In today’s highly competitive market, it is vital for your business to improve the efficiency of day-to-day operations and cut down on costs without sacrificing quality. This can help you get ahead of the competition and gain more profit.
One way to do this is to adopt digital tools such as e-signatures for documents. Traditionally, businesses relied on a fax machine to send and receive essential paperwork. It often required having a dedicated fax number, which added to overhead costs and slowed down processes.
Let’s see how using an esignature on faxes can completely revolutionize the way you run your business.
Table of Contents
- What Is an eSignature?
- Is Using an E-Signature Legal?
- Who Should Use an eSignature?
- What Are the Benefits of Using E-Signatures?
- How to Start Using an eSignature on Faxes
What Is an eSignature?
An electronic signature or esignature is used to sign documents like contracts, agreements, and forms. A significant number of people are integrating e-signatures into their faxing service, allowing them to easily add e-signatures to fax messages.
An esignature is not to be confused with digital signatures. Although they seem similar at first, digital signatures have more advanced features for increased security. Digital signatures are typically used in processes that require an intense level of safety and security standards.
Is Using an E-Signature Legal?
Using an e-signature on faxes and other binding documents is completely legal. It might be even more legally binding than the traditional ink-based signature on physical documents, especially when combined with fax signatures that help verify the sender and recipient.
E-signatures are widely recognized and considered valid in many countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
Who Should Use an eSignature?
Anyone can use and benefit from using an esignature, especially in the current landscape where everyone seems to be working remotely. An esignature just makes document processing faster and more convenient. It’s counterproductive to send physical copies of documents to the concerned individual so they can sign them.
As a business owner, it’s even more important that you integrate esignature capabilities into your current system.
You can use an electronic signature to sign the following documents:
- Contracts and agreements
- Healthcare-related documents
- Government forms and applications
- Financial services
- Legal documents such as non-disclosure agreements
What Are the Benefits of Using E-Signatures?
There are many compelling benefits of using an e-signature. Let’s discover some of them that might convince you to make the switch.
1. It cuts down on costs
Using an e-signature on faxes and other documents can save you quite a lot of money. As everything’s pretty much digital and transmitted online, not only are you going to save money on paper, but you will also reduce the amount spent on printing documents and mailing them. There’s no need to buy ink and pay for postage.
When you use an online fax service, some providers like iFax already provide an e-signature integration for free as part of their plan. This means that you do not have to spend on e-signature software. The setup is also very minimal, so it’s unnecessary to hire experts to help you integrate it, unlike traditional faxing.
2. It simplifies your workflow
Going the traditional way of document signing involves too much unnecessary work. How often have you sent a document and wondered if the other party has received it and signed it? It’s also a long-winded process if you’re at the receiving end of the transmission. It gets even more annoying and time-consuming if there are errors in the documents and they have to be sent back for correction.
Using e-signature on faxes ultimately makes this long and winding process a breeze. The document can be transmitted within minutes. If there are any revisions, they can be done and sent right away. It’s easier to track the progress of the paperwork as well.
3. It enhances safety and security
Using esignatures in facsimiles can provide you with the assurance that your documents will be handled safely and securely. Online faxing uses high encryption to thwart any data breach or hacking attempts.
It also has an audit trail, which is beneficial for regulatory compliance and during legal disputes.
4. It offers remote access for better mobility
As most of us have to work remotely, it is essential that we are equipped with tools that can help us stay on top of our tasks and promote productivity. Having e-signature capabilities allows you to sign documents regardless of where you are without needing extra equipment or software.
These days, you can use your smartphone to start using esignature on faxes, which allows for a more on-the-go life.
5. It reduces errors
It can be such a hassle to process and sign physical documents, only to find errors that need to be corrected. A great way to avoid this inconvenience is to implement form automation with your electronic signature. This would reduce errors and inaccuracies significantly. 
How to Start Using an eSignature on Faxes
You can start using e-signature on faxes by getting a reliable online faxing solution that offers this particular feature.
If you are looking for an industry-leading provider that’s trusted by millions across various companies, iFax is our number one recommendation. For as low as $8.33 a month, you can easily integrate an esignature so you can sign any documents on the go.
Aside from e-signatures, iFax offers features like 256-bit end-to-end encryption to safeguard your data. Moreover, it complies with regulatory compliance standards such as HIPAA and GLBA.
iFax allows you to send and receive faxes from any device with its cross-platform functionality. It also lets you scan documents using your mobile phone with its built-in scanner feature.
Also offering a fax API solution, iFax makes it easy to integrate online faxing into your current system. There’s no need for fancy equipment and a complicated integration process. You also get 24/7/365 customer service support, email to fax capabilities, local or toll-free numbers, and broadcast fax.
Discover more features when you sign up with iFax.
