President Thabo Mbeki`s recent electronic signature on the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act has removed the final obstacle standing in the path of `real` electronic business. This is the view of Rob Cells, business development manager at electronic workflow company Engineering Informatics.
Cells says that while enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have been heavily utilised by corporate players for the last decade, only now that digital signatures are legally binding can businesses take full advantage of the real benefits offered by electronic workflow systems.
"Most companies have been running ERP systems for years," says Cells. "One of the major business issues has been that ERP systems only manage 20% of business information, while the other 80% of information actually resides in documents outside of the ERP system."
Cells says although it seems logical to implement a document management system (DMS) that deals effectively with the 80% of business information residing outside of the ERP system, many companies have delayed a conclusive move to electronic workflow - due to the lack of a legally binding IT framework.
"Until the ECT act was signed in, a major catch-22 situation existed, in that legally binding documentation always had to be concluded in paper format," he says. "This meant that a lot of companies have not implemented a controlled and effective DMS, because ultimately paper would have to be resorted to for any process requiring signatures. The ECT Act and the subsequent legal status of digital signatures have finally removed this considerable obstacle to electronic workflow within the business environment."
Cells says certain digital signature software, such as ApproveIt, have been approved by the South African government, and comply with all the legal requirements set out by the ECT Act.
Hans de Villiers, MD of Trustmarque, a distributor of ApproveIt digital signature software in SA, believes that legally binding digital signatures are now driving the final integration of the digital business environment.
"Legally binding electronic approval has been possible for a while already, and in fact ATD (a division of Anglo American), has implemented Approvelt software for approving their technical drawings, some time before the Act was signed," says De Villiers. "But the ECT Act has now removed uncertainty that existed in terms of electronic approval of documents, and thereby the big business obstacle. Companies are finally able to embrace electronic approval of documents totally - and it`s a hot topic at the moment. At Trustmarque we have seen a significant increase in enquiries and sales since Mbeki signed the act."
According to De Villiers, the much-touted `paperless` work environment has finally become a reality.
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