world, signatures have evolved to include electronic signatures, which can be created using a digital pen or other input device and can be used to sign documents electronically.  Undoubtedly, signatures are vital in ensuring the authenticity and integrity of documents, contracts, and agreements, and they are often legally binding.  There are different signature types, and this guide will explain the 5 types of signatures.  Types of Signature

There are different signature types, each with its unique characteristics and purposes.  Some of the most common types of a signature include:

1. Written or Wet Signature

Written signatures, also known as wet signatures, are one of the most traditional and commonly used types of signatures.  A written signature involves physically signing a document or agreement using a pen or other writing instrument.  This type of signature can be used on paper documents, such as contracts, legal agreements, and financial documents, and is typically required in formal or legal contexts.

To create a written signature, a person must physically write their name or sign their initials on the document in question.  Generally, the signature is often accompanied by the date and other identifying information, such as a job title or company name.  Once the document is signed, it is legally binding, and any changes or alterations may invalidate the signature.‍

2. Electronic Signature or E-signature

Electronic signature or e-signature refers to any signature created using electronic means rather than a traditional handwritten signature.  Fortunately, e-signatures are becoming increasingly popular in today's digital age, where many documents and transactions are online.

In addition, e-signatures are becoming widely accepted as a legally binding form of signature.  However, it is important to ensure that the e-signature meets the legal requirements in your jurisdiction before using it in a legally binding document or transaction.

3. Digital Signature

A digital signature is a type of signature that uses cryptographic techniques to verify the authenticity and integrity of a digital document or message.  A mathematical algorithm generates a unique identifier for the document or message, which can be used to verify its origin.

Generally, digital signatures are used in various applications, including email, online transactions, and electronic documents.  They offer several advantages over traditional signatures, such as being more secure, efficient, and easily verifiable.

4. Symbols and Marks

Some individuals choose to sign their names with symbols or marks instead of using traditional handwriting.  This type of signature can be a creative and unique way to authenticate a document or artwork.  Generally, symbols and marks can include anything from a simple circle or triangle to a more complex design representing the signer's personality or brand.  Many artists and graphic designers use their unique mark as a signature to identify their work.

This type of signature can also be used to protect against forgeries.  A signature with a unique symbol or mark can be difficult to replicate, making it easier to detect a fraudulent signature.  However, it is important to note that symbols and marks as a signature may not be accepted in all situations.  Some legal documents and contracts require a traditional handwritten signature.  Therefore, checking the guidelines for signing documents before using a symbol or mark is important.‍

5. Clickwrap Signature

A clickwrap signature is a type of electronic signature widely used in online transactions.  In a clickwrap agreement, the user must click on an "I Agree" button or a similar button to signify their consent to the terms and conditions of the agreement.

Undoubtedly, the clickwrap signature is one of the most popular forms of electronic signature because it is quick and easy to use.  With just a few clicks, users can agree to the terms of an agreement without having to read through lengthy legal documents.

Conclusion

In short, digital signatures provide a convenient and secure way to sign documents without the need for complex setups or data sharing. Various tools and platforms make it easy to adapt and utilize digital signatures for securely signing documents from a desktop or device. Dedoco is one of them and offers a fast, efficient, and secure way to sign documents

Electronic Signatures have changed the way businesses operate in recent years. Paperless solutions and end-to-end digital workflows are increasing in popularity, and for good reason. Wet-ink signatures carry with them several disadvantages and organisations are taking notice of the potential benefits of switching over to e-signatures.

Signing paper documents is more tedious, time consuming, unsafe and costly. It requires the physical presence of the signer which results in commuting time or courier expenses. Printing out documents for all the parties involved in a transaction also adds to overheads while also presenting a security risk if your company deals with sensitive information. Manually keeping track of document versions and determining the master document increases vulnerability to human error and may negatively impact a business.

However, despite the drawbacks of physical signatures, there can be some hesitation when deciding to make the switch away from wet-ink signatures. To help you make the decision, here are some signs your business should consider implementing e-signatures.

