Building a strong foundation for security and governance with digital document processes

History tells us that disruptions almost always facilitate the emergence of new technologies, radically changing the way we operate. During the pandemic and a sudden shift to virtual work, organisations have been quick to digitise document processes in a bid to reimagine traditional ways of working.

Recently we hosted a webinar — Building a Stronger Foundation for Security and Governance with Digital Document Processes — and shared findings from a recent Forrester report , highlighting how despite initial hesitancy, legal teams across Asia Pacific are leveraging digital document solutions and e-signatures to better serve their organisations.

Here are the key findings and valuable insights from the session:

Businesses report improved security and compliance after embracing digital document solutions

The use of paper-based documents raises serious security risks, with 44 percent of APAC decision-makers reporting difficulties in maintaining the confidentiality of data. In contrast, a significant 61 percent said that security features offered by digital document solutions are “very important” or “critical” in supporting their organisation’s business operations and outcomes.

Digitised document solutions also offer governance benefits. 54 percent of respondents said their organisations plan to improve their compliance and monitoring capabilities as regulatory bodies in an increasing number of countries, including Australia, Singapore and India, support the adoption of these technologies.

Moving forward, businesses must leverage cloud-based technologies and digital workflows to support governance, compliance and data security. This would allow legal teams to stay on top of emerging trends and contribute towards digital transformation efforts within their organisations.

Legal teams are falling behind other departments in utilising digital document processes

Increased reliance on paper documents – especially within legal teams – is detrimental to productivity. Yet, Forrester research indicates that just 12 percent of APAC organisations have invested in digital document solutions — despite the benefits.

66 percent of surveyed respondents disclosed that they are required to rework documents frequently due to errors stemming from the manual transfer of data, resulting in a loss of eight hours per week on average.

However, the barriers to digitisation are rapidly deteriorating with only 8 percent of APAC legal teams saying they are concerned about the lack of regulatory support in switching to digital document workflows, a significant decrease from 53 percent pre-pandemic. Similarly, concerns around lack of executive buy-in have eased up from 44 percent prior to the pandemic, to just 13 percent today.

To enable a seamless transition to digital workflows, organisations should eliminate bottlenecks by identifying key use cases where paper-based processes negatively affect business operations.

Digital document processes are key to accelerating digital transformation

Digital transformation is today’s ultimate business imperative. While the commercial world has been digitising at a steady pace, the pandemic has created a need for speed. Going digital can not only drive business growth but also improve efficiency and act as a safeguard during times of disruption.

In line with this, 66 percent of APAC legal professionals have adopted digital document sharing solutions since the pandemic to support their organisations in virtual work environments.

Chandra Sinnathamby, Head of Document Cloud Solutions at Adobe, says the shift to digital has allowed businesses to overcome the single biggest challenge in recent times. “The number one issue in hybrid work for every employer is collaboration. By embracing digital document processes, you are helping solve it,” Sinnathamby said.

In addition, 55 percent of respondents to Forrester’s research said that using digital document solutions improved their collaboration, while 40 percent said it improved productivity over the last 12 months.

Organisations with digital document processes also report greater business agility, with a sales contract signing period that is 2.4 times faster than organisations using paper-based processes.

By addressing issues of business resilience and new ways of working, digital document processes are a sound investment that bring both immediate and long-term benefits. If you are considering accelerating your digital transformation, digital document solutions are an ideal gateway to start reaping the benefits of secure, automated, and centralised workflows.

Watch the full webinar here.