Care provider? Here's why you should consider esignatures

Running a care business is hard - it involves a huge amount of paperwork and regulatory oversight. During COVID things were made harder with rapidly changing rules. As a result, a considerable amount of care staff’s time is now taken up with routine, often manual, admin. This takes away from their primary purpose - providing care to those who need it.

Add in staff shortages, mandatory compliance checks, CQC inspections and sensitively handling admissions and it is clear that the care sector comes with a unique admin burden.

Fortunately there is an answer: electronic signatures have revolutionised the way many businesses handle document management. Traditional manual processes - e.g. making documents on Word, printing them out, signing them by hand, scanning or faxing them, and sending them back can now be replaced by automated, faster and more efficient processes, giving back time to care staff for their primary purpose - providing care to those who need it.

In this article, we will highlight the main benefits for care providers when using e-signatures, and why Plainly is a great choice for making your business paperless.

5 reasons to consider e-signatures

1. Saving time: Electronic signatures can significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to complete the document signing process. With traditional signatures, documents need to be printed out, signed, scanned or faxed, and sent back. This process can take a lot of time, especially if the document needs to be signed by multiple people. Electronic signatures, on the other hand, can be signed and sent back in a matter of minutes, saving you and your stakeholders valuable time.

2. Saving cost: Electronic signatures can also save you money. With traditional signatures, there are costs associated with printing, posting, and storing paper documents. Electronic signatures eliminate the need for these costs, reducing expenses and improving your bottom line.

3. Convenience: Electronic signatures are also more convenient for everyone involved. With traditional signatures, documents need to be physically delivered or mailed to the person who needs to sign them. With electronic signatures, documents can be signed from anywhere with an internet connection, making it easier for you to work with people who are not in the same location.

4. Security: Surprisingly, electronic signatures can actually be more secure than traditional signatures. With electronic signatures, there is a digital paper-trail of the whole signing process, making it hard for someone to dispute the validity of the signature. As long as your e-signature provider has the correct security measures in place, this may make electronic signatures harder to forge than traditional signatures.

5. Document management: If you use an online electronic signature provider, your signed documents will likely be stored in the cloud, making them easily accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. This collects all your important documents in one place, eliminates the need for physical storage space and reduces the risk of lost or damaged documents. It also makes things like CQC pre-inspections far easier as your compliance staff won't have to travel to each home and look through filing cabinets.

5 reasons to use Plainly for e-signatures

1. Cloud-based e-signature software: Plainly is a cloud-based e-signature software provider, which means that businesses can securely access and manage their documents from anywhere on any device. This is especially beneficial for care providers which have employees working remotely or in different locations.

2. Affordable: Plainly is one of the best priced e-signature software platforms on the market, making it a great option for care providers looking to save costs. Plainly's pricing model works particularly well for care providers as you pay one flat fee per location. This makes costs predictable and means that everyone who might need access within your organisation can have it. Despite its affordability, Plainly offers a full suite of features to streamline not only e-signatures but the whole document management process.

3. Easy to use: Plainly is also very easy to use, with a simple and intuitive interface that allows people to quickly and easily upload, sign, and send documents. This is important for care providers that want to adopt electronic signatures but may not have the resources or time to train their employees on a complex solution. We can assist with roll-out and training if required.

4. Secure: Plainly takes security very seriously, with a number of measures in place to protect the privacy and security of its users. All documents are encrypted during transmission and storage, and Plainly offers businesses multiple access controls to ensure that only authorised users can access sensitive documents.

5. Integration: Plainly also integrates with a number of other business software and tools, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Salesforce. This allows businesses to easily import and export documents and streamline their workflow.

In conclusion, electronic signatures have transformed the way businesses handle document management. They are faster, more convenient, and more secure than traditional signatures, and they can save businesses time and money. 

Plainly is an affordable and easy-to-use electronic signature software solution that offers care providers a number of benefits, including cloud-based access, security, and integration with other software. Whether you are a small provider looking to save money and improve efficiency or a large care group with multiple locations looking to streamline your document management processes, Plainly is a great option to consider.