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1. Your Business Handles Sensitive and Confidential Information

Sensitive information such as financial information and medical records are at risk of being stolen and/or misused if you rely solely on paper document signing. Businesses in high-trust sectors like government, financial services and healthcare, should consider switching to e-signatures, or more secure digital signatures, to safeguard their signed documents while increasing productivity.
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Built-in document residency features, can ensure that sensitive information can only be accessed by authorised personnel. Other features like tamper-proof document integrity, identity verification, and encryption add layers of security to the signing process and overall makes it safer and more convenient for transactional approval. Another important capability is the generation of immutable and comprehensive audit trails that track and record every step of the process for liability reasons and regulatory compliance.

Learn More: How Different Industries Benefit From Using Digital Signatures

2. Manual Processes Hinder Your Workplace Productivity

Cutting down on printing costs and miscellaneous expenses are some of the immediate benefits of switching over to e-signing. By digitising your contracts and signing workflow, this reduces inefficiencies and increases workplace productivity as you no longer have to go through multiple rounds of revision, exponentially increasing the amount of paper being printed and costs and man hours involved.

Electronic signatures means documents can be viewed, tracked and shared with authorised personnel without using a single sheet of paper. Document tracking is made simple as all parties involved in the signing process - whether as a signer, observer or approver are always kept updated with the status of the document. Features like versioning history also ensures signers are looking at the correct document making the process more transparent and less confusing for all involved. Moreover, users can instantly verify documents and retrieve complete document history to support audits.

Learn more: Dedoco helps a government agency in Singapore complete signing within a day

‍3. Demand For Better Customer Experience and Convenience

From signing corporate to personal agreements, numerous transactions are increasingly taking place online as consumers become more accustomed to digital experiences. Younger generations have fully embraced the technological revolution and may turn away from businesses that do not have or adopt e-signing capabilities.

For many industries, the writing is already on the wall. Electronic signing is accelerating in adoption and it’s only a matter of time before it becomes the accepted business practice for most organisations.

Future-proof your business today and switch to e-signing with the Dedoco App Suite. Decentralised, scalable, and tamper-proof, the next-generation of document solutions can ease the transition into fully-digital workflows for your entire organisation. Contact us today and find out how Dedoco can transform your business.

Digital certificates are more than simply digital versions of physical certificates. Rather, they leverage blockchain technology to securely enable the convenient issuance and verification of tamper-proof and interoperable certificates. This technology has extensive business applications beyond academic certification.

Any professional document, where determining the veracity of the contents and the validity of the credentials are of utmost importance to business operations, can tap into the capabilities of a digital certificate solution; from civic records, healthcare and vaccination records, membership certificates to documents like credit reports or bank statements.

Physical vs Digital Certificates?

While physical certificates have been the norm, there are inherent fundamental security and verification concerns that can no longer be ignored in this increasingly digital world. The most common issues with physical certificates are that accreditations are easily forged or tampered with and may not be easily authenticated, detected, or disproved without effortful man hours spent validating claims.

Additionally, the widespread circulation of certificates increases the risk of exposure to and abuse by bad actors. These challenges make it harder for educational institutes and employers to trust and verify physical certificates.

In early renditions of digital transformation, hard-copy paper certificates were simply scanned, stored in an electronic file (like word or PDF) and shared with educational institutions or businesses. However, it still carried with it the innate issues paper certificates had, which included being easily altered and time-consuming to validate. 

Now, digital certificates have all the functionality of physical certificates and address the security and authentication issues with Web3 tools to provide all stakeholders with a streamlined and convenient experience. There is no question as to the provenance or validity of the certificate and the verification process is made simple, effective, and almost instantaneous. 

In a knowledge economy, accreditations from trusted institutions are highly prized and when it comes to recruitment or vaccination status, digital certificates are the way forward as their tamper-proof capabilities and convenient, fast verification methods enable them to be more practical for personal and professional daily life. 

Additionally, the convenience they provide for verification and issuance of certificates is unmatched and can be done at a scale that cannot be achieved through physical certificates. As technology becomes ever more ubiquitous, digital certificates are likely to replace paper certificates in professional settings.

What are the Key Considerations when choosing a Digital Certificate Solution?

Here are 4 key considerations to look out for.

