Meet legal requirements with electronic signatures

In light of our current circumstances, digital signing and approval solutions offer convenience, increased productivity, reduced costs, reduced risks, and improved customer experience.

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered the way we conduct business. Many companies have closed their offices and established remote workforces, leading to a dramatic rise in digitalisation in almost every sector of business. It’s a learning curve for everyone, and everyone is trying to make working from home as efficient, enjoyable, and productive as possible.

Crucially, businesses need to be able to enter into and conclude transactions, maintain electronic records and meet regulatory record-keeping requirements. Cloud-based systems provide a totally secure out-of-band mechanism to transfer sensitive documents to recipients, with a full audit trail and proof of delivery. Digital signing solutions vastly improve the speed of sending sensitive documents and ensure that your business is never held up by complicated paper processes.

“Even before the pandemic, the paper-based, manual sending, printing, scanning, or ink-signing of physical documents had become cumbersome and expensive,” says JP Lourens, Solutions Manager of Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa. “In light of our current circumstances, digital signing and approval solutions offer the perfect alternative.”

Electronic document signing technology, which applies to online agreements, as well as paper documents, offers many benefits, including convenience and ease of use, speed of document turnaround time, increased productivity, reduced costs, reduced risks and additional document security, accessibility from anywhere, and improved customer experience. With no printing of paperwork, it’s also environmentally friendly.

An electronic signature is a legally recognised means of conveying the signatory's consent to the contents of a document. It is data attached to, incorporated in, or logically associated with other data, and intended by the user to serve as a signature. It may take the form of a traditional wet-ink signature on a soft-copy of a document; a name typed in electronic format at the bottom of an email; an ‘I accept’ tick box on a website; or an e-pen or finger signature on a tablet, for example.

In South Africa, electronic signatures are approved under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA). Although there are some exceptions, most business-related documents can be signed digitally. Standard electronic signatures (SES) are the most widely used e-signatures for business purposes. Any company operating in the country can use e-signatures as a signing method, and they have the same legal binding status as wet ink applied or handwritten signatures. Advanced electronic signatures (AES) are verified by an accredited authority and have a higher level of credibility as they comply with specific requirements. They are binding when a method was used to identify the person, there was intention to sign, approval of the information communicated, and the method used was reliable and appropriate for purpose.

“We provide our customers with an easy solution to get documents signed off electronically, ensuring that they are recognised as an authentic and legally binding agreement,” says Lourens.

The process is simple. The document owner uploads the file to a custom-built secure platform and identifies who needs to sign it, and in which order. The cloud-based service comes with the added convenience of allowing a user to access these documents anywhere and use any platform or device. Kyocera’s workflow management system then follows the sequence of the signing order, notifying each user along the way. Once everyone on the approval list has signed and authorised the document, it is circulated for review and then stored.

This solution is securely hosted in the cloud and is entirely web-based, which is how the solution can offer complete security when it comes to sending and receiving  documents, as well as a workflow evidence report with a complete audit trail of the document and signers.

“Our customers can be confident that their sensitive and valuable documents can be uploaded to a workflow solution where each witness and signatory can sign it, regardless of where they are in the world, and then pass it on to the next party electronically, who can do the same. The signed, legal documents are secure, and can be uploaded to the cloud or saved to a computer and each party is in possession of an original. It’s all about peace of mind and ease of use.”

Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa

Headquartered in Midrand, Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa is a country level subsidiary of Kyocera Document Solutions and is responsible for the sales and marketing of Kyocera printers and document solutions throughout southern Africa.

Kyocera Document Solutions South Africa is renowned for its tailor-made document solutions that provide a perfect blend of premium products, software solutions and professional services that increase an organisation's workflow efficiency, enhance employee productivity, minimise environmental impact and significantly reduce operating costs.

The company offers world-class monochrome and colour printers, multifunctional products, parts and supplies, as well as software solutions.

A key differentiator for the Kyocera brand is the primary focus on overall value as opposed to only considering the initial acquisition price. Its solutions portfolio and Managed Document Services division help customers to reduce costs and environmental impact, at the same time as improving the efficiency and reliability of common business processes.

Kyocera Document Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyocera Corporation, which is a leading manufacturer of hi-tech ceramics, electronic components, solar cells and electronic office equipment.

KYOCERA Document Solutions

KYOCERA Document Solutions, headquartered in Osaka, Japan, is a leading manufacturer of document imaging solutions and document management systems, including colour and monochrome multifunctional products as well as printers and wide-format devices. Kyocera's products are renowned for their unique long-life imaging components that provide greater reliability and less waste, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) over the life of the product. The KYOCERA Document Solutions portfolio does not stop at hardware. A full suite of business applications and consultative services allow customers to optimise and manage their document workflow, unleashing the full potential of their hardware investment.

KYOCERA Document Solutions is a core company of KYOCERA Corporation, the world's leading developer and manufacturer of advanced ceramics and associated products, including telecommunications equipment, semiconductor packages and electronic components. During the year ended 31 March 2017, KYOCERA Corporation's net sales totalled 1.42 trillion yen (approx. EUR 11.9 billion). For more information and press-ready photos, visit