Is It the Era of Electronic Signatures?
Summary: Do you see a day soon when all documents will be signed electronically, and it’s no big deal – just the way we do modern business?
When I wrote about the increasing use of electronic signatures for electronic documents, I did it in context of Adobe purchasing EchoSign, one of the vendors in the field.
Well, reader Jadsen, recommends another vendor, Rightsignature, which I checked out. Looks like they do a great job of documenting the electronic signature process so there is a verification trail should it be necessary for legal purposes.
And another reader posted a glowing endorsement of Echo Sign, so they are obviously doing something right.
Do you have any experience with other e-signature vendors? What’s working for your company? And do you see a day soon when all documents will be signed electronically, and it’s no big deal – just the way we do modern business?
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ZDNet introduces Doc (The DocuMentor), sponsored by RICOH. Through his blog, Doc will educate you about Document Management. So who is Doc? Doc is something of an enigma. He was born to a Russian ballerina and a German electrical engineer who some believe was running covert operations for shadowy corporate interests. Doc grew up in various locations in the United States, although no one seems to know precisely where, least of all Doc. His early schooling was unremarkable except for the time he was caught trying to replace all the mimeograph machines with high-tech color copiers that had mysteriously disappeared from a shipment to Albania. At MIT, he made a name for himself by transforming a large printer into a robot that hunts and eats Roombas. Professionally, he reportedly has seen the insides of more brands, versions, and generations of printer and printer-related hardware than almost anyone. Some say his obsession with paper, printing, and mechanical movement was either started by, or evidenced by, a traumatic childhood episode when he crawled inside an old Xerox 2400 and tried to print himself.
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We use ContractPal because rather than just an eSignature vendor, ContractPal has a full blown development platform. We've developed sophisticated workflow around the sales, contracting, underwriting, onboarding, and fulfillment processes using ContractPal's platform, which has various types of eSignature (including voice signature in a call center environment).
We have been using RightSignature for a year and it's great. The api lets us sync data and send contracts automatically and compared to our previous vendor the response time is solid. Our applicants seem to love it which could well be a sign of the changing times
To answer the question, Is it the Era of Electronic Signatures: YES, YES, Absolutely YES!
I ran across this Blog on ZDNET, and I have to mention what apparently most folks are not aware of. First of all, there are many electronic signing platforms. But just as there are many different makes and models of cars, we would all agree that a yugo does not compare to a Rolls Royce. Both get you from point A to point B, agreed, however, you might risk your life in a Yugo since we live in a country full of suburbans and SUV's. Therefore you have to drive something that is going to keep you alive. And that brings me to electronic signing platforms.
I know of only one which is tamper resistant, fraud proof, in an electronic vault, approved in all 50 states, approved by FNMA, FHLMC, HUD and last but not least is the exclusive and only company to hold multiple patents, which for me the most important one in real estate is the patent concerning the electronic signature of any related escrow document. I bring this up because in California, any time you right up a purchase offer agreement using the California Association of Realtor's contracts, it's a "Residential Purchase Agreement with Joint Escrow Instructions". So if you sign with any other company other than Settleware or ExpressDox by Settleware, you are in breach of that patent. So Far as I know, I was the first broker to adopt electronic signatures in my real estate brokerage in Orange County California in 2009. Both my attorney's (in different areas of law practice i.e. Transaction Real Estate, General Real Estate, Trial Law, Errors & Omissions Law etc.,) confirmed Settleware was the safest to use. As an broker and owner I did not want my agents to use an electronic platform and breach this patent every time they wrote up an offer (or any other escrow related document). My goal is always to limit exposure.
Still wondering if I know what I am talking about? Well I don't know everything about this topic, but I have taught agents and brokers since March of 2010 How to become E-Sign Certified & How to Electronically sign courses. I have taught several thousand and have even been a featured speaker for the Escrow Institute. Furthermore, can you imagine the hoops this company must have jumped through to get all the attorney's at FNMA, FHLMC, HUD and the attorney general in 50 states! Now that is what I call swimming with the sharks! You can check out http://www.settleware.com/blog/ It is rich with content and case histories. In addition you can google me, I routinely blog on electronic signing because I believe eSigning is to 2012 what fax machines were to the 80's (sorry I am dating my self) and email to the 90's. In my book a very necessary tool. In 2012 I'll be teaching agents nationwide and I also have a book which will be published in January 2012. I say this not to brag but to inform you and acknowledge, most business people, and even less agents know enough about this very important topic and whether we like it or not, it's here to stay and furthermore both buyers and sellers are starting to demand it.