1. Is Regulatory Compliant

As a digital certificate can hold private and confidential information, the solution should be built with data privacy and security in mind, and it should facilitate regulatory compliance and adherence to data residency requirements.

2. Allow for Bulk Distribution, Convenience, and Sharable

The solution should be compatible with an organisation’s existing LMS or platform and accommodate bulk distribution with features like a template builder and personalised notifications without compromising security standards. The digital certificate should also be shareable through social and professional networks like LinkedIn for recipients to showcase their achievements. Overall, the user experience whether the issuer or verifier should be convenient and intuitive. 

3. Be Tamper-proof, have Authenticity, and Validity

The digital certificate and its contents are tracked in real-time, with stringent security protocols in place to prevent tampering, fraud, and other malicious activities to ensure the authenticity and validity of the certificate at all times. Any changes or tampering detected would result in the certificate being rejected by the database. Post issuance, accreditations can be revoked or set to expire.

4. Have a Verifiable Audit Trail

Valid certificates can be viewed, shared, and verified from anywhere and from any device instantly. Complete documentation and modification history can also be retrieved to support audits.

Introducing Dedoco’s Digital Certificate, dCert

Powered by the Dedoco Trust Engine, dCert aims to be a single source of truth for certifications by empowering institutions and businesses to issue and check certifications in real-time through a decentralized, tamper-proof database.

dCert reduces risk by giving recruiters, institutions and regulators access to secure, tamper-proof credentials; allowing you to issue and validate certificates that can be viewed, shared and verified from anywhere, on any device for faster business decisions.

Reintroduce trust and credibility to your certification processes. Contact us today to learn more about dCert and our other digital signing solutions and let us know how we can work together.

The healthcare industry has been struggling with fragmented medical records, inefficient supply chains, and a lack of transparency in clinical trials and drug development.

Blockchain technology has the potential to transform healthcare and reintroduce trust in the system. It offers secure, transparent, and decentralised data storage, which resolves many of the pain points in the healthcare industry.

Here are the 5 use cases of blockchain in the healthcare industry.

1. P2P patient data network

BurstIQ allows stakeholders to access and manage patient data records from the private permissioned blockchain network in a secure manner. The platform enables users have control over their data and who they can share it with, and reward them if they decide to do so. This creates multiple use cases for clinical trials and research to access the rich patient database under specific licensing conditions.

2. Clinical trials provenance and regulatory submissions

Embleema provides an end-to-end data & bioinformatics platform to allow users to participate in studies. Data is securely stored on a private blockchain network which leaves a transparent and traceable audit trail for researchers to create data-based evidence to be submitted to the FDA.

3. P2P genomics data-sharing network

Nebula Genomics utilises the decentralised ledger technology to create a P2P network for stakeholders to share data directly to pharmaceutical and biotech companies by cutting out the intermediary parties to reduce unnecessary costs. The company is also experimenting with a use case around NFTs to allow patients to monetise and share their unique DNA data.

4. Blockchain-based pet healthcare marketplace

Vetapp is a blockchain-based marketplace that connects veterinarians with pet owners. It uses their own tokens to be used as a mode of payment within the ecosystem. The use of tokenisation unlocks unique incentives under their loyalty programme for users to interact with the platform along with the blockchain integration to IoT wearable devices.

5. Pharmaceutical supply chain management

Zeullig Pharma uses blockchain to track and trace multiple data points of pharmaceutical products like vaccines across the supply chain. The information captured on the blockchain are made accessible to consumers as a QR code on the packaging, which consumers can scan and verify key product information such as expiry date, temperature as well as  the authenticity of the end-to-end supply chain information.

Implementing blockchain technology for the sake of digital transformation can be costly and ineffective.  deLab by Dedoco helps enterprises assess their existing solutions and identify blockchain use cases to drive transformational growth. Whether you are looking to streamline existing processes, enhance security, or simply explore new opportunities, our team of experts will help you every step of the way.

Want to know how to use blockchain to transform your business? Contact deLab for a chat to help you stay ahead of the curve.

