Contracts are often used in businesses to create formal agreements between individuals or organizations. For small and medium enterprises, contracts can be tricky subjects, and it is essential to get them right – there can be very serious implications if a contract is signed in error or contains promises or obligations that it wasn’t meant to. Some common business contracts include:
- Employment contracts
- Bills of sale
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Warranty agreements
Since contracts are such a ubiquitous part of business life, it is a good idea to try and find ways to make their creation easier; this is where digital contracts can be a massive boon to smart business owners. Digital contracts take a fraction of the time to create, can be easily set to auto-renew and allows business owners to effortlessly search the document when needed. It can also cut down on the time spent getting a document together, as it can be sent back and forth digitally between all parties until they are satisfied with the final result.
Build A Portfolio Of Templates
One of the biggest advantages of digital contracts is the ability to generate complete contracts at the click of a mouse. Building a template portfolio of your most often used types of contracts can be an excellent way to save time in your day-to-day running. However, you should note that any proforma contracts should always be reviewed and amended to suit the situation it is covering – templates are a good place to start, but you should never simply copy and paste entire documents to create new ones.
Make It Searchable
A significant asset for digital contracts is their searchability – unlike physical or scanned contracts, you can use search functions to locate a particular section or word within seconds instead of trawling through pages of legalese to find what you need. Of course, not all digital contracts will be easily searchable, as the function may be blocked or unavailable in certain file types. This is why it is a good idea to use a format, such as PDF, where you can enable searching within the file; your future self will thank you.
Decide Whether To Use E-Sign Or A Digital Signature
E-sign and digital signatures can look very similar at first glance, but in reality, they are very different. E-signing a document is used in much the same way that physically signing a contract is used. Digital signatures, on the other hand, are a more robust tool that includes some level of verification of the identity of the signer and the document itself. As a result, digital signatures are often far preferable to e-signing, as they provide much stronger verification for all parties involved – crucial if you have signers completing the document in various locations.
Understand How To Quickly And Easily Amend Your Contract
When drafting a digital contract, it is crucial to understand how to make changes when you need to – tweaks, both minor and major, are common during the contract negotiation phase. You should be using a quality format for your contract writing, with excellent security features and the ability to customize with ease. PDFs are a common and popular choice, as they can be easily integrated with digital signature solutions. You should learn about how you can use, amend and change PDF files so you can have complete control over the changes made to your business contracts. Pdftools has some excellent solutions for businesses that use a lot of PDF files, with integrated security to ensure your documents remain safe.
Have Your Lawyer Look Each Contract Over
Just because your contract is digital doesn’t mean you should overlook the usual legal checks; in fact, it is often even more essential to check through digitally negotiated documents. Even if you’ve read through the digital contract yourself and feel it to be airtight, you should always bring in a professional’s opinion to be certain that everything is as it should be.
Ensure All Parties Have Given Consent
An important thing to remember when negotiating a digital contract is consent. You’ll need the consent of every other party to the contract to allow you to build it digitally – it is best to secure this before you begin drafting your digital contract to avoid the risk of wasting the effort. Whether the contract is digital or not can be a good thing to discuss when setting the ground rules or basic premises for writing your contract.
Store Your Contracts Securely On The Cloud
With accessibility being a key benefit of digital contracts, it is a good idea to take that benefit a step further by storing your contracts on the cloud. This will allow you, your employees and other interested parties to access the contracts whenever they need to – a very smart choice for businesses with employees spread out across the country or the globe. You must use a reputable and reliable provider for your cloud storage, particularly when it is being used for sensitive and valuable documents like contracts. Make sure that you use a provider with a sophisticated and robust security system so that all your files will remain safe and sound.
Automate Your Contract Renewals
When contracts come up for renewal, you can save valuable time by sending over an automatically generated renewal contract. Generally, this is best used for things like supplier contracts or insurance renewals when your business’s circumstances and requirements haven’t changed. You can simply update the contact details and send auto-renewed contracts for electronic signature. Of course, if your needs have changed and the current contract is no longer suitable, you will need to re-enter negotiations and prepare a new contract once they have been completed.
Wrapping Up
Digital contracts are every bit as legally binding as hard copy contracts that are signed by pen. You should always approach a digital contract with caution, ensuring that you take all the protective steps that you would with any physical contract. The benefits of digital contracts speak for themselves, allowing businesses to generate complex agreements quickly and easily and allowing for faster, simpler signing processes. You should take your time when switching to digital contracts and ensure that you understand all of the complexities and legal ramifications; this will ensure you’re protected by your digital contracts going forward.
