Month: May 2021

How safe is your data? (POPIA)

Posted on by Tanya Diedericks

How safe is your date?

Read more about – Data safety and POPIA

What is the POPIA?

The POPIA is the Protection of Personal Information Act which sets forth the conditions which need to be followed by businesses and organisations, to protect the use, distribution, and processing of people’s personal information. The POPIA serves to protect the consumers involved from harm – such as theft, discrimination, improper distribution or unsolicited electronic communications.

The creation and implementation of the POPIA comes, as South Africa follows the lead of California with their California Consumer Privacy Act and Europe with their General Data Privacy Regulation. While each of these has its differences, they all stem from the same principles of accountability, data minimisation, data and consumer security, transparency, and the rights of data subjects.

How will the POPIA protect you? 

The POPIA is here to protect consumers or “data subjects”, by giving them more control over their personal data – with the way it’s collected, shared, and used by businesses and organisations.

The POPIA will give data subjects rights regarding their personal information. It will have 8 minimum requirements necessary for the lawful processing of personal data and covers a broad definition of personal information to allow for wider data subject protection.

The rights included for data subjects under the POPIA include the right to be notified on when and how your data is being collected, the right to access the data, and the right to correct or erase data.

This participation by the data subjects is only 1 of the 8 minimum requirements, with others, including:  Accountability, Processing Limitation, Information Quality, Openness, Purpose Specification, Further Processing Limitation, and Security Safeguards.

Security of data being the primary concern for businesses or organisations handling personal information, as it is their responsibility to ensure that data subject’s personal information is safe from data breaches, or that they have taken all possible measures to ensure the safety of the data.

As for the consequences for businesses or organisations that are not POPIA compliant, they can face lawsuits from data subjects that can carry hefty fines of up to R10 million and/or up-to 10 years in prison – not to mention the irreparable damage to their reputations.

Data safety and POPIA - How safe is your data?

CONCLUSION

The POPIA is a means for data subjects to have peace of mind when businesses or organisations are collecting their personal information, as it gives the data subjects rights to their information, as well as more control over their personal information.
It also holds the businesses or organisation accountable for the data and responsible for keeping the data safe, with the threat of legal action and/or the complete damage to their reputation.

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Data safety and POPIA should always be taken seriously.

Tips for the B-BBEE sector

Posted on by Tanya Diedericks

Tips for the B-BBEE sector…

What is B-BBEE?

B-BBEE ie Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment is a strategy developed to give opportunities to the majority of citizens in South Africa.

Through employment equity, socio-economic development, preferential procurement, and enterprise development, B-BBEE aim to allow the entry of black entrepreneurs, especially in small and medium enterprises into the mainstream of economic activity. 

    B-BBEE Verification

Verification agencies have been tasked with the verification of companies trading in South Africa’s B-BBEE.

With strict compliance as set out by SANAS and the DTI – these verification agencies play a critical role in the economic transformation which has been set by the South African government.

There are many processes involved that must be adhered to in the strictest manner and follow all the prescribed processes, both in the verification and requirements thereof.

Tips for the B-BBEE sector

Electronic Signatures for B-BBEE Verification

The current systems used by verification agencies have a lot of room for improvement and adaptation with a bit of digital transformation.
Paper-based systems have many risks for all parties involved during the verification process.
Due to the multitude of documents moving between parties, which require strict protocol and processes.

Accuracy, speed, and verifiability are crucial.

With electronic signatures and electronic forms, these protocols and processes can be shared, reviewed, approved, and securely signed.
Electronic methods make for more cost-effective and time-efficient processes – and electronic signatures are also accepted under South African law.
Electronic signatures and forms are also fully traceable in a workflow process. They are tamper-proof with the use of cryptographic digital signatures that offer validity of the signer and ensure that the document is unchanged from the time of signing.

Conclusion

Electronic signatures have also been used in the banking sector for decades. This is proof of the traceability, accountability, and auditability of documents used with electronic signatures and/or forms. The legal weight, data integrity, and individually signed approval, together with the easy-to-access workflow process evidence and cryptographic digital signatures – make these solutions ideal for use in the B-BBEE verification processes.

