Benefits
Given the amount of time and money that governments invest in paper forms, the benefits of moving those data collection processes online can be substantial.
Cost Reductions
Secure e-forms can result in cost savings of up to 90%* over manual processing for governments and the businesses and citizens they serve. Bill Gates also addressed the cost-savings available through e-forms in his 1999 book, Business at the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy.
| Cost per Form | Paper Form | E-Form | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| * Source: Adobe | |||
| ** Includes employee time filling by hand, routing completed form for approval, routing to end user, manual keying into application, cost of lost forms and keying errors. | |||
| † Includes completing form, submitting form, processing form data into database or back office application. | |||
| Printing & Storage | $15 | $1 | $14 |
| Filling, processing & keying | $145** | $5† | $140 |
| Cost per completed form | $160 | $6 | $154 |
Cost savings can be realized in multiple ways using secure e-forms:
While it is impossible for government agencies to entirely eliminate paper forms, deploying secure e-forms can result in significant cost savings.
Error Reduction
Processing errors can be drastically reduced through the use of secure e-forms. When an e-form is designed, each field can be masked to accept only the defined type or format of data. This makes it easier for the person completing the form to include the proper information in the required format. If a user fails to enter required information, a secure electronic form can immediately return the form to the user for correction before it begins to be processed, saving time and costs for manually handling.
Additional errors are also avoided since the data is captured correctly the first time. This eliminates the potential for error as data is manually re-keyed after a paper form is received for processing.
Decreased Processing Time
Putting e-forms online can significantly decrease processing time because the data does not have to be transferred manually from the paper form to a database or other processing system. This re-keying of information, as discussed above, consumes time, money and increases the error rate.
When errors are reduced during front-end data collection, the increased processing time resulting from incomplete or incorrect forms is minimized, resulting in faster completion of the activity.
When data is submitted electronically, delivery of the information is virtually instantaneous. Using standard "snail mail" or courier services adds days to total processing time. For business-related forms, additional time is wasted as paper moves through internal office mail to secure approval signatures from individuals located in different offices or on different floors. When secure e-forms are employed, multiple digital signatures can be added in very short timeframes, with the same confidence as paper signatures.
Finally, when e-forms can be accessed through a government portal, 24-hour accessibility allows citizens or businesses to complete and submit the forms at their convenience.
The benefits of using e-forms for government translate to virtually any government-to-citizen (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-government (G2G) and internal government process, including applications such as:
The damage to public trust and confidence done by electronic security breaches can be very damaging to governments. While the benefits of using e-forms are tremendous, governments must address security, privacy concerns and electronic signature requirements prior to implementing electronic government solutions. Entrust, along with its partner Adobe, provides secure e-forms solutions that support applications across all levels of E-Government.