Business uses of digital signature solutions

Apr 20
14:26

2016

Innes Donaldson

Innes Donaldson

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Business uses of digital signature solutions - how and why and where these solutions are used.

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Though far from perfect,Business uses of digital signature solutions Articles paper signatures serve surprisingly well in many parts of the world as the basis for business and legal transactions. This is due not to the inherent features of paper signatures, but rather to accompanying processes, supplemental contracts, and the overall context surrounding acts of signing. Various customs of witnessing, public ceremony, and evidence have emerged over time, in large part aimed at increasing the chances of accurately reconstructing events should a dispute arise later.

Paper signatures in and of themselves are generally not meaningful. In a business context, they are being more and more phased out as more and more businesses look to go with and integrate with business digital signature solutions. The use and interpretation of a paper signature are typically defined by culture and context. In businesses however, the digital format can be a sure way to see the process of signing for documents to be undertaken in a much more timely overall manner.

A popular myth is that a paper signature can be easily traced to a particular individual. In practice, this turns out to be difficult. This again goes to prove that electronic signatures do not have a lot of an upper hand on the paper / traditional format of signature. Nonetheless, this is not a problem because in most cases paper signatures are effectively a formality; their subsequent verification is rare. Where an electronic signature is concerned, there is a great deal of investment being out into this format of tech for the good and added benefit of businesses, overall. There are a great deal of logistics firms which can and have been able to make great use of devices able to carry out these roles. The devices can record the signing for of items right on the spot.

A digital signature is the term used for marking or signing an electronic document, by a process meant to be analogous to paper signatures, but which makes use of a technology known as public-key cryptography. The analogy to paper signatures is helpful, though not precise. Clearly paper signatures cannot be applied to documents that remain in electronic form. More significantly, additional security properties are required of signatures in the electronic world. These devices are very much coming into their own nowadays in terms of how and where they are able to work for the end user.