If you have come to this article, it is certainly because you are interested in knowing how a digital contract. However digital signature has become a topic present in meetings or surveys carried out by company owners and managers, there are still doubts about how it can be applied. Therefore, we decided to write this article.
Read on to find out what digital contracts are, their benefits and also how you can create one in just a few steps. Come on?
What is a digital contract?
The digital contract is a document prepared electronically and has the same validity as the traditional physical contract.. However, as it is 100% done in a digital environment, it is a technological and innovative way to close deals via computers, tablets or smartphones.
This type of contract has been increasingly adopted by companies, especially after having adopted the home office a fixed nature of work. After all, it makes the physical presence of the signatories unnecessary when signing a document.
This advantage does not only include hiring employees, but also suppliers and customers. When submitting the contract template from a electronic signature platform, they can sign files in just one click, including using a cell phone that has access to the internet.
Do digital contracts have legal validity?
This is a very frequent question that even makes many people reluctant to adopt digital contracts instead of manuals. If that's the case for you, don't worry, because the answer is yes, digital contracts have legal validity.
According to the articles 104 e 107 of the Civil Code of Brazilian law, any type of contract is valid, provided that it is authentic, complete and does not present changes after the parties have signed.
This means that even verbal contracts are legally valid if there are one or more witnesses, for example. Therefore, there is validity of digital contract.
By the way, are electronic and digital signatures the same thing?
A digital contract can work with these two types of subscription, but, contrary to what some people think, they are not the same.
A electronic signature can be used in several modalities, not just contracts. This means that facial readings, tokens and even the biometrics used in ATMs enter the electronic signature mode.
The digital signature is another type of electronic signature, but with two differences: it is intended solely for the signature of documents and needs a digital certificate to prove its authorship.
Digital certificates are issued with the ICP (Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure) and require the payment of fees related to this registration, in addition to following the steps determined by the institution for the subscriptions.
What are the types of digital contract?
There are different types of contract that can take a digital signature. Here we highlight the main ones.
- contract for services: defines between the two parties the agreement that a service will be performed by the contracted party for the contracting party;
- work contract: it is signed between employer and employee and defines the employment relationship between them, in addition to listing all the conditions that must be followed during the term;
- consumer contract: this type is signed between supplier and consumer and is based on unilaterality so that the conditions formulated by the supplier can be accepted by the consumer or not;
- company incorporation contract: as the name implies, it is characterized by the legal entity constituted by one or more entrepreneurs, partners or shareholders;
- Lease agreement: commonly used in real estate (housing and apartments on a fixed basis or per season) for the enjoyment of the property under conditions established in the contract;
- partnership agreement: also called social contract, it is when two or more partners enter in accordance with the rules and conditions that govern the company's functioning in partnership;
- confidentiality agreement: there are agreements that cannot gain public knowledge, for this reason some parties sign a confidentiality agreement that must be honored in this sense.
What are the advantages of digital contracts compared to manual contracts?
Let's now look at some benefits that the adoption of digital contracts has.
Cost savings in the company
As much as some people might think that the cost of a premium platform to sign digital contracts is economically disadvantageous, this is not true. After all, the costs to maintain the manual signature of documents are much higher. Shall we see the numbers up close?
We started with the cost of a printer needed to generate the documents, in addition to toner and also reams. This means that just to have the files at hand, this investment is needed.
In addition, there are also the costs involved in signing the contracts. If one of the signatories is not in a nearby location (such as another city, state or country), it will be necessary to send it via Post Office or carrier, which indicates more costs involved.
Agility in signing
The signing process via digital contracts is also more agile. To make this clear, let's continue with the example we used above.
When you need to send a physical contract to someone who is far away, this will make the process more time consuming, as it involves the time of sending to the signatory party. After signing it, there is an increase in the time needed to receive this document back. If there is a dispute about any clause or problems that delay the journey of the carrier, the delay will be even longer.
On the other hand, online signing of a contract is light as it can be done with a simple click of a button. Once you send it, no matter where the other person is, they will receive it and sign it.
Better organization of contracts
Let's imagine the following situation: you need to find a specific document that is kept in your room or closet along with all the other company files. Even if you have them all stored in one place, you may have difficulties or need time to find a paper among many others.
Even if you consider having a good organization, having lots of files crammed into physical spaces is one of the indicators of a bad document management. So, what is the way to keep documents in an organized way that makes it possible to find them quickly?
Having digital contracts instead of physical ones is the answer. As with the folders of operating systems such as Windows, you can store documents on the platform itself. electronic signature so that you can locate them whenever necessary.
Greater durability
Digital contracts are more durable than physical ones. While this is an obvious observation for some, here are some points that show us how true this is.
To store your physical documents, you need a space in your office that can range from a simple closet drawer to an entire room (normal situation in offices of accounting, For example).
However, if this place is not properly cared for, the printed documents will wear out over time, especially if there is a lot of humidity. Also, these files are unique, that is, they are not backed up. Once you lose them, you will have to issue them and collect signatures again, which, depending on the case, is not always possible.
Preservation of the environment
Did you know that 39% of the waste produced in large Brazilian cities Are they paper and cardboard? I also knew that the their degradation time is approximately 6 months?
Based on these two data, we can conclude that a very large amount of waste is produced based on paper and that companies with the need to issue printed documents constantly are part of this scenario. After all, only 37% of office paper is recycled in Brazil.
Therefore, by adopting the digital documents, less paper is used, which turns out to be beneficial for the environment. Considering that, nowadays, people seek to do business with companies that have environmental and social responsibilities, this is a positive point for your organization.
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How to draw up a digital contract?
A ZapSign is an electronic signature tool, so we'll show you here what steps you should follow to create your digital contract within it.
Step 1: Register on the platform
ZapSign has two enterprise plans, plus a trial plan to get you started. After clicking here and choose which one suits you best, fill in the e-mail and password fields and click on “Create Account”.
Step 2: Upload the contract to be signed
The next step refers to uploading the document on the platform that needs to be in the PDF. The upload can be done either by computer or cell phone. Just click on the “+” sign and “Select Document” to complete this action.
Step 3: Determine the signatories
After uploading the file to ZapSign, you must determine which people will sign it. The collection process has a simple option in which you only indicate the name of the signatory and a complete option that allows you to request information such as e-mail, telephone number, identification document, CPF or CNPJ Inglês. Once this is done, click on “Continue”.
Step 4: Send the subscription link
In this step, you must send the link generated by the platform to the person who will sign the contract. If you want to send directly via WhatsApp or by e-mail, there is also this possibility.
Step 5: Collect the digital contract signature
In this last step, the parties sign the contract. To do so, simply click on the “Subscribe” button displayed when clicking on the link generated by the platform. You will need to enter your name, email and phone number for the process to complete.
Ready! Once this is done, the contract is successfully signed and you have it available on the platform whenever you need it.
Now that you know how the digital contract works within a company, what do you think about knowing in depth how ZapSign can serve you in this regard? Just click here and request the contact of one of our specialists!