Reference: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/top-5-blockchain-projects-in-the-healthcare-sector-to-follow-in-2023/

Traditional wet-ink signatures are considered the accepted business practice for signing documents. They are unique personal identifiers that are used to denote that the signatory has read through a contract and agreed to the stated terms and conditions. Legally binding, they are an expression of intent, and this recognition underlies their importance to commercial relationships. 

However, in a rapidly digitalising world, wet-ink signatures have come to be seen as a bottleneck that slows down within- and cross-border corporate agreements and raises data security and privacy concerns. To overcome the hassles of wet-ink signatures, electronic signatures were developed for contracts to be securely signed virtually, beyond borders, and across time zones.

What Is An Electronic Signature?

Electronic signatures replace handwritten signatures as they are held to high standards of security, and are just as legally enforceable in several jurisdictions. Electronic signatures allow documents to be signed almost anywhere in the world, making them highly efficient, convenient, and cost-effective.

Today, electronic signatures are being used in sales, financial services, human resources, business contracts, and government services. In their most basic form, they may be a scanned picture of a handwritten signature, typed, or a virtual signature drawn by the signer. Known as Simple Electronic Signatures (SES), they are data in electronic form and do not require any type of identity verification.

In most cases, SES are recognised as legally binding. For more sensitive agreements, businesses and government entities turn to digital signatures which can aptly meet these additional requirements.

What Are Digital Signatures?

Digital signatures are a class of electronic signatures with a much higher standard of compliance, identity determination, and document integrity. Authorised by tamper-proof digital signed certificates, they come with an irrefutable audit trail that can be used to verify the source and authors of the document, along with the identity of the signees.

To meet stringent regulatory requirements, digital signatures come with technical implementations that introduce extra layers of trust to the signing process. A digital signature is recognised as satisfying these standards if it involves the modification of a document, via asymmetric cryptographic encryption and a hash function, in a manner where it should be possible to determine if the transformation was created by the intended signatory. 

Learn More: How Secure are Digital Signatures?

The process should also ensure the integrity of the data by allowing entities to ascertain if the electronic document has been altered in any way. A signed certificate is then issued to all parties to verify details such as the timestamp of the original document creation, details of signees’ identity, and an assurance that the electronic record has not been modified. 

To preserve the validity of the transaction, the digital signature and signed certificate must have been created during the operational period of an authorised body. If a digital signature satisfies all the above conditions, then it is legally recognised as a secure electronic signature and can be used to execute written contracts.

Understanding The Ecosystem That Enables Secure Digital Signing

With the rising prevalence of cybersecurity threats, how are digital signing solutions able to provide assurance of being tamper-proof and forge-proof while also ensuring data privacy, security, and document residency?

The answer lies in four main factors. The ability for digital documents to be checked for even minor modifications, a process where every step is tracked, determining user identity online, and decentralisation for document residency requirements.   

Preserving Document Integrity

Information integrity is the cornerstone of any document management system. An electronic document has integrity when it can be determined that the contents have not been added to, subtracted from, or edited. In other words, the document has not changed in any way, shape, or form. 

Without integrity, there is no trust, as users are unable to determine if the document they are signing has been tampered with to change the terms of the agreement. Document integrity also prevents users from modifying contracts after they have been signed. In the information age, it is of critical importance that electronic records can be trusted and relied upon.

Once the signatories have added their digital signatures, a check is conducted to ensure that the document has not been tampered with. To check the validity of the digitally signed, document, it needs to be cross-checked with the source. If they are secured on blockchain, then a cryptographic hash check is done and the document is verified and its history is produced. 

If the outputs match, then the document is proved to be unaltered, and the integrity of the document can be safely presumed to be preserved. Using this method even minor changes to the document will give a vastly different hash output, alerting all users that the document has been modified.

Dedoco’s dSign solution builds on these fundamental principles and maintains industry-compliant cybersecurity measures to protect document integrity and introduce trust into every step of the process. Our decentralised platform generates a unique hash which is stored on the blockchain, negating the need to store the document itself. Any edits or updates to the document are permanently recorded on the blockchain. Hence the chain of custody is transparent to all, and the versioning history of the document cannot be tampered with by third parties or bad actors.

Audit Trail

A major advantage of digital signing is the provision of an audit trail. An audit trail is immutable evidence of the sequence of events that have occurred during the signing process. It is a time-stamped record of every single interaction with an electronic document, from the moment it was uploaded up until the project concludes. 

