The use of digital signatures in the digital era is a current trend in Indonesia. Given the increasing vulnerability of critical data access from cybercrime, many companies recognize the need to improve the security of their digital infrastructure with digital signatures. This is particularly true for pharmaceutical companies, which are in the front line of community health. What, then, are the benefits of digital signatures in this field? Here are five of the most important.
Providing optimum customer services is of utmost importance for any company. The pharmaceutical sector is no exception. Digital signatures really can provide better service to patients when trying to get medicines. Pharmaceutical companies have to cooperate with hospitals. Sometimes a hospital needs to order in quick stock of drugs to deal with patients suffering from special conditions. If the hospital can directly order drugs using electronic prescription documents with digital signatures, the documentation will be very easily processed by the pharmacy, resulting in rapid procurement of the drugs. That way, the patient will immediately get the medicine they need. Moreover, if this collaboration can be integrated with tele-medicine services in hospitals, tele-medicine services that can be accessed using a digital signature will result in a better patient experience during treatment.
Imagine there is an urgent need for medicine for a patient, but its procurement is hampered by administration issues such as signing documents using the old method and still relying on paper documents. This method not only takes a long time but also results in large operational costs. A report published by DocuSign showed that using digital signatures for pharmaceutical companies can reduce costs by up to USD 4.4 million. In addition, the entire administrative process is 78% faster than before. This data shows that digital signatures can be relied on even in emergencies to ensure the legal management of the drug through to its distribution. The report also stated that at least twelve major international pharmaceutical companies have felt the positive impact of digital signatures. AstraZeneca, for example, stated that around 85% of their documents could be completed using a digital signature in one day. During the pandemic, speed is crucial because of the overwhelming need for medicines from the pharmaceutical companies.
The time that can be saved by using digital signatures for drug distribution and administration of sales documents helps drug sales, too. For large pharmaceutical companies, the speed of document processing can help the sales process globally. That is the experience of one major German pharmaceutical company that uses digital signatures in drug sales contracts.
Digital signatures can improve a company's reputation because it is seen as prioritizing data security, speed and a better business experience. In the past two years, pharmaceutical companies have now implemented them in almost 80 countries to improve services to better sales.
From the reviews described above, you can see that digital signatures for the pharmaceutical business can have a significant impact. They are good for companies and distributors, right up until the medicine reaches the patient's hands. They can also cut the distribution and delivery of drugs, thereby reducing the possibility of unwanted outcomes. For example, drug registration documents become untraceable due to improving archiving of paper documents. Such risks are potentially dangerous, because drugs are prone to abuse and malpractice.
Read: Realizing Paperless International Trade with Electronic Signatures