E-Signature Platform Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Deployment (On-Premise, Cloud), By Organization Size (SME, Large Enterprise), By End-User Industry (BFSI, Government and Defense, Healthcare, Oil and Gas, IT and Telecom, Logistics and Transportation) and By Region(North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, LATAM) Forecasts, 2023-2031

Market Overview

The global e-signature platform market size was valued at USD 3.05 billion in 2022. It is expected to reach USD 30.55 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 29.18% during the forecast period (2023–2031).

Digital documents can be legally signed by many people with the help of electronic signature software. Desktop solutions allow for editing and signing documents on a laptop, computer, or mobile device, while cloud-based solutions enable multiple users to sign from different locations. The growing number of digital businesses can benefit from the secured and verified transactions provided by digital signatures. The market is expected to be pushed by rising demand for electronic commerce and paperless processes. It assists companies in reducing operational costs, including those in the retail, BFSI, healthcare, government, IT, and telecommunications sectors. Businesses across industries gain a competitive edge from its implementation. Similarly, more robust government support is likely to spur the expansion of the digital signature market.

Market Dynamics

Global e-signature platform market drivers

Adoption of cloud-based services and e-signature in various industries

Modern e-signature technologies offer several benefits beyond merely the simplicity of electronic signing. E-signatures can significantly increase efficiency by automating document workflows across departments like sales, logistics, and HR, which will help businesses of all sizes eliminate their paper-based bottlenecks. Documents are digitalized using e-signature solutions, which is much more effective than the traditional pen-and-paper approach. Going paperless is the quickest way for businesses to grow, become more profitable, and provide better customer service, and e-signature solutions are assisting many industries.

Agents and brokers can create contracts wherever they are, thanks to these solutions in the real estate industry. Many companies have adopted eSignature and workflow automation tools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain contact with their clients while under lockdown. Utilizing eSignatures offers numerous business advantages, such as quicker document turnaround times, improved accuracy, improved team collaboration, industry-level compliance, and data security, which is what is causing these solutions to become more popular.

Growth in the culture of remote work and overseas contracts

Since digital documents have electronic copies of the originals and numerous levels of encryption and security to protect them, they have an advantage in terms of security and data protection. Electronic document forgery is less serious than most people think because signature authentication software has advanced over time. Business owners have to accommodate a workforce that is increasingly widely spread geographically as a result of remote work and hybrid work models. Businesses are now experimenting with e-signatures as a more strategic and organized part of their organizational culture's digital transformation, which is driving the market's expansion.

Global e-signature platform market restraints

Concerns about fraud and cybercrimes

The threat of cybercrimes has intensified over the past few years, becoming a significant issue for people, businesses, and society. The leading cause of such attacks is the widespread use of the internet and the expansion of digital services, both of which draw profit-driven criminals. For instance, according to the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency, cybercrimes have surpassed all other traditional crimes. Many clients demand government-based compliance for the documents they entrust to an organization. In order to protect the company and its clients' information, digital solutions must include all necessary features that go above and beyond all applicable privacy laws.

Protecting digital documents is crucial to preventing data breaches and malicious hacker attacks in the digital age. Many businesses that use digital-based solutions have serious security concerns. A data breach can have adverse effects beyond just the bottom line, including lost customers, harm to a brand's reputation, the disclosure of trade secrets, and compliance and legal problems. Additionally, as more documents are managed and stored online and on mobile devices, there is a higher chance that vital data and credentials will be lost or stolen.

Global e-signature platform market opportunities

Increasing numbers of alliances and acquisitions

In recent years, the market for digital signatures has experienced unprecedented growth. IT companies' use of inorganic growth strategies to position themselves as providers of competitively advantageous digital signature solutions and services has grown significantly. These strategies include partnerships, agreements, and acquisitions. According to the most recent trends, the major players use a variety of inorganic strategies to maintain their competitiveness in the digital signature market. One of the top concerns for organizations focused on security is the demand for digital signature products and services. As a result, there are numerous opportunities on the market for digital signature service providers to sell their products and services.

Regional Analysis

By region, the global market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa.

