Digital Signature Blog

Lessen Our Impact on Trees

Everyday we use an amazing array of forest products. Forest products include more than just paper. Working together we can lessen the impact we have on the earth by eliminating the amount of paper we use.

Human beings have used forest products for thousands of years, and throughout history, cultures have struggled to obtain wood and manage forests. Today, more than ever, the world’s forests provide a treasure trove of valuable raw materials, from wood and paper to pharmaceuticals and food. The art and science of forest
management is constantly evolving.

We have learned more about forest management in the last 50 years than we learned in the previous 500 years.

However, as our population continues to grow and the demand for forest products increases, wise management and use of forest resources is all the more critical. Deforestation is one of the top recognized causes of the greenhouse affect. Plants and trees remove carbon from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. The decay and burning of wood release much of the carbon back into the atmosphere.

It's time for businesses to switch to digital and stop wasting trees on outdated practices.

Everyone can do something... just be mindful every time you use paper products.

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How Close Are We To Going Paperless?

Given the advantages of a paperless office, why is society not yet there?

The answer is deceptively simple: There is no substitute on the market today that is as portable, durable, simple, and accessible as paper for every aspect of a businesses functions. In fact, contrary to the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions’ study, the consumption of paper per capita in the United States has grown 43% since 1980, according to the American Forest and Paper Association. This works out to about 2 pounds of paper per person per day (Hilgen, 2000).

The transformation to paperless is not a painless undertaking. It requires carefully thought out implementation schedules from management and unbridled commitment from the entire organization. Paper is a medium which everyone can use and to which everyone has access. Why transform a business into using a medium of information exchange that is not comfortable to everyone? Another contributor to the slow transformation to the paperless office is the lack of standardization, particularly in relation to electronic-based office forms as well as digital signature solutions.

Business communications, documents and forms work well with digital signatures and flow simply eliminating the need for paper documents.

A 3-STEP PROCESS For Digital Signature Solutions

Step # 1 : Document creation, collaboration and revision.
Step # 2 : Document circulation, approval and execution.
Step # 3 : Document archive and retrieval.

Standard e-signature solutions have, until now, focused on low risk transactions and low volume applications. SIGNiX SIGNOLOGY is the next-generation solution that delivers significant value to companies by allowing business critical applications involving important legal and financial transactions to be digitally signed as part of a fully automated electronic process.

Transitioning To The Paperless College Admissions Office

Going paperless in your Admissions Office is difficult and costly if not done correctly. Creating an effective paperless plan can increase applications, assure compliance and minimize transition costs.

With the transition to a paperless admissions system, students applying to colleges and universities should find the process faster and more dependable, not to mention more helpful to counselors.

Making every applicant’s documents available electronically streamlines the process, saves time, and virtually eliminates the risk of losing materials. In addition, any admissions staff member can access a student’s file. That all adds up to better service for counselors and students alike.

By using SIGNiX for Education, both public and private universities – as well as institutions and medical colleges – are expanding student services, improving financial performance, enhancing operational visibility and reducing costs. The result is better management of communications for campus activities, student lifecycle, research, grants, financials, operations, human capital, procurement, and assets.

How Does SIGNiX Work for Higher Education?

* Provides the convenience of signing/reviewing documents, regardless of format, from anywhere
* Facilitates rapid completion of a transaction without delay
* Reduces direct costs of printing, overnight deliveries, couriers, copying, filing, storing, etc.
* Provides immediate application processing and obtains consent for background search for students, staff and volunteers
* Helps reduce the resources and costs associated with preparing, reviewing and archiving student and employment packages
* Helps provide a positive on-boarding experience for new students and new staff

Admissions will become fully paperless once more schools make the switch to electronic transcripts, greatly reducing the amount of time it takes to process an application. Timalyn O’Neill, Assistant Director of Admissions, said, “I’m confident this will result in even better service for students and counselors.”

Removing Obstacles To The Paperless Office

Many professionals dream of a "paperless office." No paper equals no paperwork, right? For physicians the day has come where satisfying patient clinical encounters come and go without the hassle and aggravation of finding and reviewing mounds of medical records for each patient. Missing charts and misplaced labs no longer have to exist.

In the past, the percentage of revenue invested for information technology in the health care industry has been significantly less than other major industries, such as financial services. With health care being an information intensive endeavor, the complexity of the information needs, and the reluctance of some physicians in health care to adapt effectively to paperless solutions.

There are several reasons why businesses don't begin the paperless process, some of those reasons are:

It is not the way we do it.
I don’t know where to start.
It is too expensive.
It’s unreliable.
Confidentiality is compromised.
The whole world is not doing it.
It decreases productivity.

There are a variety of physicians practice management software applications that have been developed, and now there are digital signature solutions for the health care industry as well. By using a digital signature solution, you are able to cure some of the immediate challenges - improving patient care, controlling costs, meeting government regulations.

The result is streamlining and integrating your health care processes – administrative and patient-related records, documents, forms and business communications which allows you to reduce costs and increase the amount of time spent on patient care.

Digital signatures replace the paper and pen in a fast paced environment, and slow and expensive paper-based approval processes with fast, low-cost, and fully digital processes with the patient, throughout the health care industry.

