Digital Signatures

It is widely recognised that digital signatures and digital stamping are a key enabler for increased efficiency, improved customer experience and a paper independent environment.

Votar have provided our clients with clear recommendations and implementation plans, as well as draft Digital Signature Policies to govern the appropriate use of wet signatures, digital signatures, digitised signatures (photos of wet signatures), digital stamping and workflows for document authorisation.

Votar Partners have supported several government entities to conduct workshops with key stakeholders to identify the types of transactions involving signatures, the business requirements of these signatures and the risk profile of the transactions they document. We have conducted research into the legal requirements of signatures and the use of common seals, including Electronic Transactions, Evidence, Corporations and Local Government Acts. We also reviewed each organisation’s ICT operating model to identify relevant technical requirements.

Audits typically identify hundreds of organisational forms that include a signature. About half of these were for customers and half were for internal use by staff. There were also many other document types that include signatures, such as correspondence, meeting minutes and reports. All organisations accepted that the continued use of wet signatures for these records would be a significant barrier to achieving its vision for information management and its aim to increase their use of digital channels.

Prior to recommending any technical solution and implementation plan we considered the following:

• Current use of signatures

• Legal requirements

• Key transaction types (e.g. board minutes, contracts and agreements, correspondence, external forms, internal forms, internal memos and reports, permits, licenses and supplier invoices

• Signature options

• Potential offerings from the market, considering many parameters including security, deployment, integrity, usability, cost effectiveness and mobility

Votar Partners can support your organisation to develop a consistent approach to the authorisation of documents through the use of digital signature methods appropriate to the level of risk of a transaction.

If you require any information please don’t hesitate to contact me on (03) 9895 9672, mobile 0425 317 770 or markw@votar.com.au.