What features should an enterprise e-signature platform have? A checklist for your vendor

An enterprise e-signature platform should let recipients sign without an account, send a document to many people, show status in a document list, offer templates with fields and an API, and keep data in the EU. Also ask about the legal basis of the signature, pricing, a data processing agreement, implementation support and migration from your current vendor. SignSafe covers the points described below under “How this looks in SignSafe”; its own handwritten signature is not a qualified one, but we can connect a qualified signature.

A good enterprise e-signature platform lets a recipient sign without an account, sends a document to many people at once, shows status in a document list and offers templates with fields and an API. Data should be kept in the EU, and the vendor should say clearly what legal basis its signature has, what it costs and what the data processing agreement covers. Below is a checklist of questions to put to any vendor before you sign up.

Does the recipient sign without an account?

This question decides how many counterparties finish the process. If someone must create an account, set a password or download an app, some will give up and the document goes back to paper. Ask the vendor:

• whether the recipient signs in a browser, on a phone and on a computer,
• whether anything has to be installed,
• what signing looks like on a small screen.

In SignSafe the signer does not register or install an app and signs with a finger on a smartphone or tablet screen (a mouse or touchpad on a computer). The document opens with a one-time code from the e-mail or with an account password, and at a point of service a customer can sign on a device without logging in, or on a courier’s tablet.

Can you send a document to many people at once?

Three-party contracts, policies for a whole team, consents for a group of participants: all of these need sending to many recipients. Check whether this is one operation or one by one, and whether the platform keeps a contact list so you do not retype addresses. SignSafe lets you send a document to one or many people, has a contact list and groups, and lets you choose the order: any (everyone at once) or fixed (one after another). Also check whether the platform allows signing many documents in bulk; in SignSafe you select documents and sign them all at once. A limit: the document must be a PDF in A4 portrait.

What status and notifications do you get?

Without a status view, someone in the company will keep asking “has he signed yet?”. Ask to see the screen that shows who received the document and who signed. In SignSafe the document list has keyword search and a coloured status dot (red, yellow, green), and a “resend for unsigned” button re-sends the invitation by hand. When everyone has signed, the finished document arrives in the sender’s e-mail with a signature summary page (certificate identifier, e-mail, IP address, device, date and time, method).

Are there templates and fields to fill in?

If you send similar documents every week, a template with fields (personal data, dates, choices) saves more time than any other feature. Ask whether the recipient can fill in the fields and sign in one step, and whether the finished PDF is available straight away. That is how it works in SignSafe: a template with numbered signature markers and fields for the recipient (or your own PDF where you choose the signature places), and a ready PDF after signing.

Is there an API, and what does implementation look like?

When documents are created in a system (CRM, HR, project tool), manual sending soon becomes a bottleneck. Ask about:

• the type of API (REST, documentation),
• whether the signed document returns automatically to the right record,
• who does the integration on the vendor’s side and what support is included.

SignSafe offers sending automation through a REST API, return of the signed document to the right place in your system, and support at every stage of implementation; pricing is individual. More in the API integration page.

Where is the data and who is responsible for it?

Ask about server location, the hosting operator, and whether the vendor concludes a data processing agreement. For most companies this is mandatory: you are usually the data controller and the vendor a processor, so the relationship is governed by an agreement (a general description, not legal advice). SignSafe has servers in the EU (OVH hosting) and concludes a processing agreement with business and API customers.

What is the legal basis of the signature?

The most honest vendor answer also says what its signature does not replace. Ask what kind of signature it is, which opinion it rests on, and which acts it is unsuitable for. According to a legal opinion by Gałecki and Associates dated 21 August 2023, a signature in SignSafe is handwritten and meets written form under Polish law. It is not a qualified electronic signature, but where the electronic form of Art. 78¹ of the Civil Code is required, we can connect a qualified signature in SignSafe. A notarial deed is not possible. This summarises the opinion and is not legal advice; details on the legal security page.

What does it cost and what is included?

Ask for a price and a scope: document limits, storage, notice period. The SignSafe standard plan costs PLN 69 net per month and includes full access, 1 GB for documents and cancellation at any time; there is a free trial period at the start. See pricing.

What about migration from your current vendor?

This is the point that most often delays a decision. Ask who moves the templates and the integration, how much work stays on your side, and whether the vendor has an offer for customers who switch. With an API integration at SignSafe we do practically all of it. For API customers and those switching provider we offer 50% of the price of the current offer, on presentation of an invoice or offer from the current provider (terms agreed individually). Details: switching e-signature provider.

Is there an observer role, copies of documents and storage space?

Check whether the vendor lets you add a person who only sees the document, and who gets a copy after signing. SignSafe has an observer role (does not sign or send, sees the document and receives notifications), and a copy of the signed PDF goes to the sender and every signer. Reminders are manual (the resend button for unsigned documents); there are no automatic ones. The plan has 1 GB for documents, and for larger needs we can connect an external drive or a server of the client; this is agreed in the offer.

How this looks in SignSafe

• signing without an account or installation, in the browser,
• sending to one or many people, a contact list,
• templates and fields, status in the document list, the finished document with a signature summary page by e-mail, bulk signing,
• REST API, EU servers, a processing agreement,
• a handwritten signature that meets written form according to a legal opinion, plus a qualified signature that we can connect where it is required.

What next

• See what the e-signature in SignSafe is.
• Check API integration and switching provider.
• Read about legal security and pricing.
• Questions? Contact us.