Why you need a Canadian-based e-Signature App in Canada

The electronic signature app marketing is booming around the world (USA, France, UK, Australia, Japan, etc.) but those foreign platforms are not necessary compliant with the laws and standards in Canada. Find out why.

E-signature platforms allow stores, firms, companies and institutions to use electronic signatures in place of handwritten signatures. And Canadian courts are now supportive of the use of e-signature as legally binding and as valid as wet ink signatures. Canadian businesses are using them for the following reasons :

1) They want to save time : These e-signature platforms automate the submission of invoices or contracts. So, employees no longer have to draft, scan, print, mail, email, fax or deliver any document.

2) To win momentum : Some stores, suppliers have recently come to the conclusion that waiting means losing opportunities when their potential customers and clients. Having to waiting several days or hours before signing a contract or making a payment often leads to have second thoughts about something. On the other hand, an electronic signature software makes contracts instantly available to be signed.

3) To increase productivity : No more handling, chit-chat and questions. Your staff and managers are just ready to go and they don't even have to upload any file because the e-signature app is cloud-based, encrypted, and safe. Contracts are accessible for their boss, the secretaries, the accounting department, the HR, etc. without having to ask for them (as long as they have authorized access).

4) To introduce an extra level of legal protection for their organization : Tamper-evident seals help protect your documents by not allowing staff or hackers to modify or corrupt dates, clauses, or signatures. Most apps will instantly alert the business owner or persons in charge of your cybersecurity in case of intrusion and/or failed modification. Then, you can investigate. A higher level of document security also boosts the transparency of your organization in case of an audit, investigation, or any lawsuit.

5) To reduce long-time storage expenses : Processing hundreds of contracts and digital invoices every month used to force companies to store HDD, CDs and printed documents in safe places. Over the years, the volume of storage space required just kept increasing. The best way to eliminate that expense is to go the cloud-based e-signature route. Beside physical storage, printing documents used to cost a lot of money too, including shredding and disposing files which were no longer required.

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Why it's risky to use a globally recognized e-signature app in Canada

1) A lot of contracts still have to be signed with a pen in Canada : In several countries, you can rely on such apps to sign about any kind of contract. But in Canada, land transfers, wills, powers of attorney, most real estate purchase contracts, and divorce documents have to be signed by hand. It's illegal to use an electronic signature to conduct such business but every day, some Canadians make that mistake because foreign apps have templates and seem to provide full legitimacy in Canada.

2) Canadian law defines it's own act and standards : Over the years, Canada has defined what is called the PIPEDA (which stands for Personal Information Protection Electronic Documents Act) and authorized standards on Canadian soil (UECA). Your contract is not legally binding if it was signed using a technology that doesn't meet that standard and/or received the seal.

3) Canadian provinces are not all the same : Quebec has established its own act and standard in order to protect the legal value and integrity of contracts. The platform's interface and documents also have to be available in French as well.

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Other benefits

E-Signature apps protect your business in the even of a dispute, a lawsuit, or an audit initiated by the authorities, suppliers, or customers. They offer a level of encryption, authentication and time stamping that rivals with protocols and standards used by international banking institutions.

Non-exhaustive list of compliant e-signature apps in Canada : eZsign, DocuSign, Ricoh, Signority, Vertexone, Adobe Sign, Consignocloud. SignEasy, Zoho.

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eZsign is the fastest growing e-signature app in Canada : based in Quebec and it provides a bilingual interface (French and English) is can be used on any device including computer desktops, laptops, mobile phones, and most tablets. Free trial with NO commitment.

*Note : All these listed websites were crawled by Web Data Extractor (version 5.0) or were directly submited by people through add url form.