Electronic Signature: An Overview

An electronic signature, also referred to as a digital signature (or eSignature), is a way in which people can sign a non-printed, electronic document. It can be done in several ways, including with your finger, mouse, or by typing your name in along with the date, your date of birth, or the last four digits of your social security number. Today, eSignatures are very common for a lot of companies. It makes it easier and quicker to enter into agreements and contracts with customers to avoid the hassle and time of having a customer physically sign an agreement and mail an original copy back to the business.

The electronic signature itself is like an electronic marker that is attached to the agreement that indicates your intent or approval of the contract for legal purposes. It is a coded and locked electronic footprint that is made up of several encoded messages. But, as previously noted, the electronic signature itself won’t necessarily make the agreement legally binding, particularly because your eSignature could simply be copied and pasted onto an agreement without your knowledge. That is why it is crucial to ensure that a proper software program is being used when having customers sign such agreements, such as HR Cloud SaaS. Without such protections, people can claim that they were not the ones who digitally signed the agreement. While companies can still risk having this issue, especially in cases of fraud and identity theft, most well-established companies, HR Cloud included, have complex and highly advantageous software programs that use coding and encryption for documents and agreements that are electronically signed by business partners and customers.

How Do You Know if an Electronic Signature is Valid?

There are several criteria that is used to confirm the legitimacy of the electronic signatures, including the following:

  • The signer of the document must be validated and related to the signature
  • The person signing the agreement must be the only person with access to the private encrypted key that HR Cloud utilized to create the signature
  • HR Cloud’s data must be able to identify whether or not the signature has been tampered with after signing
  • If the data has in fact changed after signing, the signature must be voided so that the changed data can be reviewed by the signer and eSigned again

HR Cloud Use of Electronic Signatures

Each party agrees that the electronic signatures, whether digital or encrypted, of the parties included are intended to authenticate this writing and to have the same force and effect as manual signatures. Delivery of a copy of an eSigned document contemplated hereby bearing an electronic signature using the HR Cloud SaaS product, or by any other electronic means intended to preserve the original graphic and pictorial appearance of a document, will have the same effect as physical delivery of the paper document bearing an original or electronic signature.