Know The Importance Of A Digital Signature For Your Company

Digital Signature: With the digitization of companies and industries, it is increasingly essential to have resources and technologies that facilitate the integration of sectors with the online environment securely and transparently.

You must have heard about a digital signature or even needed one in some management process in your company, right? However, for good data management, it is essential to understand the purposes of the tool and why it is crucial for your business.

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What Is A Digital Signature For?

Before we understand the purposes, we must first understand what a signature is. It is an online authentication technology that uses encrypted data, also known as keys, to ensure the originality and integrity of virtual documents.

It is a form of “signature” similar to authentication at a notary’s office and has the same goals :

Guarantee and ensure that the document is legitimate and complete;
Facilitate the transaction between the parties involved in contracts and agreements;
Digitize management information;
Increase the security of the company’s digital files.

In addition, another great benefit of the digital signature is the reduction of operational costs, since the signature is sufficient to ensure the legitimacy of a file, reducing expenses with authentication processes and the like that paper documents require.

Another factor to consider is the level of data security that the virtual signature guarantees. This is because the process is done as follows:

First, the document is uploaded to a digital certification platform that can be contracted through companies that provide the service;
Once the procedure is complete, the certifier creates a simplified version of the document called a hash ;
Finally, an encryption key is applied to the file (which means that it was “signed” virtually), resulting in the final version that contains three files – the original document, the digital signature, and the signing certificate.

Thanks to all these procedures and encryption, which ensures that each signature is unique and protected, it is possible to authenticate reports, contracts, and official documents, such as SPED Fiscal, for industry reports, audits, and many others.

Digital Signature vs. Electronic Signature: What’s The Difference?

Because they are similar terms, it is widespread for there to be confusion between a digital signature and an electronic signature. Although both are done in the virtual environment, there are differences between the two.

A digital signature requires a digital certificate – a virtual document containing a company’s identity information (e-CPF or e-CNPJ) and is mandatory for companies that want a digital signature – with an expiration date and complex encryption.

The electronic signature, despite also being a virtual authentication technology, does not require validation through a digital certificate, using other identification data, such as IP address, biometrics, numeric password, and the like.

Why Is It Essential To Have A Digital Signature?

Having a valid digital signature is essential not only for data security but also for factors related to your company’s management, integration, and digital inclusion – not to mention the cost reduction in management processes as a whole.

Data management, responsible for managing all the company’s data, is the sector most benefited by the tool since the archiving of digital files is much more efficient than paper contracts.

Likewise, integration between sectors becomes much more assertive, especially when contract management is done in the cloud, making it possible for all sectors of the company to store and authenticate their documents in one place.

Finally, one of the great benefits of acquiring a digital signature remains security since data theft is a significant risk to digital inclusion.

In the case of industries, which are multi-segmented by nature, the benefits of integration are the most attractive, given the need for functional approximation of all productive sectors. Cost reduction, sustainability, and process optimization are also important factors provided by technology.

How To Make A Digital Signature

A digital signature is relatively simple and involves two processes: acquiring the digital certificate and a digital signer. The certification, as we said, is mandatory and can be developed by regulated companies that provide the service.

Likewise, the digital signer is software that works as a kind of “virtual pen,” authenticating documents. For large companies, this software also has an API ( application programming interface ), which integrates with the online ERP and facilitates the entire process.

Also Read: ERP: What Are The Benefits Of Technology For Small Businesses?