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SIGNING AWAY: EVOLVING LAW OF ELECTRONIC
SIGNATURES & PAPERLESS OFFICE
Electronic signatures have become common-place for many enterprises, with the
familiar squiggle on an electronic screen ranging from major banks to small businesses.
These signatures are essential components of invoice automation and paperless
document management, and lawmakers have been moving forward in establishing
better laws to ensure they can be implemented anywhere.
The statistics
In a 2014 survey on the processes and use of digital signatures, ALM and CoSign by
ARX found that 49 percent of documents are printed for one reason alone: so signatures
can be collected. Additionally, 40 percent of businesses said that they were currently
using electronic signatures with electronic workflow in the office.
Respondents said their legal departments were heavily involved in the adoption
of electronic signatures, with 41 percent citing them as the most interested in electronic
signature use. This comes as no surprise as the convenience of invoice automation and
paperless document management greatly affects legal departments in all businesses.
E-signature law across the ocean
According to The Register, the European Union has recently updated e-signature rules
to help establish invoice automation in business procedures. This was pushed by many
who asserted that paperless document management provides organizations with the
best way to process materials in the office.

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"I believe the European Union should modernize and turn all public administrations
digital ... and the commission should lead by example and become paperless, both in-
house and when interacting with the public," said Steelie Neelie Kroes, the digital
agenda commissioner for EU, to The Register.
The original electronic signature law that was made in the E.U. in 1999 has proved to be
troublesome for those who attempt to establish electronic signatures, as it doesn't work
with cloud or mobile technology, the source pointed out. The new Electronic
Identification and Trust Services will be established in 2016.
E-signature law at home
Meanwhile, in the United States, Michael Dillon wrote in The Huffington Post and
pointed out that electronic signatures have been legal since the ESIGN Act was passed
in 2000. However, the establishment of electronic signatures and electronic invoicing
along with it has been slow. Not unlike the E.U.'s signature law from 1999, the ESIGN Act
has become outdated and barred many from adopting electronic signatures as a staple.
Most recently, senators Ron Wyden, John McCain and Anna Eshoo wrote that they were
"concerned about the extent of the adoption of electronic signatures within the federal
government," according to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, according to
the HuffPost. These senators set out to determine why the process has been too slow
to adopt electronic signatures, as this has been preventing the government from
creating more environmentally productive paperless offices and electronic workflow.
"Electronic signatures have reduced paper burdens for consumers and streamlined
business operations throughout the United States, providing remarkable consumer
gains in terms of convenience, ease of use, transaction speed and reduced costs," Eshoo,
McCain and Wyden wrote to Congress, according to The Hill. "We believe the federal
government can experience similar benefits by expanding the use of electronic
signatures to improve efficiency, productivity and accountability throughout the
government."
Paperless documentation advantages
Electronic signatures are essential enough for electronic invoicing that these movements
of law have encouraged businesses and the government to adopt invoice automation.
The benefits have been evident by its use - HuffPost mentioned that safety and ease of
use put electronic signatures ahead of their handwritten counterparts, and that they also
have the ability to support remote transactions. Document management software also
allows for e-signatures to be used in real time, which means that all of the stakeholders
can see which documents are in the signing process.

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The Huffington Post mentioned the first time e-signatures and electronic
documentation was said to be an advantage in business was, surprisingly, 1869.
According to the source, in Howley v. Whipple, the New Hampshire Supreme Court said,
"It makes no difference whether [the telegraph] operator writes with a steel pen an inch
long attached to an ordinary penholder, or whether his pen be a copper wire a thousand
miles long. Nor does it make any difference that in one case common record ink is used,
while in the other case a more subtle fluid, known as electricity, performs the same
office."
With advantages of paperless document management going that far back, there is
no doubt that businesses should be taking advantage of it today.
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Tags: electronic workflow, Industry News, paperless office, document management software