Asia-pacific dominates the global market

Asia-Pacific is the most significant contributor and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 32.50% during the forecast period. China has tiered electronic signature regulations, contrary to other nations, which have permissive/minimalist or prospective electronic signature laws. The law adopts a two-tiered approach and permits both electronic and digital signatures and the legalization of virtual signatures. In addition, the European Union directive, United Nations Convention on Electronic Communications, and UNCITRAL Model Law were combined to model the Electronic Signature Law of the People's Republic of China. However, some national judges have been reluctant to uphold the legality of electronic signatures. As a result, there is an increased demand for highly sensitive documents to have advanced digital signatures. For employee contracts, NDAs, privacy notices, employee invention agreements, benefits paperwork, and new employee onboarding documents during the HR process, China primarily uses e-signature technology. More people are using e-signature technology, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic started. This tendency is expected to continue with the release of the third and fourth waves of COVID-19 and the extension and allowance for remote working.

Europe is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.14% during the forecast period. During the United Kingdom's COVID-19 pandemic's stay-at-home phase, the use of electronic signatures increased significantly. Since the physical distance was required for many pre-pandemic processes, actual signatures were often replaced by electronic ones. This covers real estate deals, sales agreements, and even legal paperwork like onboarding agreements for new employees. E-signature use is likely to remain high and expand further in the future due to people's increased comfort with them. For instance, in November 2020, CMS released its latest publication, which is intended to provide guidance on the legal requirements for e-signing platforms in all UK jurisdictions and the practicalities of doing so. It is necessary to electronically sign documents to ensure their integrity and to provide proof of the signer's acceptance as more organizations adopt industry 4.0 standards and switch from paper documentation to paperless transactions. Atos, a European player in IS security, offered metasign, a comprehensive method for producing and authenticating electronic signatures.

North America has one of the highest revenue-generating markets, primarily due to the increased movement of businesses toward cloud-based solutions, the widespread use of mobile devices, and the existence of well-known companies holding a sizable portion of the market. For instance, Cisco predicted that by the end of 2021, the region would rank among the most cloud-ready regions. This was brought on by businesses' growing preference for cloud-based services, which will likely spur the development of secure cloud-based digital solutions. The region's significant growth in mobile devices drives digital transactions because digital processes entail delivering contracts and executing signs on mobile devices and other multifunctional platforms.

One of the first regions to use electronic signature technology was Latin America. According to Coco Sign, Colombia, Peru, and Chile are the nations where electronic signatures have the same legal standing as written signatures. According to the legal systems of the respective nations, electronic signatures are strongly preferred in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Ecuador, and Guatemala. Family law, death, and other highly personal documents are exempt from Argentina's 2001 adoption of the digital signature law. In 2001, Brazil approved a law recognizing electronic signatures, making no serious exceptions. In 2009, Uruguay passed the Electronic Document and Signature Act, which noted the need for caution in notarizing real estate and other transactions.

Electronic methods are increasingly used by businesses in the United Arab Emirates to execute contracts. By 2021, the UAE's government planned to be entirely paperless. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts purchased Ethaq, a reliable electronic seal solution, in May 2021. With the aid of UAE PASS, a safe national digital identity platform for the United Arab Emirates, this paperless initiative allows documents to be authenticated digitally. Ethaq enabled users to digitally confirm the legitimacy of any legal documents on the DIFC Courts website by preventing tampering with official documents and bolstering their security and integrity. For instance, the Saudi Arabia-based company Indorse Sign provides businesses and the government with digital transaction management solutions. To provide Indorse Sign solutions for banks and corporate entities, the company began integrating with local and international Certificate Authorities and Identity Service Providers in 2020.

Segmental Analysis

The global market is segmented by deployment, organization size, and end-user industry.

Based on the deployment, the global e-signature platform market is bifurcated into on-premise and cloud.

The cloud segment is the highest contributor to the market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 32.21% during the forecast period. For almost three decades, electronic signatures have helped businesses enhance and expedite their operations. Nowadays, e-signature software comes with many benefits. E-signatures may assist companies of any size to avoid paperwork bottlenecks by automating document workflows across departments, including sales, logistics, and human resources.

