Opinion: Government Agencies Switching to Digital Signatures to Improve Operations

Ashley Weston, Adobe product senior specialist and technical lead at Carahsoft, said government agencies have started adopting digital signature technology, which reduces the time spent on transactions, speeds up document delivery and eliminates the need to meet in person to sign documents.

The Internal Revenue Service has already begun using digital signatures to improve taxpayers’ experience as part of its modernization initiative.

Department of Defense agencies are also leaning into the trend of digital signature use.

The adoption of the technology should comply with security measures under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, Weston said in a blog post on Carahsoft’s website.

The Carahsoft senior specialist noted that digital signature solutions are cloud-based services and must have FedRAMP authorization for the government agencies to consider using the technologies.

Weston, meanwhile, described e-signatures as the green alternative to paper-based wet signatures, noting that it will not only improve business processes but also help reduce paper use and carbon emissions.