An audit trail from digital document signing will include the timestamp of every signature, versioning history for any modifications to the original contract,  and a confirmation of the signees’ identities (which can be verified via various means). Physical signatures, however, are unable to provide such a robust audit trail. Documents can be altered without signatories being aware, and trust has to be placed among all parties involved. 

Physically signing business contracts, which are often subjected to several rounds of revision, can result in confusion and inefficiencies. Documents will have to be verified manually and there is no stringent record that reflects the exact order of events without the possibility of tampering having occurred at some stage. With online digital signatures, every step is cryptographically logged and there can be no doubt about the exact sequence of events.

Audit trails do more than introduce another layer of security and transparency to digital signing. They are also legally recognised and can be used as evidence of the agreement to a document’s terms. They can be upheld in court and serve to protect all parties from frivolous lawsuits or contract disputes.

Identity Verification

Verifying a person’s identity is often an essential compliance requirement for sectors looking to make the move to digital online signatures. Identity verification measures reduce risk, enhance trust, and deter fraud. To facilitate this feature, there are several different ways to ascertain a person’s identity digitally and ensure that the signatories are who they claim to be.

Often the need for rigorous identification has to be balanced against convenience, usability, and ease of access. With these practical considerations, the simplest method of identity verification is knowledge-based authentication. 

This method uses “shared secret questions” which have been previously agreed upon (similar to those used by websites when you’ve forgotten your passwords), or personal questions which only the signer is likely to know the answers. Knowledge-based authentication is convenient and simple, but vulnerable to attack and poses a significant security risk in today’s operating environments.

A stronger method of proof-of-identity for digital signing can come from identification documents such as passports, government-issued identity cards, residence permit, or driver’s licence. Requiring signees to upload physical documents adds another layer to the security of the process at the cost of a minor inconvenience.

Other ways of verification come from 2-factor authorisation and biometric data. These use unique identifiers to confirm that only authorised parties are able to view, modify, and digitally sign documents. Some commonly used identifiers include software tokens, fingerprints, handphone numbers, email addresses, and facial recognition. The benefit of 2-factor or biometric authentication comes from their ease of use, coupled with a high degree of identity assurance.

Many of us may already be familiar with 2-factor or biometric methods of identity verification. Some countries tap on these authentication methods for access to government services. For instance, Dedoco has partnered with the Singapore government in their “Sign with Singpass” service to provide a digital signing solution that is integrated with a widely used National Identity Provider for a more secure and convenient way to transact online. SingPass uses many different identity verification methods and is continually being updated to keep up with evolving standards.

Beyond National Identity Providers, the Dedoco platform also flexibly integrates with Private Identity Providers (IdPs) for customers with specific demands. Our Dedoco digital signing certificate can also be retrieved from the blockchain via our verification feature as and when required and contains critical information like the document hash history, and timestamps for user verification.

Learn more: Dedoco helps a government agency in Singapore complete signing within a day

Among our suite of enterprise apps is dVideoSign, a secure signing solution for virtual video meetings or events, providing the security and assurance of in-person meetings with the convenience of being geographically dispersed. It allows 2FA verification to authenticate the identity of participants and allows for a more interactive signing experience that facilitates closer discussion and collaboration between the host, signatories, and witnesses. 

With virtual meetings rising in popularity since the pandemic, a digital signing solution integrated with identity verification features simply makes sense for consumers and enterprises alike and Dedoco has chosen to stay ahead of the curve with our offerings.

Learn More: 5 Ways E-Signatures Can Improve Your Workplace Productivity

Decentralisation And Web 3.0

Decentralisation, blockchains, smart contracts, and tokenization are the next wave of the internet. Known collectively as Web 3.0, these concepts aim to eliminate the inefficiencies of Web 2.0 while building on the paradigm shifts created in the digital landscape over the last decade. Already governments and enterprises are fast recognising the potential of Web 3.0 and are moving to update laws and adapt their products to a new business environment.