E-signature software digitizes documents similarly to document management software, making it much more effective than the conventional pen-and-paper approach. Any company heavily relies on document signatures. HR professionals must track employee contracts, statements of work for consultancies must be approved by all parties, and attorneys must sign agreements. Documents mailed must now be signed digitally even though businesses continue to operate remotely. Businesses may concentrate on carrying out their daily operations because digital signatures are quicker and more convenient. Digital signature users can be confident that their documents are secure because they are stored in the cloud.

On-premise software, also known as "on-prem," is installed and used inside the company's physical space, such as its building. On-premise software is widely used across many industrial sectors. In highly regulated businesses, on-premise data loss prevention is frequently used because storing sensitive data in a public cloud environment is illegal. Businesses with these restrictions must use on-premise management DLP software because most cloud-based software operates in a public cloud environment.

Based on the organization size, the global e-signature platform market is bifurcated into SMEs and large enterprises.

The large enterprise segment owns the highest market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 30.80% during the forecast period. Due to the large business' adoption of digitalization, it holds a significant portion of the e-signature market. Electronic document management systems are used by end-user industries, like oil and gas companies, to streamline operations for these massive corporations. The use of digital signatures for corporate document signing is one of the requirements for contemporary electronic document management systems.

Furthermore, workflow management is a requirement for large businesses. Workflows between departments can be difficult because staff members and managers may make significant system transfers. With a cloud-based solution, everyone on the team who is in the field can sign documents. As a result of its widespread use in large enterprises, a digital cloud-based solution will make the process of using digital signatures simple and less expensive. Additionally, businesses are supplying large corporations with their goods and services. In order to improve operational efficiency, large companies are predicted to adopt e-signature during the forecast period, particularly on cloud platforms.

Due to its many advantages, e-signature adoption is anticipated to increase among SMEs significantly. The use of e-signature in SMEs ripens a variety of advantages, including document validity, protection, and security, increased organizational efficiency, financial advantages, and increased business mobility, among others. Additionally, due to the rise in remote work following the COVID-19 outbreak, many core SME functions, including HR and sales, have started using electronic signatures more frequently, contributing to the expansion of the market under investigation in the SME sector. Further, the increased usage and demand have solved many issues related to document handling and verification while also creating a variety of complexities and challenges. The verification process and customer interactions account for a large portion of the complexity, but the development of new technology assists in creating faster processes for SMEs.

Based on the end-user industry, the global e-signature platform market is bifurcated into BFSI, government and defense, healthcare, oil and gas, IT and telecom, and logistics and transportation.

The government and defense segment is the highest contributor to the market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31.49% during the forecast period. For federal, state, and local governments, adopting digital signature solutions facilitates a wide range of document processing and automation capabilities that enhance access to crucial data while lowering the cost of obtaining it. Vote-by-Mail, petition automation, Forms Data Extraction, and mail processing are essential applications for which digital signature and verification solutions are helpful. Municipalities are increasingly using fraud by forging signatures, according to government agencies.

In addition, the targets of fraudsters are close behind those of the state and local governments. They maintain a record of the transactions while spending a sizable sum of money with thousands of different stakeholders. The government has made numerous efforts to create a digital infrastructure that necessitates using software-based solutions for the data gathered. There are already IT initiatives in place by the US government, including digital strategy, identity, credential, access management (ICAM), and digital experience.

A necessary component of both personal and professional lives, banking and insurance require ongoing technological advancements to protect against malicious changes and validate transactions. By introducing a digital signature through e-signature and digitizing account openings and document signings, banks like Deutsche Bank accelerated account openings for corporate and institutional clients, significantly reducing costs and processing times. E-signatures have several benefits, including a significant percentage reduction in the overall operating costs related to opening bank accounts and the number of paper formalities. In addition, the suggested technology can improve customer engagement while reducing work and time requirements. E-signature enables banking and financial service companies to complete paperwork entirely online and divert their focus from administrative and operational tasks, which makes it easier to spot new opportunities and provide better customer service. They are also utilized for the online onboarding of new clients, aiding in the maintenance of client satisfaction.

Recent Developments

• January 2023- Singapore-headquartered trade technology company GUUD Pte Ltd (“GUUD”) announced the launch of ClickargoSG, a new digital logistics platform by GUUD Singapore designed to promote the digitalization of the logistics sector and to create greener supply chains using technology.