Do you work in the verification sector and need more Tips for the B-BBEE sector, then give us a call or …

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Electronic Signatures (eSignatures) can save time and money

Posted on by Tanya Diedericks

How Electronic Signatures (eSignatures) can save you time and money…

Electronic Signatures (eSignatures) have made their way into popularity over recent years – particularly over the last year, considering the way the world has had to adapt – and are slowly becoming a general consensus for signing a document, over a pen-to-paper signature.

While electronic signatures still have many hurdles to overcome before becoming standardised, they do have plenty of benefits, most importantly, their impact on you saving time and money.

Electronic Signatures (eSignatures) can save you time and money…
How you ask…?

Electronic Signatures (eSignatures)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Saving you Time

As with most things nowadays, if it’s online, it’s going to save you time, and this is no different when it comes to e-signatures.

Being able to access a means of signing a document from a simple smart device, or being able to sign a document from distant locations, means that signees won’t have to go through time-consuming efforts to sign documents, no need to travel to a print shop or post office to sign, receive or send documents that need to be signed, particularly with original documents that are required to be sent through “snail mail” to ensure no tampering.

E-signature solutions also allow users to sign multiple pages or documents with a single entry.

Saving you Money

Every person and business wants to save money.

E-signatures can provide a very cost-effective means of getting documents signed, both for the creator of the document and the signee.

Not having to pay the costs of paper and ink to print or reprint documents, or mail/delivery costs to send and receive documents, both sides are immediately saving money from the use of e-signatures.

These electronic alternatives can also save on administration costs involved with filing, securing, and storing paper documents, as e-signatures incorporate these actions preemptively.

Conclusion

Switching from pen-to-paper signatures to e-signatures is most certainly a step in the right direction, for many reasons.

Some reasons can save both time and money simultaneously – such as errors on documents, missing information on documents, or missing documents entirely.

For the many reasons e-signatures are better and have grown in popularity over recent years, the most important one – legality – is making strides in becoming accepted.

With the moving times, saving time and money is definitely a reason to look into adopting an e-signature solution.

Start Saving Now!

e-Forms and Digital Signatures

Posted on by Tanya Diedericks

Benefits of e-Forms and Digital Signatures in the FinTech industry…

e-Forms and Digital Signatures can benefit most Financial Service providers that are continuously trying to improve their business processes.
Their aim is to provide a better customer experience by digitising their processes.
Adopting an electronic signature solution that makes use of digital signature technology provides this improved customer experience, along with secure, legal, and compliant means to automate transactions that require the customer’s signature.

e-Forms and Digital Signatures

Thanks to the leaps that digital signature technology has taken recently, increased security is no longer a worry.

Using identifying security and biometric data, which is permanently embedded within an electronic form, ensures that one can verify the authenticity of the signee at any time and that the document hasn’t been tampered with after the point of signing.

Digital signatures on electronic forms use Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to provide a high level of assurance when verifying the signee.

 

The use of paper-based processes is quite archaic in this technology-driven age.

No matter the industry you are in, you need to look for ways to increase productivity and reduce costs, without sacrificing quality.

Digital signature solutions provide exactly this.

With less time being wasted on administrative duties, such as printing, scanning, collating, and capturing information, consultants and advisors are able to utilise the saved time to focus on building relationships with the customers.

It is also estimated that paper-based processes cost around 10 to 20 times more than the paperless counterpart.

Saving costs revolving around courier services, printing, storage, and the costs of human error.

With the intelligent systems built around electronic forms and digital signatures, workflow rules ensure that all the required data has been captured before a document can be signed off.

 

 

Conclude offers e-Forms and digital signatures that comply with local and international standards for privacy, data protection, and digital signature compliance

 

 

e-Forms and digital signatures are being more widely accepted around the globe as legally binding because the security protocols used for these solutions provide a higher level of assurance and are still compliant with regional and international standards.

 

 

Considering all these points and benefits, it is safe to say that electronic forms and digital signatures provide an easy, convenient and accessible experience.

This is ideal for building long-lasting and quality relationships with customers, by giving them the freedom to choose how and where they will transact.

Having a good online experience can be just as important as the personal touch of face-to-face interaction, and this is what electronic forms and digital signatures aim to achieve.

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