Remote Online Notarization: A Smart Tool for Business Preparedness

Guest Blog by Taren Coleman, Owner, Bethesda Notary Services

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September is National Preparedness Month—more associated with checking flashlight batteries and restocking the emergency kit. It can also be about keeping everyday business moving when circumstances change: a key person is traveling, a signer has relocated, or a deadline lands on a day when nobody can be in the same room.
Most businesses already plan for the obvious disruptions—with backup systems, remote-work capabilities, alternate vendors. Fewer have a plan for a smaller but surprisingly common snag: how do you get an important document signed and notarized when the signer isn't with you?


That's where Remote Online Notarization (RON) comes in. And if you've never heard of it, you're in good company. The most common reaction I hear when I tell someone about RON is, "I didn't know that was a thing."
It is a thing—and for any business that regularly handles notarized documents, it's a genuinely useful tool for keeping transactions moving.


What Is RON, Exactly?
Remote Online Notarization lets a signer and a commissioned online Notary complete a notarization over a secure platform with live audio-video, instead of meeting in person. It isn't a document on a screen and a click of "sign." The Notary still verifies the signer's identity, confirms they understand and willingly agree to the document, completes the notarial certificate, and keeps the required records—just as they would in person. (RON laws vary by state, so the exact process depends on where the Notary is commissioned and what the transaction requires.)


How It Works
A typical RON session runs through five steps: the signer gets a secure link to the RON session; completes identity verification, often through ID review and identity questions; connects with the Notary live over video; and signs electronically while the Notary applies an official electronic seal and certificate. The finished, notarized document is then returned to the signer—or whoever requested the notarization—as a PDF, while the Notary keeps a separate record of the transaction, usually an electronic journal entry and a recording.


Who Actually Uses This—and Why?
RON shows up anywhere notarized documents are part of doing business, and the reasons tend to fall into a few familiar categories.


People aren't always where they need to be. A real estate seller relocates out of state. An estate-planning client is traveling. A corporate executive is out of town on signing day. RON removes the need to get everyone in one physical place.


Schedules and deadlines don't wait. Coordinating an in-person appointment around a client's job, an executive's travel, or an attorney's calendar can eat up days you don't have—especially when a title company needs a closing to stay on track, an attorney needs a filing to move forward, or a government contractor is up against a submission deadline. For title companies, attorneys, CPAs, contractors, and corporate teams, that flexibility means fewer scheduling headaches, faster turnaround, and less time spent chasing signatures.


How Secure Is RON?
RON platforms rely on enterprise-grade encryption, secure authentication, tamper-evident digital seals, and audit trails. But the security isn't just technological. The notarization process itself—identity verification, live video interaction, and the safeguards required by state law—is designed to catch the kind of fraud in-person notarization is meant to prevent. And RON goes a step further: it generates a documented trail of the entire transaction, including identity-verification results and a recording of the session. That's not just a faster notarization. It's notarization with its own built-in audit trail.


Preparedness Means Having Options Before You Need Them
That's really the point of National Preparedness Month: it's not only about surviving emergencies; it's about having a plan for the moments when the normal way of doing things simply doesn't work. A traveling client, a relocated signer, a remote executive, a pending deadline—any of these can turn a routine notarization into a scheduling crisis, unless you already know there's another way.


RON won't replace every in-person notarization—some transactions still call for meeting face-to-face. But having it in your back pocket means less waiting, fewer scheduling conflicts, and a workable path forward when timing doesn't cooperate.


"I didn't know that was a thing" is what I hear most often when I bring up RON—and exactly why it belongs in a conversation about business preparedness. You don't have to wait for a delayed transaction to find out remote notarization exists. Knowing about it now and having a qualified Notary on hand when you need one is what turns a potential roadblock into a non-issue.
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Taren Coleman, Owner,  Bethesda Notary Services
Keep your business moving forward.