Oh By The way, one last thing..... you might want to check out a recent lawsuit (March 2011) where the Arkansas Supreme court upheld electronic signatures and the UETA act http://www.settleware.com/blog/?s=april
I ran across this Blog on ZDNET, and I have to mention what apparently most folks are not aware of. First of all, there are many electronic signing platforms. But just as there are many different makes and models of cars, we would all agree that a yugo does not compare to a Rolls Royce. Both get you from point A to point B, agreed, however, you might risk your life in a Yugo since we live in a country full of suburbans and SUV's. Therefore you have to drive something that is going to keep you alive. And that brings me to electronic signing platforms.
I know of only one which is tamper resistant, fraud proof, in an electronic vault, approved in all 50 states, approved by FNMA, FHLMC, HUD and last but not least is the exclusive and only company to hold multiple patents, which for me the most important one in real estate is the patent concerning the electronic signature of any related escrow document. I bring this up because in California, any time you right up a purchase offer agreement using the California Association of Realtor's contracts, it's a "Residential Purchase Agreement with Joint Escrow Instructions". So if you sign with any other company other than Settleware or ExpressDox by Settleware, you are in breach of that patent. So Far as I know, I was the first broker to adopt electronic signatures in my real estate brokerage in Orange County California in 2009. Both my attorney's (in different areas of law practice i.e. Transaction Real Estate, General Real Estate, Trial Law, Errors & Omissions Law etc.,) confirmed Settleware was the safest to use. As an broker and owner I did not want my agents to use an electronic platform and breach this patent every time they wrote up an offer (or any other escrow related document). My goal is always to limit exposure.
Still wondering if I know what I am talking about? Well I don't know everything about this topic, but I have taught agents and brokers since March of 2010 How to become E-Sign Certified & How to Electronically sign courses. I have taught several thousand and have even been a featured speaker for the Escrow Institute. Furthermore, can you imagine the hoops this company must have jumped through to get all the attorney's at FNMA, FHLMC, HUD and the attorney general in 50 states! Now that is what I call swimming with the sharks! You can check out http://www.settleware.com/blog/ It is rich with content and case histories. In addition you can google me, I routinely blog on electronic signing because I believe eSigning is to 2012 what fax machines were to the 80's (sorry I am dating my self) and email to the 90's. In my book a very necessary tool. In 2012 I'll be teaching agents nationwide and I also have a book which will be published in January 2012. I say this not to brag but to inform you and acknowledge, most business people, and even less agents know enough about this very important topic and whether we like it or not, it's here to stay and furthermore both buyers and sellers are starting to demand it.
Oh By The way, one last thing..... you might want to check out a recent lawsuit (March 2011) where the Arkansas Supreme court upheld electronic signatures and the UETA act http://www.settleware.com/blog/?s=april
Interesting comments, Lillian. Thanks for the insight. Sounds like you have quite a bit of experience in this area and you raise some interesting points regarding intellectual property. Doc will have to look into this more.
We use Sertifi - which is an electronic signature tool and web contracting tool to take your entire contracting process online.
We've used AssureSign (http://www.assuresign.com) for the last year and a half or so. We evaluated all of the major vendors and selected AssureSign because of their strong integration capabilities. Our sales force is not big on change, and they were able to keep their same processes, only simplified. Also, AssureSign gave us the option to do SaaS at first and then move it on premise as we continued to grow and sent out more documents, which was a huge money saver for us. AssureSign works great - I highly recommend it!
Thanks for all the great comments, folks. Sounds like there are a number of good solutions out there when it comes to electronic signatures. Hopefully we're getting to the point where, regardless of the specific solution you choose, everyone will agree that electronic signatures are just as good, and just as binding, as physical ones.
Great to see someone ask the question ???do you see a day when all documents will be signed electronically????. I can tell you that for literally MILLIONS of us, that day has actually already happened in the DocuSign Global Network. With more than 13M users in 50 countries, DocuSign has become the way things get done. If you ask a DocuSign user about life before ???DocuSigning???, they will cringe remembering how they used to print, scan, fax or overnight to sign documents.
What???s more, for many businesses (including the one with the signature logo in this article), it is much more than the era where electronic signatures take off, but an era where the whole signed document workflow finally goes digital. This is much more than just the signature ??? it is electronically managing the entire process ??? identity management, authentication, data, forms, workflow, and business intelligence. When a business migrates their workflow to DocuSign, incredible ROI is delivered. It literally means faxing, scanning, rekeying of customer data, overnight postage, and rework are all gone. This means lower cost, faster transactions, quicker time to revenue, and happier customers. No wonder employees at 99 of the Fortune 500 have "DocuSigned".
Evidence of the broad market eagerness to get rid of the fax machine and overnight mail could not have been more obvious when DocuSign released DocuSign Ink in November. DocuSign Ink is the world???s first ???Personal Electronic Signature???, a free app designed to allow consumers to easily 'sign and return' anything sent to them for signature. It was released for the Apple iOS devices, and for Microsoft Outlook users. DocuSign Ink immediately took off, and in only the first few weeks of offering the service, more than 150,000 new users have joined the DocuSign network ??? not to solve business problems, but to avoid having to deal with paper in their personal lives ??? and to be able to finish the things they have to do so they can focus on the things they want to do.
