Trends That Will Shape Trust Services and Digital Evidence in 2026

Digitalization is no longer just about efficiency: it’s about trust. In 2026, companies will operate in an environment where demonstrating what happened —who sent what, when, and with what content— will be as important as sending the message itself.

Digital evidence stops being a complement and becomes an essential infrastructure, driven by regulatory changes, the need to anticipate risks, and the automation of critical processes.

Below we review the trends that will shape the management of communications with probative value in 2026.

1. Evidence as the New Regulatory Standard

The final approval of eIDAS 2.0 drives a clear trend: digital processes will need to be verifiable, auditable, and demonstrable. It will not be enough to have sent a communication; it will be necessary to be able to prove it at any time, even years later.

This will affect sectors such as:

• digital contracting,
• banking and insurance,
• human resources,
• professional services,
• public administrations and regulated entities.

Electronic evidence will become a prerequisite for compliance that more and more companies and professionals will incorporate into their daily operations.

2. Total Integration of Certified Communications in Processes

Certification will be embedded in workflows. It will not be “added” at the end of the process or as something optional: it will be part of it.

Corporate systems will stop treating evidence as an external document and will start generating, consuming, and archiving it transparently.

• CRMs that send critical certified communications by default.
• ERPs that automatically register all relevant notices.
• Customer service systems that generate secure traceability effortlessly.

Added to this is a key element: APIs and event channels, which allow:

• Querying in real time the delivery status of each email.
• Incorporating evidence generation or signature requests directly into transactional processes, when appropriate (onboarding, claims, renewals, validations).
• Automating evidence archiving and verification without human intervention.
• Activating conditional flows based on delivery results (retries, notices, internal rules, validations).

In this new model, evidence is not requested: it generates itself, integrates into the systems the company already uses, and automatically feeds its traceability, regulatory compliance, and defensive capacity.

3. Electronic Signature Will Continue to Expand

Electronic signature will continue to consolidate as the standard for closing agreements, authorizing operations, and documenting consents. But its expansion will not come only for legal or efficiency reasons, but because it will become increasingly natural for the user.

The key will be combining probative robustness with minimal friction:

• The signature must integrate into the signer’s usual flow, without forcing them to download apps, create accounts, or learn new tools.
• Authentication will be performed through familiar mechanisms —such as tokenized links or SMS OTP codes— that provide security without interrupting the experience.
• The signing process will be “invisible”: the user will sign where they already are (email, mobile, browser) and without superfluous steps.

Minimizing friction is not just a usability improvement: it is a critical factor for validity and reliability, because it reduces errors, avoids abandonment, and captures the signer’s identity unequivocally.

The trend is clear: an advanced electronic signature that is more secure than a signed paper, but as simple as clicking “Sign”.

4. AI Will Raise Both Risks and Traceability Requirements

Phishing and digital manipulation will be more sophisticated in 2026 due to generative AI.

This implies:

• more personalized attacks,
• perfect identity imitations,
• fake emails difficult to distinguish from real ones.

Therefore, the need will grow for:

• technically demonstrating the origin of the communication,
• preserving content and metadata,
• verifying electronic signatures and timestamps.

Probative verification will be the way to combat an increasingly complex environment.

Conclusion

2026 will be the year when digital evidence moves from being a best practice to becoming a strategic asset. A year to leave behind doubts, “I didn’t receive it”, and communications without traceability.

For those who need to operate with certainty, certified email and probative electronic signature will be the foundation of verifiable trust.