The Dedoco platform, products, and services have all been built on next-gen technology and provide a decentralised platform with open architecture to protect data privacy,security, and residency. This makes our app suite future-proof while offering a digital signing experience that is highly secure, convenient to use, regulatory compliant, and constantly advancing.

Decentralisation is the main driving force behind the iteration of Web 3.0. While Web 2.0 forever changed how we interact with the digital world, it also led to over-centralisation, data privacy concerns, and bloat. High-trust sectors, such as government and public, financial services, and healthcare, have more stringent data and document residency requirements that render most Web 2.0 digital signing services incompatible and unsuitable within their operating landscape.

Dedoco’s dSign taps on decentralisation and blockchaining to create an elegant solution to bridge this gap. The architecture underpinning the technology behind dSign ensures that organisations are firmly in control and have full residency of their documents, eliminating privacy concerns and enabling complete regulatory compliance. 

While privacy and document residency is guaranteed by decentralisation, irrefutable blockchain logs and document evidence trails take trust and security to the next level. Every interaction with the document is recorded on the blockchain, and signature and document data are securely interlinked.

Dedoco adopts an API-first approach where open connectivity increases transformational agility, facilitates integration, ensures scalability, and keeps our digital signing solutions on the cutting edge of technological progress.

Learn more: The Future of Work: Collaborate with Web3 tools for enhanced security and compliance

Businesses recognise the benefits of going paperless but up until fairly recently, physical sign-offs were still very much the norm. The Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst in accelerating digital transformation, especially with an ecosystem that enables secure digital signing already poised to aid businesses and organisations with the transition.

The use case for digital signing is well-established. It streamlines workflow and processes while increasing business efficiency. Digital signing means contracts are approved almost instantly, agreements can be made remotely, and end-to-end digital workflows are seamless. International commerce is also made simpler and more secure. 

With consumers demanding more digital experiences, new avenues for profit-making and value-adding to products and services can also be sought. At the same time, higher security standards are met and overheads from printing costs can be cut down.

Learn More: How Different Industries Benefit From Using Digital Signatures

The ability to cut costs while speeding up and simplifying business processes are the main driving factors behind the rapid adoption of digital signing solutions. Even after the effects of the pandemic have subsided, digital signing continues to rise in popularity.

The sophisticated security measures imposed by providers like Dedoco, along with features like decentralisation, real-time verification, regulatory compliance, and document ownership laid the groundwork for high-trust sectors to also onboard digital signing processes.

The biggest push towards digital signing solutions comes from convenience. Digital signatures are intuitive, easy to use, and mobile-friendly. Features like integrations with National and Private Identity Providers, versioning history, and multiple signing options increase the appeal of digital signing solutions and contribute to rising usage.

Common Questions You May Have

1) Can a digital signature be copied?

Unlike physical signatures, digital signatures cannot be copied across documents. It is tied to the document itself and contains an audit trail with information about the identity of the signer. Once a document is signed and secured on the blockchain, the document has an audit trail of key events with timestamps, the identity of the signer and other details. If a document has been modified or tampered with in any way, the document would be rejected when verified on the blockchain as the document hash does not match the one secured on chain.

Duplicating someone’s digital signature is much harder than forging wet-ink signatures as you must pass stringent identity verification tests. All your actions are also logged, making it easier to spot and prevent fraudulent activity.

2) Are digital signatures better than wet-ink signatures?

Digital signatures are a very different concept from wet-ink signatures. Digital signing resolves issues with physical signatures such as document tampering, data security, forgery, and fraud. Identity verification, document integrity, digital certificates, and audit trails are very much integrated features of digital signing solutions and add layers of security and compliance to the process.

Physical signing lacks these robust protections, and are less convenient, more inefficient and costly.

3) What kind of digital signing solutions are available?

dSign

As the flagship product of Dedoco, our dSign digital signing solution is powered by the Dedoco Trust Engine which lets you approve contracts securely and conveniently. Advanced encryption and hashing maintain document integrity while decentralisation ensures true ownership of documents. Every interaction is tracked in real-time and at the end of the process a digital certificate will be generated and issued for accurate record keeping.

