Electronic signing is not simply a faster way to sign a PDF. If you introduce it into your business processes without a clear plan, you may end up digitizing old problems instead of actually eliminating them.
BetrSign is SETCCE’s secure, legally compliant cloud-based e-signing service, designed for companies that want to fully digitize their operations, speed up contract signing with customers, partners, or employees, and eliminate time-consuming paperwork.
The good news? All five mistakes can be avoided with proper preparation, the right questions, and the involvement of the teams that will actually participate in document-related business processes.
When a company starts thinking about electronic signing, the first reason is usually very simple: shorten the time between preparing a document and collecting the required signatures as much as possible.
No printing. No scanning. No mailing documents. No waiting and checking which signer is holding things up.
And this is exactly where the first major mistake often occurs.
Many companies see e-signing as a replacement for a fountain pen rather than an ideal opportunity to comprehensively improve business processes that are being weighed down by paperwork.
In practice, documents may be signed digitally while everything else continues exactly as before:
That kind of e-signing may be slightly better than paper, but it is hard to call it truly efficient.
To get the most out of electronic signing, think more broadly. Define:
Below, we look at five of the most common mistakes companies make when introducing e-signing into their business processes – and how to avoid them.
The easiest approach is to take an existing business process and add an electronic signature.
Instead of printing the contract, you upload it to an e-signing service. Instead of having the signer return it by mail, they sign it electronically from wherever they are. Instead of scanning the document, you receive a signed PDF.
That is certainly a step forward, but it is not yet a true digital transformation of the business. Companies often replace the tool without changing the way they work.
A 2018 McKinsey study, Unlocking success in digital transformations , found that only 16% of digital transformations were successful – meaning they actually improved business performance and sustained those improvements over the long term.
If everything surrounding the signature still works the old way, the main problems often just move into a digital environment.
For example, documents may still be created differently by different employees and reviewed through endless email ping-pong. Stakeholder roles may still be vaguely defined, with no one entirely sure who is responsible for what. Document statuses are still checked manually. Signed files are still stored in different locations.
At first glance, it may look like the company has introduced a modern solution to its paperwork problem.
In reality, it has simply digitized the old chaos.
A much better approach is to think through the document’s journey from start to finish before introducing e-signing:
Only then can e-signing make a real difference.
It no longer speeds up just the final step. It simplifies the entire document lifecycle.
Before implementation, select a few of your most common documents – contracts, amendments, purchase orders, consent forms, or internal forms – and map their current journey from initial preparation to final storage.
Then identify which steps are necessary, which are repetitive, who is responsible for each one, and which could be fully automated.
Another common mistake is assuming either that every electronic signature is appropriate for every document or that every document automatically requires a qualified electronic signature.
If you are still learning the basics, check what an electronic signature is and how to obtain one .
In reality, the right type of signature depends on the nature and purpose of the document, the level of risk involved, legal requirements, the degree of signer identification required, and the level of evidentiary strength the company may need if something goes wrong later.
The eIDAS Regulation distinguishes between three types of electronic signature:
Simple Electronic Signature (SES) is the easiest to use and does not require identity verification – for example, typing your first and last name at the end of an email – and relies on basic e-signing tools.
Advanced Electronic Signature (AES) is created using electronic-signature creation data, is uniquely linked to the signer, allows for the signer identification, is created using data that the signer can use with a high level of confidence under their sole control, and makes any subsequent changes to the signed data detectable.
Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) is based on a combination of a qualified digital certificate issued by a qualified trust service provider and a dedicated electronic signature creation device, such as a smart card, SIM card, USB token, or remote-signing solution.
You can learn more about the e-signature types and which ones BetrSign supports in our practical guide . The European Commission also explains electronic signatures at the EU level. If you fail to think this through and define it in advance, problems may appear later.
Choosing a weaker signature type for a sensitive document can make it harder to prove the agreement later. Requiring the strongest possible signature for every minor internal document, on the other hand, can unnecessarily complicate and slow business processes – while also making the signing experience worse.
Before introducing e-signing, answer one question: What documents do we sign, and what level of proof do we need?
Once that is clear, it becomes much easier to consistently select the type of electronic signature that fits each document category.
Management, IT, or the legal department often selects e-signing. But the people who actually use it may be in sales, HR, procurement, accounting, administration, department management, or among external signers.
If these teams aren't involved from the beginning, the company can easily overlook practical requirements. For example:
For external signers, the key requirement is a signing process that is as simple as possible and delivers an excellent user experience , which also depends on the people responsible for documentation in the departments above.
If the e-signing solution does not fit the way people actually work, employees will find their own ways around it.
