Digitalization has been in the forefront of reducing paper use for a long time. These days, it’s rare to find an organization that doesn’t have a digitalization strategy. However, organizations often face challenges with implementation.
Printed to become a waste problem
Almost every paper used in the office today turns into tomorrow´s waste problem. While recycling paper certainly helps, it’s only a treatment for the symptom, which can almost always be avoided. Moreover, when running a company in 2024, the benefits of becoming paperless can be critical to its success.
The International Chamber of Commerce estimating that 4 billion paper documents are moving through the global trade system daily. It is clear that we are far from being paperless as a global society. Managing paper physically is costly. Research indicates that the average cost to file a single document is about $20, $120 to find a misplaced document, and $220 to .... In Germany, paper consumption in 2021 was at 19 million tons with 31% being related to the graphic and office sector. Over the last 20 years, Germany has only managed to reduce this by 40%, often because the “print” button continues to be used without much consideration. Naturally, no office is 100% paperless - a few notes in a paper-based notebook or the physical calendars on desks are not the main drivers. Instead, the paperless approach focuses on the cases, where going digital just makes sense. Organizations that go paperless can clearly demonstrate an impact on sustainability with a reduced carbon footprint.
Save time and resources
Digitalization of documents is not just helpful for a more sustainable future, but it also drives efficiency and time-savings, such as 28% faster cycle times and $6 savings per signed document. Starting from the creation of contracts or forms, such as invoices or delivery notes. The use of paper often just kicks off after creating and editing digitally. The approved forms and contracts are provided to different point of sales, to be printed by the employees, filled, and signed by customers or suppliers. All this just to then collect and mail many paper-based contracts, with hundreds of pages, with at least two copies out for counter signatures, and lastly storing them in a physical archive.
Process documents digitally end-to-end
By integrating document tools from Adobe, this effort and tons of paper can be saved very easily. Starting from creating, editing, sharing, and collaborating documents and creating PDF-files with a few clicks with Adobe Acrobat. Real collaboration starts with interactive document processes. Following through with Acrobat Sign, documents can easily be filled in and signed, or sent for electronic signature with a few clicks. No need for paper or the traditional mail. On the contrary, with Acrobat Sign, organizations can track which signer needs to sign next and remind them to get contracts signed in a few minutes.
Follow the example of the most successful companies
Many organizations understood the benefits of moving to 100% digital document processes. Saving paper, time, and the fact of being able to find documents at any time before, during or after signing processes has sparked excitement across industries.
Industry-leading organizations, such as (Seattle City, IMM & Merck) accelerate contract signatures with the e-signature solution from Adobe. Despite these early adopters, many organizations are yet to transform all their digital document processes into a move away from paper. In some cases, it is caused by doubt about e-signatures and their compliance. This is despite digital solutions usually providing more proof about the actual person signing it than does paper. In times where fraud and identity theft, fake news, and digital risks are increasing, Adobe provides more secure digital solutions for organizations. Acrobat Sign as Adobe´s global platform for e-signatures is integrated with an ecosystem of government and private identity verifications methods. Ready to be used to verify signers at a high level of assurance before they can sign contracts or forms.
High level of security with identity verifying Digital Signatures
Depending on laws and regulations, some contract types, such as EU work contracts or drug approval requests for the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) require higher assurance and with that digital signer certificates to be attached to the digital agreement. The certificates provide proof about the issuing Certificate Authority (CA) and the identity of the signer who will have had verified their identity. This is typically done by an Identity verification provider, which compares provided government-issued Identification Documents (ID), such as National ID cards or Passports, against the actual person. This is usually performed via Video-Identification or novel electronic ID methods, like Bank ID or Bird ID, but can depend on the governing legislation.
The signatures are obtained from the CA and often provided through a Trust Service Provider (TSP) that is integrated with Acrobat Sign, which ensures a smooth signer journey despite additional verification steps. These types of signatures are globally referred to as Digital Signatures, or also known as Advanced (AES) or Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES) in Europe.
Lastly, all electronically signed agreements are sealed in order to avoid any unwanted change without breaking the electronic seal. When opening a signed agreement in Adobe Acrobat, it automatically verifies the signatures and seal to ensure that they are valid, and the document has not been tampered with.
Using an Electronic Seal, instead of the company ink stamp
Documents that do not require signatures are easy to be copied. This is why organizations often revert to a company ink stamp on paper, which is used to proof the authenticity of the document. This ink stamp is more often than not, one of the last use cases for paper in an organization – clearly bound to an individual and unmistakable. However, even this use case can be easily digitized by using Electronic Seals (E-Seals). E-Seals are also issued by TSPs and either part of a manual send for signature operation or can be fully automated using Adobe´s APIs. The main difference between a seal and a signature is that a signature is meant for individuals (natural persons) to sign & agree to the content of a document, whereas a seal is used by a legal entity (business or organization) to demonstrate origin and authenticity of the document. E-seals can be applied by more than one person or system under the control or supervision of the legal entity.
Trust in Identity
To sum up, the paperless office often requires enough trust in the technical solution, but also its participants and their identities to become fully digital. Without secure verifications and trust, organizations and their processes remain vulnerable. That is why suppliers and customers are displaying an increased interest in collaborating with organizations that secure their processes. With the help of Adobe´s Trust and Identity Services, documents can be securely signed to ensure compliance with European and global standards and regulations like eIDAS, US ESIGN Act or the Mexican Federal Civil & Commerce Code. With the growing use of worldwide accepted digital identity standards, Adobe is a trusted advisor and partner for digital document processes.
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