Microsoft Teams Tips and Tricks Webinar with UOB

Many of us who are currently working from home due to Covid-19 would be more aware of the importance of going digital in our business processes as we must adhere to social distancing rules. However, some of you may not know how to navigate the intricacies of integration between systems. 
 

We collaborated with GLT Law and UOB in this webinar to show how you can easily adopt a digital approach in managing your team and business processes.  

Find more helpful Microsoft Teams tips and tricks with us before exploring digital and electronic signatures and its legal implications; and how you can manage your HR processes with your smartphones. 

You have read up to this point, and we believe you will benefit from reading further of what we have to offer you in less than 10 minutes! 

MICROSOFT TEAMS TIPS AND TRICKS  

1. Use Team’s search command box that is located at the top of your Team’s interface by keying in “/” and you can find an array of command prompts you can simply click on to change your working status, or keying in “/” before your colleague’s name on your Team’s interface to chat with them.   
2. Fun fact! Microsoft updates its system on the first Tuesday of each month.  
3. Your business partners or consultants can also be invited into Teams collaborative chat as a guest user by simply adding their email addresses of any domains and they will receive an email invitation link to wait at the “lobby” before the meeting commences.   
4. You can see how your team is using the platform, how often do they use Teams, and how many files have been shared between team members with the Analytics section.  
5. Save your favourite articles by clicking on the “Bookmark” icon on the right side of the post and Teams will automatically curate all of them.  
6. Google Translate powered translation of foreign language used by your international team members on the chat group, however, not enabled by default, so you will need your company’s IT administrator to assist you with enabling Translation under the Admin Centre.  
7. Did you know that your calendar on Teams is synchronized directly to your Outlook to capture your appointments so you will not miss any of them?   
8. Furthermore, you can switch on live capturing that can make the meeting more exclusive to your team members.  
9. You can directly download the member’s meeting attendance to your Excel sheet at your meeting chat room by clicking on the “Download” icon on the right side to automatically generate data to your Excel sheet.   
10. If you have found a helpful article or email, you can share that email to your group by clicking on the three dots of the channel to get the email address of the channel – it is a form of notification  

DIGITAL AND ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES   

Since the MCO commenced on 18 March 2020, many migrated to signing their documents digitally to demonstrate their authentication of the document, but you are not sure how do you do it digitally or electronically without worrying of its legal implications. There are two governing statutes, namely the Digital Signature Act 1997 and Electronic Commerce Act 2006.

Digital Signature:  

• Contains the identity of the signer with their name and identity card number or passport number  
• The key pair (i.e. public key and private key used for signing and verification purposes)  
• Miscellaneous information such as the issuer of certificate and validity period of the certificate  
• Recipient of the document that has been digitally signed can view the information on the certificate to confirm whether the document has been modified since the creation of it  
• A form of evidence for litigation purposes, if needed to verify the authenticity, experts from CAs can be summoned to testify its authenticity in Court.  

• Verified the public key that is listed in a valid certificate issued by a licensed CA  
• The digital signature was affixed by the signer to sign the message  
• The recipient has no knowledge or notices that the signer has breached his  duty or does not have the right to hold the private key necessary to attach the  digital signature  

Electronic Signature 

The most common way to use this signature is when you accept terms and conditions when creating a new account online. The  Electronic Commerce Act  2006  recognises the legal effect, validity, and enforceability of any electronic contract supplied the fundamental law of contract has been observed when creating the contract (offer, acceptance, intention to create legal relation). Over the years, as technology is transforming, more advanced form of digital signature exists and with better security barriers.  

1. Power of Attorney;  
2. Wills and Codicils;  
3. Trusts; and  Negotiable instruments, e.g. bills of exchange, promissory notes, cheques)  

1. It is attached to or is logically attached with the electronic message.
2. It is naming the person and the person’s approval of the information.  
3. It was given as reliable and as is given the purpose and circumstances in which an electronic signature is needed.  
4. A High Court case ruled that its threshold is low.
5. The integrity of the information depends on whether the information has remained complete and unaltered, apart from more endorsements or changes that arise in the normal course of communication, storage, and display.  

1. It is as reliable as is proper only if the creation of the signature is linked to and under the control of that person only.  
2. Since any alteration to the signature can be detected, it is heavily reliable.  

Comparison of Digital Signature vs Electronic Signature  

Electronic signatures may be easier to understand as a digital version of your handwritten signature and it is used in all types of agreements, but digital signature gives a higher level of security as it has encryption to signatures and authenticity to signer’s identity, where highly regulated documents often use this.  

Digital signatures embed something known as “Personal Key Infrastructure” (PKI) into the signing process as a way for identification of both parties requesting a signature and another who is providing it. PKI generates two keys, namely the Private Key and Public Key to identify the signer. This is when you and your signer must have a registered certificate from an issuing Certificate Authority to link the signer and their signature.  

Which type of e-signature to choose from?  

There is no wrong or right answer when it comes to choosing which kind of e-signature you prefer for your transactions, as it depends on the nature of your business and whether you prefer convenience or security in the signature you want.