Watch: How to Digitally Sign a Document | Dedoco dSign

dVideoSign

Dedoco’s dVideoSign was created to encompass the best of both real-time, face-to-face interactions and secure digital signing. Once a document is finalised and ready for signing with witnesses, instant identity verification of stakeholders and signees can be done via video chat features in virtual rooms, while time-stamped shared recordings provide a level of assurance that all relevant participants can access.

dCert

For organisations and institutions that issue official credentials to individuals, dCert offers a way to protect their accreditations, awards, and accolades and makes them tamper-proof. Tapping on blockchain technology allows for a zero-trust, decentralised approach to prevent fraud and enhanced credibility.

4) Why choose Dedoco as your digital signing solution provider?

For businesses used to physical signatures, moving to digital signing might be a difficult transition to make. Security concerns abound, questions arise over usability, data residency, and the reputation of a digital signing provider.

Dedoco’s app suite was developed with the end consumer in mind. We use enterprise-grade cryptographic hashing to maintain document integrity and pair it with multiple methods of secure online signing to ensure that transactions can be approved conveniently without compromising security. 

The real case for choosing Dedoco as your digital signing provider comes from our Web3 approach which ensures organisations have true ownership of document residency while allowing for a rigid audit trail, smart contracts, and tamper-proof document management. 

In recognition of the high standard of our applications, Dedoco was chosen to collaborate with the Singapore’s government in the rollout of their National Digital Identity (NDI) Smart Nation strategic national project. Dedoco is also accredited by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore, is ISO 27001 certified, and awarded the 2022 Innovation Index Award for our utilisation of blockchain technology for enterprise document management. 

Dedoco has also expanded its suite of products to fit different use cases. dVideoSign is an example of our forward-thinking approach to constantly improving our offerings. Our commitment to open architecture and API-first approach is geared towards the future evolution and personalisation of our products to meet changing needs.

Common Misconceptions About Digital Signatures

1) Adopting digital signatures is a hassle and hard to implement

Digital signatures are designed to enhance the productivity and efficiency of end-to-end workflows. Industry standards for security are well-established so you can rest assured that the process is transparent and trustworthy. Digital signing solution providers like Dedoco which offer national and private identity provider integrations make it even simpler for you to go-to-market with digital signing features. Our open API environment also allows your in-house developers to customise the product to your unique needs, easing the transition. 

2) Digital signatures are expensive

Our prices for unlimited document signing with our dSign digital signing solution start at USD $25/month for the basic package. It comes with multiple digital signing methods, email or sms authentication, real-time audit trails, and cloud integrations. This price is affordable for the vast majority of businesses that stand to benefit from digitalising their processes. 

Advanced features such as unlimited API integrations and unlimited dVideoSign sessions require custom pricing so reach out to us for a quote.

3) A digitally signed document can be tampered with

Digitally signed documents on our Dedoco platforms are tamper-proof. Signatures are hashed along with document data, making them tamper-proof, counterfeit-proof and verifiable audit records demonstrate compliance with governance, regulations and procedures. All users can instantly verify documents and retrieve complete document history to support audits.

4) Digital signatures are not legally binding

Digital signatures have been recognised as legally binding by a number of jurisdictions. Guidelines and standards have been laid out and digital signing providers like Dedoco have ensured that our products are fully compliant with updated regulations.

5) Digital signatures are a passing fad

Physical signatures still have their place in many situations. But where transactions need to be approved speedily and remotely, digital signatures offer higher convenience, security, speed, and cost-savings. These benefits are especially pertinent for businesses with a high volume of document signing and for high-trust sectors that deal with sensitive and confidential information. Digital signatures scale easily, allowing them to carry out their operations with a higher degree of security, privacy, and simplicity while lowering overall costs.

Inevitably, digital signatures will slowly replace wet-ink signatures in business environments where profit incentive is strongest.

‍Conclusion

Digital signing is a critical component of an overall broader trend towards increasing digitalisation. Without highly-secure digital online signatures, document management can never truly become paperless. 

With the list of benefits continually growing, it’s only a matter of time before physical wet-ink signatures are considered outdated. Decision makers need to understand the ecosystem that enables secure digital signing and choose providers that satisfy their legal obligations, internal requirements, have a proven track record, and are committed to security, flexibility, and future-proofing.

