Opting for an electronic signature application with Adobe Sign

Note : This page has been translated into English from French by a machine translation tool

In a somewhat unusual global healthcare context, and with the predominant place that digital technologies are taking in our lives, solutions that aim to dematerialize the commitment of each party to a contract most likely have a bright future ahead of them. Whether you want to improve the efficiency of your sales department as a professional or simply want to simplify your life by significantly limiting the amount of paper documents to be processed and stored if you are a private individual, the electronic signature will undoubtedly be an opportunity to achieve your goals. This is a good thing, since some software or online tools have appeared and have already been developed to allow you to eliminate or considerably reduce the number of paper contracts that you will sign on a daily basis. Not surprisingly, Adobe Sign is one of them…

The electronic signature, general presentation

But let’s start with the basics, and in particular what an electronic signature actually is, even if this reminder will not necessarily be necessary for each of us. The electronic signature is a system allowing the manifestation of the consent of the parties to a digital contract and whose legal value is identical to a commitment through a paper contract with their handwritten signatures. Concretely, documents no longer need to be printed and each party can authenticate and sign them electronically without altering their commitment value.

The electronic signature obviously has several advantages over a handwritten signature. First of all, it makes it possible to limit human contact, especially in order to slow down the spread of a virus in active circulation, as may be the case nowadays, but this is not the only interest. Limiting contact also means no longer needing to meet or travel, for example when the contracting parties are geographically distant, thus reducing transport costs and at the same time reducing their ecological impact. In the same way, printing paper documents can be a significant expense, especially for a company. So, having customers or employees sign contractual documents electronically means reducing the number of printouts and, at the same time, again reducing the cost of paper or ink, and even making substantial savings on printing equipment, which will last longer if less is used. And again, the impact that mass production of paper can have on deforestation. Finally, let’s not forget that if the parties are geographically distant but nevertheless decide not to travel, a handwritten signature on original documents imposes a minimum of postage costs that can naturally be avoided with an electronic signature.

So, as you will have understood, the mission of the electronic signature is to gradually replace the traditional pen signature. In addition to the advantages mentioned above, it would seem that it leads to an extremely important gain in efficiency for a company with, in particular, greater ease and speed in obtaining contract signatures. And that makes sense! If you allow your customers to sign documents from anywhere and to do so when they have the time, you naturally free yourself from the constraint of finding a time slot that is available for both you and them. But efficiency is also achieved by making follow-up much easier. Indeed, if you can gather all of your contractual documents on the same platform and check in a few seconds where you are with their signature, you save yourself the need to open dozens of files sometimes to perform the same task when you only work with handwritten signatures. And let’s not forget the risk of misplacing, losing or mixing up documents when working with paper documents. In addition, it is suitable for all types of contracts, from purchase orders to employment contracts and liability waivers, for example.

At this stage, the electronic signature seems to dominate the handwritten signature in all points… And it is the case! However, if its objective is to have the same value of commitment and can be used as evidence before a court in case of dispute, it is important for this to respect certain rules. It is indeed necessary that an electronic signature service meets standards in order to provide its validity. We won’t go into detail here, but we can cite in this context compliance with the ISO 27001 standard, relating in particular to the management and security of information systems, as well as the eIDAS regulation, which defines the conditions for the validity of an electronic signature for all European Union member states.

There are several types of electronic signatures that depend on the level of security desired by one or all of the parties but also on the regulations on the category or type of contract signed. In particular, it is possible to create an advanced electronic signature by requiring each of the signatories to have a digital certificate issued by an accredited certification authority that will enable them to be identified. There are of course several ways of authenticating a signatory, such as using an e-mail address or a code sent to his or her cell phone.

Digital signature solutions from Adobe

Now that we’ve seen what the principle of digital signatures is all about, we’ll be able to see how to start benefiting from this service right now with Adobe Acrobat Pro and Adobe Sign. If you need a single license with basic functionality, you can turn to Adobe Acrobat Pro with the digital signature service, available for both Windows and macOS operating systems. The software is available on a monthly or one-year commitment basis. In the latter case, you can choose to pay monthly or opt for prepaid. The latter is a solution that is perfectly adapted to individuals who will have only minimal and occasional use. But what if you need an electronic signature solution for a team of employees or an entire structure ? That’s where Adobe Sign comes in…

Adobe Sign is the most comprehensive version of Adobe Sign that enables you to take advantage of the electronic signature services offered by Adobe. There are Small Business Sign and Business Sign and Enterprise Sign packages. The Small Business Sign package is suitable for businesses that require one to nine user licenses. The second is designed for larger organizations. In this case, you can contact Adobe for a personalized offer.

