Case Study: Digital Transformation of Paper Documents Requiring Signatures

Digital transformation is a commonly heard term, but it might seem unclear and distant. In this post, I’ll break down why it’s important, discuss practical ways to approach it, and provide examples of how various businesses have undergone digital transformation.

💡 The need for digital transformation

As a countless number companies and public institutions have embraced digital transformation, the term ‘digital transformation’ has become a buzzword we’re all too familiar with. But the question is, why is important?

The concept of digital transformation gained momentum primarily because of the widespread adoption of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, various industries were already rapidly transitioning to digital processes. However, the significant shift to remote work and working from home, triggered by COVID-19, played a key role in making remote work accessible to a broader audience. This transformation democratized remote work, making it a common practice not only in large corporations but also in various industries that hadn’t widely embraced it before.

ESG, which stands for environmental, social, and governance, has become a crucial aspect in corporate management. It involves considering not only financial profits but also the social and environmental impact of business activities to ensure sustainable growth. The global significance of ESG has risen, making it an integral consideration for companies in their management strategies.

Some companies value digital transformation as a response to the growing importance of ESG while others put value on its impact on improving work productivity. Their goal leverage digital transformation is to streamline work processes and enhance efficiency by eliminating previously cumbersome and inconvenient work practices, thereby saving both time and money.

💡 Fast and effective way to achieve digital transformation

What’s the fastest and most effective way to go digital? The answer is simple: change the paper documents you use in your day-to-day business with e-documents. Especially since electronics signatures and documents have legal recognition in most developed nations, there is no reason to not make the change.

In addition, the recent popularization of cloud services has made it possible for companies that have been previously hesitant to go digital due to factors such as complexities in system development or high costs to make the jump to digital transformation more quickly, as cloud services do not require any costs or experts to build and maintain, and can be applied in practice as soon as the service is introduced.

If you consider the multitude of documents such as contracts, applications, and agreements requiring signatures in various departments and industries, it becomes evident that adopting a “paperless” approach can yield significant benefits. The time invested in traditional paper-based tasks, coupled with the inefficiencies in storing and managing documents, not to mention the associated risks of loss or damage, represents just a fraction of the costs and resources involved.

However, by digitalizing these cumbersome and inconvenient tasks by going paperless, you can lower costs, improve employee productivity, and enhance document security. You no longer need to worry about time and space constraints and you can utilize the data with just a few clicks and searches. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about security and forgery any more than you do with paper documents, so sticking with paper-based processes can no longer be seen as a good business practice.

💡 Digital transformation success cases

To help you understand the benefits of digital transformation, we’ve compiled a list of companies that have successfully transitioned from paper-based business processes to paperless business processes via digital transformation to improve their business processes and increase their efficiency. Here are some examples of companies that have successfully transitioned from paper-based to paperless business processes by adopting an e-contract service named eformsign.

1) Chemical manufacturing company ‘A’

Company A was looking at different ways to transform around 50 different types of its internal documents to e-documents . However, the cost and time required for it was overwhelming, and the decision to through with it was constantly being delayed.

However, the company was able to successfully complete the digital transformation at a reasonable cost of 100 USD per month without any implementation costs. They were able to send and manage various documents such as employment contracts, driver access certificates, and site safety checklists, and organize and utilize data with a single e-contract service.

Especially, the automatic storage of documents minimized the resources of existing managers, and now a single employee can easily manage an average of 200 to 300 documents per month.

2) Electrical contracting company ‘B

Company B started thinking about implementing digital transformation to its business after the Korea Labor Standards Act was amended, which made it mandatory for employers to issue wage slips to temporary workers. As the company has a large number of temporary day laborers, the hassle of creating and managing hundreds or thousands of documents, including not only employment contracts but also wage slips, was multiplied.

Issuing employment contracts and wage slips every month to a countless number of temporary day laborers was so resource intensive that the company even rented a container to store and manage all the documents.

However, after adopting the eformsign e-contract service, not only were they able to comply with the Labor Standards Act by automatically issuing a huge number of employment contracts and wage slips via a chat app or text messages, but they were also able to automatically and safely store the documents on the cloud without the need for any physical space. As well, when they need to search for document, they can now do it in a second with a single search. All these benefits clearly made digital transformation improve the lives of both workers and managers.

3) Manufacturing company ‘C’

Company C is a manufacturing company with factories across the country, and it was a hassle for its human resources staff to travel to each factory to sign contracts face-to-face. Not only was there excessive paper consumption, but also the time and expense of traveling to each site. The intensity of the work was such that working overtime during the time of the year for collecting signatures from employment contracts was considered to be the norm.

Now however, with the adoption of the eformsign e-contract service, the HR staff was able to send contracts for signatures via a chat app and text messages. Not only that, they were now able to the progress of a large number of contracts in real time and store completed contracts safely and securely on the cloud, allowing them to focus on their core competencies.

​💡 Improve your productivity with the eformsign e-contract service!

Enabling fast and effective digital transformation, eformsign is an e-contract service that anyone, anytime, anywhere can use at a reasonable price.

eformsign is highly recommended for those who want to get started on their digital transformation journey as they can create, sign, send, and store many legally binding documents such as contracts, applications, and agreements via email or SMS.

eformsign offers a one-month free trial with a simple sign-up to get you started on your organization’s digital transformation journey.

2023-11-23