Freelance developers are inventive problem solvers who enjoy constructing new things. They would be kind enough to create something in their backyard if they were born in the 1930s. They’re always looking to improve their product by including more useful features, distinctive selling points, and streamlining the production process. While they build software, they keep in mind the end users and the true, fundamental reason why the product exists in the first place.
This is often done to reduce labor costs or increase output. Software may be used to onboard customers as well. In the same way, you would approach developing software, digitizing your manual procedures may help you strengthen your connections with clients, onboard new ones quickly, and increase your productivity.
Freelance programmers and electronic contracts
Including eContracting in your website’s interface is a great method to foster customer loyalty and create rapport as a freelance developer. Electronic contracts are an effort to streamline and expedite the contracting process. Here, business procedure meets user experience.
As part of the digital revolution, companies increasingly move their routine operations online. McKinsey and other analysts fully support this shift, arguing that digitizing company operations may save as much as 90% of expenses. Freelance developers would do well to take this trend seriously and include the automation of routine tasks into their approach to new business.
Freelance software engineers may utilize many resources to build the appropriate infrastructure for contract lifecycle management, which is a crucial step in adopting electronic contracts. Access management, authentication, online document sharing, notifications, auditing, and electronic signatures are all part of this. Creating such a complex infrastructure requires specialized expertise and tools like cryptography and digital signatures.
Why freelance developers should consider eContracts
Getting people to agree with a new plan might take time and effort. Hence, the aim is to simplify the procedure. A collaborative, consistent, straightforward approach is key to getting customers to sign on the dotted line. It’s all about automating formerly labor-intensive operations without changing their fundamental nature.
Another important thing is knowing how to be resourceful in a field where every edge counts. There was an annual growth in the number of employed software developers between 2013 and 2015, according to data from the United States Department of Labor. To succeed in a crowded market, you must find ways to stand out from the crowd and captivate your target audience. One approach to achieve this is simplifying the onboarding process, particularly regarding contract negotiation and finalization. Some of the upsides of adopting an electronic contract system to manage new client onboarding are listed below:
- Quick contract negotiation
Having the customer cool down or find someone else while you’re in contract negotiations is one of the worst possible scenarios. Handling contract negotiations manually is a tedious process. The time spent communicating through email, printing documents and making changes is a major time sink.
Contracts can be accessed online from a centralized document store like DropBox. You may also notify the parties through email when the e-contract is ready to be seen or updated.
- It’s all about the law
Technology is only useful if it serves a useful purpose and improves people’s lives. One area of digitization that must have legal weight and acceptable elements is Econtracts. All parties involved should be able to use electronic signatures without extra downloads or extensive training. Yet, it must also be enforceable in a court of law if an electronic contract is ever challenged.
- The quick route
Being self-employed means understanding the value of time and how it can be converted into cash. Focus on what you do best instead of worrying about logistics, like getting contracts signed on time or getting them to the correct people. Because of this, the time it takes to get a new customer on board and see a contract through its typical lifespan has been drastically reduced, thanks to digitalization. It expedites the whole Econtract process so you can return to doing what you do best—creating software—as soon as possible once the contract has been signed.
Using electronic contracts has positive outcomes for all parties involved. Create your digital infrastructure by onboarding customers using an e-contract framework. You benefit because your customers approve of a project sooner, giving you more time to do other things; your clients benefit because they save time and money by not having to print up and mail several copies of documents back and forth. If you’re a freelance developer, adopting electronic contracts (Econtracts) is a logical extension of your business model since you’re already in the industry of making other people’s lives easier via software.