But then, Adobe Sign, how does it work ? First of all, it’s a relatively simple tool that allows those who have contracts or documents to sign to get them to their recipients in just a few clicks. Concretely, all you have to do is load your document in PDF format into Adobe Sign, choose your recipient and send the document by e-mail. All the recipient has to do is click on the link in the e-mail, which will open the signature interface in their web browser, allowing them to view the document and then access the signature insert. There, several possibilities are available to him. He can either sign by typing his name on the keyboard, produce a freehand signature using the mouse, or load an image file of his handwritten signature. Finally, if he wishes to produce a freehand signature but is not on a device with a touch screen, he can also choose to send a signature link to himself on his smartphone for example, so that he can sign on his screen with his finger or with a stylus. Once this step is completed, the signed document is immediately available for download so that it can be archived or, probably less useful, printed. The document is also sent to each of the parties involved by e-mail as soon as the signature is completed.

However, it is not always the case that documents require only a simple signature and sometimes they need to be completed by the recipient with additional data. Indeed, contracts where some additional information is requested or even a form is to be filled in are common. Here again, there is no problem handling this type of document in Adobe Sign and they can also be managed from the same interface. As previously mentioned, Adobe Sign allows a recipient to sign his or her document directly through a tool running in his or her web browser. Thus, the service works on computer, tablet and smartphone at the same time and above all, it does not require any download or additional module to allow your recipients to sign the documents you send them.

But Adobe Sign doesn’t just work with PDF documents. If you want to digitally sign contract documents produced in Word or purchase orders generated with Salesforce CRM, Adobe Sign integrates seamlessly with many productivity tools you may already use in your business. Some extensions are available on Adobe Exchange (see our Adobe Exchange article for more information). If you want to send a document for signing from a cloud service, again, Adobe Sign can be integrated with services such as Dropbox and Google Drive.

With Mega Sign, Adobe Sign also enables you to send the same form to up to several thousand recipients in case you need to have a large number of people complete and sign the same document. In this case, you can send a single mailing by importing your recipient list and sending it with a single click.

As we have said before, this solution offers significant advantages when it comes to tracking signatures. Adobe Sign makes your life easier. For example, using the same example as above, it allows you to send a very large number of forms, track the number of signatures and the identity of those who have already completed them in real time. You can therefore, for all your contracts, know which ones have been signed and which ones are still pending. You can then send reminders to all those who have not yet signed. If you have made a mistake you can, even after you have made the request, cancel it or change the recipient. When the sent documents are opened, you will be notified. The same applies when they are signed. A history is kept for each one of them allowing you to find the dates of signature for example, whenever you want. You can then use this information to search by document status or by signature date. The account sharing function present with the Enterprise formula allows you to access, as you will have understood, the follow-up of all the contracts concerning the same structure.

Adobe Sign also has a function that offers the possibility to convert forms from PDF files into digital forms that you can publish on your website for example. These can be registration forms, confidentiality agreements, or disclaimers.

When you are regularly on the road and don’t always have access to a computer, you may still need to take advantage of the functions offered by Adobe Sign, such as contract tracking, reminders to certain signatories or even signing directly at your clients’ premises. That’s why the Adobe Sign application is also available for your mobile devices, tablets, or smartphones running iOS and Android. It allows you to perform all of these tasks from anywhere and have your customers sign face-to-face, using their finger or a pen, for example, directly on your device. It will also allow you, thanks to its photo sensor, to digitize a paper document, to crop it in order to obtain the best possible rendering and then to convert it to PDF format in order to send it to one or more recipients for signature.

Finally, as is often the case with Adobe, you’ll receive extensive online support and help to help you get started with Adobe Sign and take advantage of its advanced features.