Echosign prepares for tipping point of e-signatures
Electronic signatures aren't new. In fact, they've been equivalent to written signatures since 2000, under the Federal E-Sign Act. But adoption has been slow. Sure, my tax accountant may be submitting my electronic signature on my tax returns but recently, when it came time to put my out-of-state home on the market, I found myself printing 30+ pages from a PDF, signing the documents and then faxing back to my real estate agent.
But the tipping point is coming. A recent entry on the Echosign's corporate blog focused on what the company is seeing as it continues to push e-signature technology. The company is making a comparison to the adoption of digital photography. It took a while to take off, but once it did, there was no looking back. Film? Prints? Photo albums? Today, it's all about double-digit megapixels, high-capacity SD cards and online sharing sites like Flickr and even Facebook.
Anticipating that a tipping point is just around the corner, Echosign is announcing today the arrival of its version 4.0 and a new key feature - analytics. As part of the new verison, Echosign wants companies to be able to track digital signatures - and subsequently deals that have been finalized. It also wants companies to be able to be alerted when a signature is still expected - but hasn't been received. And finally, it wants to be able to look at the turn around times for closing deals, as well as comparisons of different sales teams or against industry benchmarks. From Echosign's official announcement:
EchoSign 4.0 builds upon the core value proposition of electronic signatures: closing more deals, more quickly. By keeping the contract and deal electronic, digital, and in the cloud, EchoSign prevents the contract cycle from going off-line and having to revert to manual or traditional ways of getting a signature. In this volatile economy, a “closed loop” e-contracting service is an efficient and effective application that gives sales teams of all sizes a competitive, productivity enhancing tool.
To see more of Echosign's new features for version 4.0, check out the company's video demo.
