Modern organizations must be agile and efficient to compete in today’s business environment. Forget about that old-school pen and paper (and the email-print-sign-scan-email process, which is almost as bad). Adopt the speed and convenience of electronic signatures to enhance overall productivity and responsiveness.
In this blog, you’ll get a direct, simple guide on how to set up e-signature so you can seamlessly integrate it into your operations and accelerate your business workflows.
Three Benefits of Electronic Signatures
Whether your organization is a small startup, a medium-sized business, or a large enterprise, electronic signatures can yield immediate benefits that your stakeholders will appreciate — the kind that might even make it into your Company Kudos Slack channel.
Three benefits of electronic signature tools include:
- Quicker Turnaround: Instead of waiting days or even weeks for physical documents to be signed and returned via postal mail (or printed, scanned, and emailed), e-signatures accomplish this task almost instantaneously. Contracts can be completed quickly, accelerating sales cycles.
- Reduced Costs: No more reams of printing paper or costly postal charges; implementing e-signatures cuts these peripheral expenses dramatically.
- Environmentally Friendly: Utilizing e-signatures is another way companies can show their commitment to sustainability—fewer trees chopped for paper production equates to cleaner air and a greener planet.
How to Set Up E-Signature in Six Steps
Setting up an electronic signature solution might sound like building a custom home, but it doesn’t have to be so complex. Here’s how to set up e-signature IKEA-style in six easy steps (and hopefully no leftover screws).
1. Choose a Solution with the Right Features
Automation platforms are meant to simplify life, not complicate it. Look for solutions that have the following electronic signature features.
- Simple and Intuitive User Experience: Prioritize providers that offer a straightforward and user-centered platform. Navigation should be intuitive and collaboration should be a core element of the product.
- Cloud Native: With remote work becoming increasingly common, investing in cloud-native electronic signature provides enhanced security and document access from anywhere, anytime.
- Salesforce Integration: Choose a platform that integrates with Salesforce and can pull data to dynamically fill and update documents — and write that data back to the CRM.
- Customizable: Your chosen solution should be adaptable to the way your business works. That means customizable emails, signer profiles, automations, and workflows.
2. Build The Business Case For E-Signature — And Sell It
You’ll need to secure buy-in from key decision-makers to roll out e-signatures across your organization. To make a well-constructed business case:
- Identify and Articulate Your Challenges: Start by outlining the current challenges your organization faces due to paper-based or manual workflows (e.g., excessive time spent on manual routing and approvals, lost or misplaced paperwork, and potential security risks).
- Map Challenges to Concrete Business Benefits: Demonstrate how e-signatures can directly address these challenges and deliver tangible benefits (e.g., greater efficiency, less interdepartmental friction, customer satisfaction, and faster sales cycles leading to more revenue).
- Strengthen Your Case with Real-World Examples: Provide specific examples from your business to illustrate the potential impact of e-signatures. For instance, “emailing documents back and forth for edits and approvals takes a lengthy 6 days. By implementing e-signatures, we can streamline this process and reduce turnaround time to just 2-3 days.”
3. Integrate E-Signature into Your Existing Tools and Workflow
Once you have chosen your platform and received buy-in from your organization, it’s time to implement the platform and integrate it into your teams’ workflows. If you’ve chosen a good platform, the implementation process itself should be very straightforward.
From there, execute integrations with your Salesforce CRM, email platform, project management resource, and legal and compliance tools. Take user feedback into account while maneuvering through the electronic signature setup so you can make continuous improvements to the process.
4. Set Up Automations and Customizations
Once e-signatures are integrated, look to add custom automations to provide further efficiencies and take full advantage of the electronic signature features available. For instance, you could automate follow-up emails for pending signatures, set up dynamic templates that pull data from Salesforce, or kick-off invoice creation using triggers you specify.
5. Ensure User Adoption
The implementation journey extends beyond installation or integration. Commit to creating a successful digital employee experience (DEX) by conducting training sessions, offering troubleshooting resources, and maintaining comprehensive documentation to actively foster adoption among employees. Ideally, choose a vendor that will engage with you in this process, ensuring everyone can make the most of the platform.
6. Measure Your ROI
Lastly, measure the return on investment (ROI) following the integration of your new e-signature technology. Increased efficiency, reduced costs associated with paperwork, and improved customer satisfaction levels serve as indicators of successful implementation. Remember – consistent tracking will give you the data you need to determine where improvements are necessary.
How to Set Up E-Signature with S-Docs
Discover the efficiency of streamlining business operations through electronic signatures with S-Docs. We offer a feature-laden platform that has all the benefits of a custom home, but only requires an Allen wrench. We prioritize simplicity and security to help your people easily adopt e-signatures into their workflows.
With powerful analytical tools for tracking e-signature usage, S-Docs ensures your investment delivers value, allowing you to monitor efficiencies and optimize processes. Still not sure how to set up e-signature? Let us help. Request a free demo today!
