Courier delivery of documents VS e-exchange

E-exchange of documents has already become a common practice in business. However, some companies still exchange them in paper form, using courier delivery services.

We have tried to figure out what advantages each method of document delivery has. To compare them, we have chosen a few criteria that are most important for business.

Money saving

The cost of courier delivery of one document in Ukraine ranges from 90 to 150 hryvnias. After the counterparty signs the document, it must be returned to the sender – the cost is doubled. It includes printing costs, the cost of envelopes, etc. If a company has a large volume of external documents, it spends considerable amounts of money on delivery each month.

Exchanging documents in electronic form eliminates additional costs for the company. The company orders a tariff in the ODE service based on its own needs and the volume of document turnover.

Time saving

Courier delivery of documents to regional centers of Ukraine takes 1-2 days, and up to 5 days to remote regions. Under martial law, delivery to certain areas may not be possible at all.
To send a contract or an invoice in the ODE service, you need to make just a few clicks.

In addition, the service users can sign and send a large number of documents in bulk. The exchange between counterparties is much faster. As a result, the conclusion of contracts, payments under contracts and other business processes are also accelerated.

Delay in signing

In a paper-based document workflow, the counterparty receives the document, signs it and sends it back to the sender. Hence, the time to formalize a transaction or business operation doubles. If one of the parties makes a mistake, the whole cycle of creating, sending and signing starts over. Thus, a paper-based contract or statement of work performed can be finalized in a week.

ODE services reduce the signing cycle to a few hours. Counterparties can promptly correct errors in documents and agree on their versions. This significantly speeds up business processes, so it gives the company an advantage over its competitors who sign documents in paper.

Document security

When documents are delivered by courier, there are some risks associated with the human factor. If a company orders delivery to a remote region, the letter may be handled by several courier service employees in turn. The more such contacts occur before the document reaches the addressee, the higher the threat to confidentiality.

ODE services eliminate such risks. Responsible employees of companies can customize access rights for other employees. In other words, they define a list of people who can view, agree and sign documents. This ensures the confidentiality of commercial information.

Storage

Most express delivery services are liable for documents. However, when a company sends documents over a long distance, they may get lost.

Once uploaded to the ODE service, the document is stored in a cloud storage. So the probability of its loss is reduced to zero. The user can use various filters and quickly find a document in the archive by different attributes: name of the counterparty company, EDRPOU code, status of the document, etc.

Let’s see the advantages and disadvantages of each delivery method in the table below:

A bonus: monitoring the status of documents

E-documents are signed with a qualified electronic signature, which is fully protected against forgery. With the transition to e-document workflow, it is possible to track who signed a document and when, and thus control compliance with the signing deadlines. If a document undergoes a complex approval procedure, the ODE service can track where delays occur and promptly eliminate them.

Vchasno offers companies a convenient service for exchanging electronic documents. To experience it for yourself, order a free consultation on the website.