Going Paperless Is A Process

The decision to go paperless is by far the easiest part of the whole process. The actual act of becoming paperless is a long process and should be planned in advance. At the outset, it seems impossible, but with some planning it can be a much smoother process. After the initial planning the the most important thing you can do is take Action! How do you attack this project? A little bit at a time.

Come up with a clearly written out schedule and stick to it. Measure it by either amount of files scanned in a day or number of hours spent scanning during the course of the day. Set aside one hour a day scanning. It sometimes ends up taking more time than we expect but in the end makes a huge difference. The point is to get started and to chip away at the monster a little bit everyday.

One misconception that many people have when starting out is that just opening a file and throwing it in the scanner is all that needs to be done. Scanning files and using less paper is just the beginning. In order to reduce further paperwork use digital signatures. In medical, financial, real estate, and government offices, often times documents have to be signed multiple times maning many pages are printed and usually several copies. Using a digital signature in these cases will greatly reduce paper as well as postage, paper and employee costs that are associated with such processes.

The Benefits of Using A Digital Signature Solution:

    * Signer Authenticity
    * Reduced Processing Time
    * Reduced Operational Costs
    * Security and Confidentiality for Documents and Data
    * Enhanced Process Efficiency and Optimization
    * Speedy Decision-making and Approval Process
    * Non-repudiation and Integrity

When people think of a paperless office, they usually focus on how to store documents in a digital form. This is important, but it misses the real point of going paperless. The real benefit comes from creating  documents in way that they are digital for the entire lifetime. Once a document gets printed out, you’ve broken the paperless life cycle.

Going Green is an opportunity to innovate and help the environment.

A True Commitment To Going Paperless

Going Paperless

Sounds easy doesn't it? You just decide one day that you're going to make your office a paperless one, as if becoming paperless was as easy as just making a conscience decision to do so. If that was the case wouldn't everyone be paperless, from the work at home mom to the largest insurance company? I would hope so, but I doubt it, which is partly the reason why it may just be impossible to become truly paperless. In order to become totally paperless every individual or business that your company works with must become paperless as well. Is that likely to happen soon? It's not likely.

If you're waiting to go paperless when everyone else does you'll be waiting a long time. Do it now. Make a hard, determined decision to go paperless and begin the long but ultimately rewarding process of getting it done. Concentrate on the future benefits of becoming paperless instead of dwelling on the seemingly insurmountable task of physically getting it done. It will be a large undertaking, but it is very achievable and not as difficult as one might think.

One part of going paperless is the digitizing your files. Do you have to filter your files first? No, of course not, but it sure will help in the future if you ever need to retrieve that information. Some of you may be fortunate enough to already know without a doubt that every document in every file is important, and therefore, will be scanned. In that case all you need to do is get busy scanning.

    * Remember to attack the monster one day at a time.
    * Quantify each days work by time or number of files.
    * Set a goal and schedule for each the week and stick to it.
    * Filter useless paperwork from files to be scanned.
    * Get busy scanning or pay someone to get busy for you.

The other step that must be taken is to put in place a digital signature solution for your company. Despite the myriad challenges faced by large institutions in today’s economic climate, it might just prove to be a perfect time for small- and medium-sized institutions to focus on green initiatives and grab market share from their competitors who have put these inniatives on the back burner.

In this age of Internet and mobile transactions, it’s hard to imagine some industries such as banks operating without paper. Whether a customer completes a paper application or internal documents are passed along for signatures most employees and customers still assume all transactions end with a stack of paperwork and a “wet” signature on the bottom line. There is technology that can reduce everyday paper use, while reducing costs.

The solution is to create an enterprise-wide digital environment that is superior to a paper-based environment—one that customers want to join because it makes their lives easier. There’s growing evidence that such green efforts boost the bottom line and can help companies outperform their competitors. It’s an opportunity to innovate and help the environment.

Digital Signatures: The Solution for the Paperless Office

With budget reductions affecting most businesses, there is an urgent need to improve efficiency and reduce costs. One of the easiest areas to reduce costs is those associated with printing countless documents that usually have to be scanned at a later date.

The slow rollout of digital signatures—despite laws clearly establishing their parity with wet signatures—exemplifies the inefficiencies still plaguing the digital world. E-signatures are a key step in executing a document management strategy. "With an e-signature, a document can be turned around in minutes not days." No matter how good the rest of the online experience is, “anytime you need an ink signature you trip yourself up by falling into the paper mode.” Nicole Kealey, Adobe

When people think of a paperless office, they usually focus on how to store documents in a digital form. This is important, but it misses the real point of going paperless. The real benefit comes from creating  documents in way that they are digital for the entire lifetime. Once a document gets printed out, you’ve broken the paperless life cycle.

THE GREEN BOTTOM LINE

Going green is almost synonymous with going paperless. By shedding paper a business can reduce the enormous environmental and business costs associated with paper’s creation, transport and disposal. However, kicking the paper habit will not be easy. Consumers’ hearts are in the right place, but if the paperless process is inconvenient or confusing most are not going to switch. It’s up to businesses to create a digital environment that consumers want to join because it is superior to their current paper-based environment. Some institutions are already working toward this goal by more fully automating back-end processes and making better use of digital signatures.

Despite the myriad challenges faced by large institutions in today’s economic climate, it might just prove to be a perfect time for small- and medium-sized institutions to focus on green initiatives and grab market share from their competitors who have put these inniatives on the back burner. It’s an opportunity to innovate and help the environment.