How Electronic Signatures Boost Government Efficiency and Responsiveness

 

Today, every industry and sector needs to adapt to the latest digital trends. In terms of embracing technological advancements, the private sector is almost always one step ahead of the public sector. However, governments and local institutions clearly need to adapt to innovation and follow the trend, so they can maximize efficiency in governance processes and ensure that their citizens’ data is secured. On a daily basis, governments and local authorities process massive amounts of documents, contracts, receipts, legal forms, etc., which all need to be approved, printed, signed, scanned, stored, and shared. This costs money and requires time, space, and maintenance.

This is exactly the reason why nowadays, the electronic signature is no longer a ‘nice to have’ tool. It is a ‘must-have’ mechanism that allows governments to remain agile, efficient, responsive, transparent, and ultimately digitally transformed, keeping pace with latest developments at an international and global level. There are several good reasons why governments and local institutions greatly benefit from adopting the e-signature:

Saving time and money spent on processes. – When governments implement the e-signature, considerable amounts of money are saved, which comes as a result of reducing the amount of paper usage, ink, shipping, maintenance, etc. Also, in terms of time consumption, using the traditional paper-based signature wastes a lot of time by performing processes which – with the e-signature – would take just a couple of seconds. In a globalized world characterized by mobility, shipping of a signed document to another continent usually takes several days, while with using the e-signature, signing and counter-signing can be done within minutes.

Enhance responsiveness and efficiency. The  government’s daily work involves ever-increasing amounts of data that needs to be processed, ultimately resulting in delays in service delivery and limitations to responsiveness. Investments in the e-signature can help governments not only to ensure responsiveness but also to enhance efficiency by enabling citizens and employees to review and sign documents at their convenience.

Security mechanisms. It is evident that a significant amount of governmental documents are confidential . By using the e-signature,  documents become automatically attached with a high-security and authentication encryption which is almost impossible to break.

Environmental protection. The government should play a leading role in conserving the environment. Implementation of the e-signature results in a significant reduction of paper usage and other printing materials that have a clearly negative environmental impact.

It is indisputable that the e-signature can have a transformational effect on public sector institutions. However, certain criteria need to be considered before choosing the right e-signature solution. First of all, governments need to focus on selecting the adequate mechanism. Since the e-signature is intended to make the lives of citizens easier, the chosen system should not only cut government costs but concomitantly needs to be user-friendly, enabling easy access to services. Secondly, data security is of key importance and one of the major concerns of every organization. Some point to a direct link between paperless documents and data breach, however, it is up to governments to conduct their due diligence and identify the best provider that offers sufficient flexibility and secure data deployment at the same time.

Overall, the e-signature can help government to address several of the main paper-related challenges. Through implementing the e-signature, governments not only increase their efficiency but also reallocate their resources to offer more and better services. ECIKS specializes in helping top-level decision-makers in the economy, the public sector, and in politics to constantly seek viable solutions to today’s governance challenges. Our experts have extensive knowledge and expertise in e-signature application. To find out more, get in touch with our team.

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