THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND SUBSEQUENT LOCK-DOWN BROUGHT WITH IT MANY ONGOING CONSEQUENCES FOR THE WORKING WORLD . ALTHOUGH AT THE END OF 2023 , ANALYSTS PREDICTED THAT WORK-FROM-HOME ( WFH ) WOULD BE ERADICATED OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS , THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2024 IS PAINTING A DIFFERENT PICTURE . WHERE BUSINESSES PREVIOUSLY FOUND THEMSELVES SCRABBLING TO CONTINUE OPERATIONS AS THE WORLD LOCKED DOWN , THEY ARE NOW FINDING THEIR FEET IN THE NEW NORMAL AND SOME ASPECTS OF REMOTE WORK HAVE STUCK .
ACCORDING TO A RECENT STUDY BY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ( PSC ) AND PUBLISHED BY BUSINESSTECH IN MARCH 2024 , SOUTH AFRICAN POLICY SHIFTS – WHICH FACILITATE FURTHER HYBRID AND WHF WORK ENVIRONMENTS – ARE EXPECTED TO COME INTO FORCE SOON . THE RECOMMENDATIONS FOLLOWING THE STUDY REVEAL A NEED TO DIGITISE OPERATIONS AND PRIORITISE ACCESS “ TO TOOLS OF TRADE THAT WILL ENABLE THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF HYBRID WORK ARRANGEMENTS , WHERE FEASIBLE .”
ONE OF THE PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS THAT HAS BENEFITTED THE MOST FROM THIS SHIFT IS THE ABILITY TO SIGN ANY DOCUMENT , ANYWHERE . HERE , DIGITAL SIGNATURES HAVE CERTAINLY COME TO THE FORE AS CRITICAL TOOLS , ENABLING BUSINESSES NOT ONLY TO DIGITISE , BUT TO CLAW BACK IMMENSE PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY BENEFITS TOO . PRE-COVID , SOUTH AFRICA LARGELY OPERATED ON A FACE-TO-FACE BASIS . IF AN INSURANCE BROKER NEEDED A POLICY SIGNED , S / HE WOULD MAKE AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE CLIENT AND PLACE A WET SIGNATURE ON A PIECE OF PAPER . POST-CORONA , THIS IS ( ALMOST ) A THING OF THE PAST .
BETWEEN 2014 AND 2017 , THE NUMBER E-SIGNATURES APPLIED TO DOCUMENTS ACROSS THE GLOBE INCREASED FROM 210 MILLION TO 754 MILLION . THIS GROWTH WAS ALREADY STAGGERING – BUT ADD IN THE PANDEMIC AND THE NEED FOR REMOTE WORK , AND IT BECAME EXPONENTIAL OVERNIGHT .
POLARIS MARKET RESEARCH CONFIRMS THAT THE 2019 E-SIGNATURE MARKET SIZE WAS REPORTED TO BE USD 1.5 BILLION . FAST FORWARD TO POST-PANDEMIC 2022 , AND STATISTA PEGGED THE GLOBAL E-SIGNATURE MARKET VALUE AT APPROXIMATELY USD 3.9 BILLION U . S DOLLARS – HAVING MORE THAN DOUBLED DURING THE COVID LOCKDOWN IN SOUTH AFRICA . JUST ONE YEAR LATER , PRECEDENT RESEARCH EVALUATED THE MARKET SIZE TO BE USD 5.9 BILLION IN 2023 . MORDOR INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATES THAT THE 2024 E-SIGNATURE MARKET WILL BE WORTH ALMOST DOUBLE , AT USD 10.18 BILLION . THIS UPWARD TREND IS NOT SLOWING DOWN , WITH THE MARKET SIZE PROJECTED TO GROW TO AROUND USD 43.14 BILLION BY 2030 .
WHETHER MEETINGS ARE BEING SET UP TO SIGN A DOCUMENT , DISCUSS A STRATEGY , OR PITCH A PROPOSAL , MANY OF THESE INTERACTIONS ARE STILL BEING HELD ONLINE . “ SORRY , MY MIC WAS OFF ” ASIDE , THIS HAS CREATED MASSIVE TIME EFFICIENCIES AND THE KNOCK-ON COST BENEFITS CANNOT BE UNDERSTATED . JUST AS TEAMS OR ZOOM HAVE BECOME THE MORE COMMON MEETING METHOD , REMOTE SIGNING HAS ALSO EMERGED AS A TRUSTED TOOL , DRIVING DIGITISATION , ENHANCED SECURITY , ADAPTABILITY ACROSS DIFFERENT PROCESSES AND APPLICATIONS , AND IMPROVED COMPLIANCE .
THIS REMAINS TRUE EVEN IN BUSINESSES THAT HAVE RETURNED TO A MORE TRADITIONAL WORK ENVIRONMENT . EVEN WHERE STAFF ARE REQUIRED TO COME INTO THE OFFICE , THEY ARE STILL HOLDING ONLINE MEETINGS FROM THEIR DESKS – WITH THE SAME GRAVITAS AND RESPECT AS AN IN-PERSON MEETING - AND SENDING IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS FOR DIGITAL SIGNATURES – WITH GREATER TRACEABILITY AND SECURITY THAN A HARD COPY DOCUMENT . THIS MARKS REAL SOCIAL CHANGE .
IN FACT , IN 2023 THE SA ATTORNEY ’ S JOURNAL , DE REBUS , NOTED THAT “ WET INK DOES NOT HOLD WATER IN THE 21ST CENTURY ”. AS E-SIGNATURES BECOME EVER MORE TRUSTED THAN