A Forrester Research survey found that documents with electronic signatures reduced the error rate by 80% and improved productivity by as much as 85%. These are just some of the statistics which highlight the potential disruptive power of technologies like eSignature and eIdentification in transforming digital businesses.

As the digital age marches on, businesses are relying more heavily on moving the entire transaction life cycle to a digital platform. Here, we look at some of the ways how businesses are benefiting from technologies like digital trusts services, eID and so on.

It’s about speed and productivity

Many digital businesses rely on rapid delivery of services and convenience as their primary USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Anything that slows down this rapid service delivery (like signing paper contracts) can affect their business model. This is why digital businesses are adopting electronic identification, eSignature and trusts services at a much faster rate than ever before. According to the Forrester research survey, 65% of the queries related to eSignatures were received from companies which already use the Software-as-a-Service business model.

It is apparent that SaaS companies, which rely on immediate product/ service delivery would see a major benefit in the ability to quickly and effortlessly enter into contracts. Even traditional businesses would see the benefit in this. This is why the robust and secure framework offered by eIDAS is so relevant to the European market. It provides businesses with the contractual and transactional security and enforceability that they need to operate on a fully digital platform.

It’s about security

Although electronic identification and trust services help greatly with the turnaround time to transact or enter into a contract, it is still done without compromising on security. In fact, these technologies provide an additional level of security and trust to all parties engaged in the transaction. Furthermore, a digital process allows for real time and automatic monitoring and greatly reduces the chance of fraud and the time taken to detect it. Such a system also allows for better auditability in the future.

The eIDAS regulation provides businesses with the necessary level of security and trust to enter into contracts and deliver services on a digital platform. This is true form a legal enforceability point of view as well.

It’s about convenience

As the world becomes ever more connected, the number of product or service providers that a consumer can choose from increases exponentially. This has meant that the focus has been shifting heavily towards the consumer and his or her preferences are more important than ever before.  It is this cutting-edge competition that has forced businesses to adapt and adopt technologies like eSignatures which provides the consumer with a much better service experience.

eIDAS provides for seamless and convenient electronic identification and authentication for immediate service delivery for digital businesses. The framework works just as well for cross-border transactions across the EU and this is the level of service that most consumers have come to expect.

Conclusion

The focus of today’s digital businesses is definitely on improving the customer experience to the greatest extent possible. However, they have to do this while also guaranteeing security and ensuring the legal enforceability of the contracts they enter into. Regulations like eIDAS provide the complete framework to achieve these goals in the EU and create a modern and unified digital single marketplace.

References

• Forrester Research Data taken from the Source:
  InfoCert Webinar: Disruptive Power of eIDAS (3/2018), by InfoCert

• Selected articles on eIDAS (2014-today), by Gaurav Sharma, Guillaume Forget, Stefan Hansen, Jan Kjaersgaard , Peter Landrock, Torben Pedersen, Dawn M. Turner, and more

• Selected articles on Authentication (2014-today), by Heather Walker, Luis Balbas, Guillaume Forget, Jan Kjaersgaard, Dawn M. Turner and more

• Selected articles on Electronic Signing and Digital Signatures (2014-today), by Ashiq JA, Guillaume Forget, Jan Kjaersgaard , Peter Landrock, Torben Pedersen, Dawn M. Turner, Tricia Wittig and more

• REGULATION (EU) No 910/2014  on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (2014) by the European Parliament and the European Commission

• REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (2016), by the European Parliament and the European Council

• Proposal for a REGULATION concerning the respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing Directive 2002/58/EC (Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications), (2017), by the European Parliament and the European Council

• Recommendations for the Security of Internet Payments (Final Version) (2013), by the European Central Bank
• Draft NIST Special Publication 800-63-3: Digital Authentication Guideline (2016), by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA.
• NIST Special Publication 800-63-2: Electronic Authentication Guideline (2013), by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA.
• Security Controls Related to Internat Banking Services (2016), Hong Kong Monetary Authority

 Image: Unicorn, courtesy of Emre Ayaroglu, Flickr (CC BY 2.0)