Since many of their workflows and business processes are driven on a trail of paper requiring several parties to sign each document, advanced electronic signatures can offer numerous benefits for NGOs, including the ability to save money while improving efficiency and reducing the complexity of administrative tasks.
NGOs fulfil an important function in today's society, often performing charitable works that benefit a great many of the less fortunate. Forming neither part of the government nor the for-profit sector, but straddling both worlds, these organisations are faced with a large number of challenges.
The key issues are commonly related to the complexities around funding, which may be derived from a variety of sources including governments, foundations, businesses, and private persons. In addition, NGOs typically do not have extensive budget to spend on technology, nor do they have the skills in-house to maintain next-generation IT solutions.
As these NGOs grow, their daily business processes become correspondingly more complex. In order to maximise the funding available for their work, while still running an effective operation, NGOs must become highly efficiently. In addition, they often need to meet numerous compliance requirements, including those that are applicable to corporate enterprises such as the Protection of Personal Information (PoPI) Act.
Tight budgets often lead NGOs to maintain a plethora of paper-based processes and records, which become exponentially challenging to manage as these organisations grow. Some of the challenges experienced with manual paper-based processes include version control, document security, complex signatory processes, and tracking contract deadlines.
In addition, it is often complex and costly to facilitate time-consuming and resource intensive wet ink signature processes. From employment documents to donor contracts and everything in between, many documents legally require signatures from multiple persons. Typically this means emailing a document, printing it out, signing it, scanning it and resending it multiple times.
Sometimes it may even require a single copy of a document being couriered to each party in order to collect the required signatures. Both of these methods are increasingly inefficient, often taking days or weeks to complete, not to mention costing money that NGOs simply cannot spare.
While investment into technology may be the furthest thing from the minds of NGO management, the reality is that the right technology solution can provide significant benefits. Advanced electronic signatures are one such technology as they can be seamlessly integrated with existing solutions and require little capital outlay and maintenance. By removing the need for paper in the signatory process, advanced electronic signatures reduce the cost of printing, faxing or courier fees.
Since people can sign the documents on any device, anywhere, anytime, electronic signature solutions also vastly improve process efficiency by cutting the time it takes to collect the required signatures down to minutes. Furthermore, documents are tamper-proof thanks to digital encryption and audit trails, providing full compliance with various regulations, as well as improved security since the process eliminates the risk of forgery.
When it comes to implementing advanced electronic signature solutions, the technical side is simple, whether deciding on an on-premises or a cloud-based solution. Cultural change can be the bigger challenge and needs to be handled effectively, as NGOs have typically followed the same manual paper-based processes for many years.
In addition, the perception that technology solutions will cost money that the organisation cannot spare needs to be addressed. With the process and efficiency improvements delivered by an advanced electronic signature solution, they can actually save the NGO money from day one. Understanding the benefits is key to managing the change from wet ink to an all-digital signature process.
Advanced electronic signature solutions enable NGOs to establish more efficient processes while reducing the expenses related to printing, faxing, overnighting, and storing paper records, so they can invest more time and money in their mission-critical programs. In addition, these solutions support mobility, allowing all parties, including donors and volunteers, to make use of user-friendly, simple, and secure interfaces that allow stakeholders to complete pledge and registration forms online from any device, anytime, anywhere.
Ultimately, advanced electronic signatures help NGOs streamline their daily business processes by making signatory processes simpler and faster, as well as more secure and less expensive.