Some will sign electronically, while others will continue printing documents. Some will use templates, while others will create every document from scratch. Some will monitor statuses in the system, while others will continue calling or emailing to find out whether a signer has signed their document.
Before implementation, involve representatives from the departments that create and sign the most documents and will use e-signing in practice.
You do not need to organize large, complicated workshops.
A few very practical questions are often enough:
Take advantage of the free 30-day trial .
You will get the most from electronic signing when your company clearly defines the document lifecycle from preparation to signature – and who needs to be involved at each stage.
There is no real shortcut here.
If you fail to define a proper signing workflow, familiar problems quickly appear:
Most documents may only require one signer. More complex transactions, however, involve a broader group of signers, so it's important to define roles and signing order, set reminders and deadlines, and appoint someone to prepare the document and monitor the process through completion.
For example: Sales prepares the contract first. Legal reviews it. The company director signs it. Finally, the customer signs it. If the order is not defined, the document may circulate unnecessarily between people.
If the signing workflow is configured in advance, the e-signing service can guide the process through to completion automatically.
We have written about how structured workflows can speed up deal closing in our article on companies that outperform competitors with better sales processes , and about how much management time this can free up in our article on creating more time for strategic leadership through e-signing .
Here’s the difference between »We sent the document for signature« and »We actually have the signing process under control«.
For your most common document types, create standard signing workflows.
Define who prepares and coordinates the document with all parties, who approves it, who signs it, in what order, and who receives the final version.
In some cases, recipients may also include people who are not required to sign.
Then configure reminders so the team does not have to chase every late signature manually.
One of the biggest mistakes a company can make when implementing e-signing is thinking: »We bought the solution, so e-signing is now taken care of.«
In reality, the real work starts after implementation.
The company needs to monitor whether employees are using the solution, which documents are still being printed, where processes are getting stuck, how long signing takes, and whether signed documents are being stored correctly.
Without this follow-up, old habits can quickly return. One employee will still send documents by email. Another will ignore the approved templates. Someone else will store signed documents locally. And another person will use a completely different process for the same type of document.
Introducing electronic signing is therefore not just a technical setup. It is a fundamental change in mindset and working habits.
We recommend starting with a few key processes , getting those right, and then gradually expanding e-signing to additional documents, departments, and use cases.
Along the way, regularly measure performance and monitor:
Treat implementation as a long-term process-improvement project, not a software purchase.
Appoint a responsible person – or group of people – to monitor adoption, and within the first few weeks you should already be able to see what works, what does not, and which documents can be brought into the digital signing process next.
When implemented thoughtfully, e-signing can save a company a great deal of time, reduce administrative work, and improve visibility across documents.
There is no meaningful difference between a sheet of paper and a PDF, but there is a huge difference between paper-based chaos and a well-organized document process.
If your company clearly understands which documents it signs, what type of signature each document requires, who participates in the process, how signing should proceed, and how that process will continue to improve over time, electronic signing stops being a digital trend.
It becomes part of how you build a competitive advantage in how you work with customers.
An e-signing service such as BetrSign helps companies by making it easy to prepare documents for signature, create templates, send documents to signers, send automatic and manual reminders, track statuses, and use different types of electronic signatures depending on the document’s requirements.
And at the end, it consistently preserves a complete digital record of what happened to the document throughout the process – the audit trail .
The goal of implementing e-signing is therefore not simply to sign documents without paper.
The goal is to make the entire process – from preparation to signature – faster, easier, and significantly more transparent for everyone involved.
If you are comparing providers, see our DocuSign vs. BetrSign comparison .
No. The tool – in other words, the electronic signing service – is important, but it cannot organize business processes on its own. The company first needs to determine which documents are signed, who prepares them, who approves them, who needs to sign them, and where signed documents are stored.
Start by defining the document type and evaluating its risk level, the need to identify the signer, and the level of evidence you may require. A Simple Electronic Signature (SES) may be sufficient for lower-risk documents. More demanding agreements may call for an Advanced Electronic Signature (AES) or Qualified Electronic Signature (QES), as defined by the eIDAS Regulation.
Because they are the people who understand how document-related processes actually work. Management sees the goal. IT sees the technical solution. Users know exactly where documents tend to get stuck in real life. If those employees are not involved, the company may implement a technically good solution that people cannot or do not know how to use effectively.
By monitoring concrete outcomes: how many documents are signed electronically, how long it takes to collect signatures, how much status checking still happens manually and why, how many documents are still printed, whether employees use the agreed templates, whether they follow the intended steps from document preparation through storage.
Book a demo and one of our experts can give you a quick overview of how e-signing could benefit your business, or you can also try BetrSign free for 30 days .
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