As one of Singapore’s most trusted application providers, Dedoco sets itself apart from other solutions with our platform built on next-gen technology. Our expanding suite of products and open architecture ensure that you can find the right solution to fit your enterprise needs and customise them as required. Contact our sales team with your questions and let us know how we can power your business through the digital revolution.

As new technologies emerge and are increasingly adopted, companies have to adapt to the pace of digital transformation or risk being left behind. Reshaping well-established industry norms and workplace practices to fit into a digital-first environment is a significant challenge for business leaders.

Executing a successful digital transformation involves clarity of vision, transparency over objectives, partnerships with the right stakeholders, and proper training for staff. Before you can reap the rewards of digitising your workflows, proper ground work has to be done to ensure that your organisation is ready for the transformation. Here are some tips to help companies digitise.

1) Get Everyone On Board

Pushing through major changes to business processes and operations requires buy-in from everyone in the company. From top management down to lower-level employees, the entire organisation needs to be aligned with a clear vision for digital transformation. Communication is essential, and employees need to understand the value-propositions of transformative new technologies and be given ample time to adapt to the new business practices.

Dedoco’s digital signing solutions have a clear value proposition - to support organisations on their digital transformation journey through improved productivity, cost-savings, simplified business operations, all while ensuring strict legal and regulatory compliance. We are committed to providing trust and security to document workflows. Collectively, our suite of enterprise apps and APIs are powered by a broad trust engine which ensures that all digital records are traceable and verifiable, even by third-parties. This is all done while documents remain securely in the clients’ own data repository to protect the integrity of the information contained within, enabling complete regulatory compliance. 

For companies looking to venture towards virtual signing, the merits of the technology have to be clearly communicated to employees to encourage adoption of new digital processes. Once employees understand the core purpose behind changes and how it benefits the organisation and them, the transition to going digital becomes more frictionless and less painful.

Learn More: 5 Ways E-Signatures Can Improve Your Workplace Productivity

2) Work With The Right Provider

When it comes to organisational change, no one size fits all. It’s important to be able to customise digital solutions to fit your unique operational needs. Creating strategic partnerships with technology providers offers companies a chance to obtain the maximum benefits from digital transitions while also reducing friction from a mismatch in expectations and delivery.

The biggest challenge concerning the switch away from intensive paper-based processes is rooted in security and privacy concerns. In the third quarter of 2022 alone, a total of 108.9 million online accounts were breached. Quarter-on-quarter, this represents an increase of 70% as compared to the second quarter of 2022.

Learn more: 3 Questions To Ask Your Electronic Signature Provider

Navigating this cybersecurity landscape is a difficult task for organisations looking to adopt digital signing solutions and increase usage of e-signatures. At Dedoco, we believe the solution lies in enterprise Web3 adoption with decentralisation, true ownership of documents, digital identification and tamper-proof verification.

Our suite of products include:

• dSign - A document signing solution that uses advanced signature encryption and verification
• dVideoSign - A signing solution with security enabled video and virtual room functions
• dCert - A tamper proof decentralised digital certification

We work closely with our enterprise partners to find the right product that can suit their business model whether it is something ready-to-use or custom solutions. We also provide options for you to create custom workflows with our open API environment for developers.

3) Train Your Staff

Successful digital transformations are more than providing the right tools and technologies to your employees. You need to ensure that every level of your organisation has the capabilities and knowledge of best-practices in order to take full advantage of new digital infrastructure. 

In order to bridge skill gaps, comprehensive and focused training has to be conducted to empower existing employees to become competent users of new digital technologies. Developing in-house training programmes and encouraging a culture of innovation and workplace efficiency can go a long way in driving digital transformation.

In choosing the right solution provider, it is also important to consider how intuitive and easy to adopt their solution is and if they provide options of a ready-to-use or customisable solution, like Dedoco.

In the market for digital signing solutions or want to make the switch to secure electronic signatures? Dedoco is a decentralised digital document signing platform that provides clients across various sectors with trusted and verifiable next-gen document solutions that can integrate with existing platforms. Contact us today to learn more about our plans and subscriptions, or send us your questions. Our support team will get back to you.