The Green Digital Signature

All businesses and organizations are processing and managing large amount of content in paper. This content is formulated, received, distributed, and stored in order to comply with different corporate objectives. In recent years, the environmental impact has become a key feature right alongside profitability, productivity, compliance, and efficiency.

A recent (2011) UN report highlights this transition by emphasizing that: “Climate change provides a “wake-up call” warning that the prevailing economic model is not sustainable. Climate change solutions require a better balance among growth, resource use, and equity. This more balanced model — which many are referring to as the “green economy” — is quickly gaining traction.” Adapting for a Green Economy: Companies, Communities and Climate Change, A Caring for Climate report by United Nations Global Compact, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Oxfam, and World Resources Institute (WRI).

Green Digital Signature

The Digital Signature online service takes an active and proud part in this important shift by replacing the principle of traditional paper-based signing and turning it into an electronic “fingerprint”.  This coded identification is exclusive to the document and signer, and as such, protects against signature fabrication and information tampering.

Beside the security, compliance, costs reduction, and efficiency benefits, the service operates in a Cloud model environment that allows the secure signing of documents online. A signed electronic document is delivered to the person’s personal inbox; this replaces a number of hardware components installed in each company and reduces the energy costs for running and cooling the hardware in every single organization.

• It takes 24 trees to make 1 tonne of paper
• UK uses 12.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard every year
• U.S. businesses use around 21 million tons of paper every year

While saving paper, trees, and storage space, businesses who are using the Secured Signing online service are also cutting back on power consumption and reducing air pollution and dependence on carbon-producing services that would typically be required to move a document urgently cross-city / state just to have it signed off by an authorized representative.

Latest findings from the 2011 UN report mentioned above revealed that “83 percent of 72 responding companies believe that climate change impacts pose a risk to their products or services. A slightly higher percentage of companies, 86 percent, think that responding to climate change risks  or investing in adaptation solutions poses a business opportunity for their company.” Adapting for a Green Economy: Companies, Communities and Climate Change, A Caring for Climate report by United Nations Global Compact, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Oxfam, and World Resources Institute (WRI).

Whether you identify climate change as an opportunity or a threat to your business depends on many different factors. We clearly see and continually focus on implementing the opportunity. The important thing is that whatever you choose, you relate to — as will the world we leave for our children, grandchildren, and the generations beyond them.