So, yes. The Era is upon us. Today, using paper to sign, fax, scan, or mail a document for signature is just wasted time and money. Some people may still be doing it, but not for long. I am curious to hear how many of you have eSigned ??? and how it has improved your life or business.
What???s more, for many businesses (including the one with the signature logo in this article), it is much more than the era where electronic signatures take off, but an era where the whole signed document workflow finally goes digital. This is much more than just the signature ??? it is electronically managing the entire process ??? identity management, authentication, data, forms, workflow, and business intelligence. When a business migrates their workflow to DocuSign, incredible ROI is delivered. It literally means faxing, scanning, rekeying of customer data, overnight postage, and rework are all gone. This means lower cost, faster transactions, quicker time to revenue, and happier customers. No wonder employees at 99 of the Fortune 500 have "DocuSigned".
Evidence of the broad market eagerness to get rid of the fax machine and overnight mail could not have been more obvious when DocuSign released DocuSign Ink in November. DocuSign Ink is the world???s first ???Personal Electronic Signature???, a free app designed to allow consumers to easily 'sign and return' anything sent to them for signature. It was released for the Apple iOS devices, and for Microsoft Outlook users. DocuSign Ink immediately took off, and in only the first few weeks of offering the service, more than 150,000 new users have joined the DocuSign network ??? not to solve business problems, but to avoid having to deal with paper in their personal lives ??? and to be able to finish the things they have to do so they can focus on the things they want to do.
So, yes. The Era is upon us. Today, using paper to sign, fax, scan, or mail a document for signature is just wasted time and money. Some people may still be doing it, but not for long. I am curious to hear how many of you have eSigned ??? and how it has improved your life or business.
Are most of these responders sales people? Their responses sound like sales pitches or adverts.
Massive security problem here.
Since no system is hack proof, who is to say that someone couldn't hack a system, steal your electronic signature with the associated personal information, impersonate you, and wreak havoc with your life?
The current laws protecting people against identity theft are very VERY poor.
You HAVE to prove it wasn't you. This is backwards. You should get instant notification of any changes in your files, including theft.
If I want to freeze my credit file, I can't do it without a police report.
I should be able to control exactly WHO has access to my files, be it credit or any other. This INCLUDES law enforcement. If there is a court order I should be told before access is granted so I can file a stop motion to prevent access. Not have to explain anything afterward.
There are too many security breaches that people don't know about and even fewer that people are told about after the fact.
I am against electronic signatures due to too many chances of theft, lack of laws to allow me 100% control over my information, and access by others without my prior knowledge and permission.
Since no system is hack proof, who is to say that someone couldn't hack a system, steal your electronic signature with the associated personal information, impersonate you, and wreak havoc with your life?
The current laws protecting people against identity theft are very VERY poor.
You HAVE to prove it wasn't you. This is backwards. You should get instant notification of any changes in your files, including theft.
If I want to freeze my credit file, I can't do it without a police report.
I should be able to control exactly WHO has access to my files, be it credit or any other. This INCLUDES law enforcement. If there is a court order I should be told before access is granted so I can file a stop motion to prevent access. Not have to explain anything afterward.
There are too many security breaches that people don't know about and even fewer that people are told about after the fact.
I am against electronic signatures due to too many chances of theft, lack of laws to allow me 100% control over my information, and access by others without my prior knowledge and permission.
@Zolar
You're right, Zolar ??? there are always risks associated with the electronic option. But Doc thinks the progress we can make is well worth the risk ??? after all, there have been forgers around for centuries, ready to copy signatures for the right price no matter what the format. Ultimately, we'll find ways to build in appropriate protections, and you don't have to go this route until you have confidence in the various systems out there.
You're right, Zolar ??? there are always risks associated with the electronic option. But Doc thinks the progress we can make is well worth the risk ??? after all, there have been forgers around for centuries, ready to copy signatures for the right price no matter what the format. Ultimately, we'll find ways to build in appropriate protections, and you don't have to go this route until you have confidence in the various systems out there.
The problem with that arguement is that it isn't a non-electronic signature is no safer. Anyone can pick up a pen and sign a document. Many people can forge a signature. However, by going the pen-and-paper route, you have to print the document, sign the document and fax or scan it back in to your computer to get it to the client.
With an electronic signature, it requires a more technical skillset to fake a signature. It is more secure and far easier to get documents out to your customers/vendors/etc. It certainly isn't a perfect system and more improvements will need to be made (this, I'm sure, is not under serious debate by anyone) but it is far better than the crude pen-and-paper version.
With an electronic signature, it requires a more technical skillset to fake a signature. It is more secure and far easier to get documents out to your customers/vendors/etc. It certainly isn't a perfect system and more improvements will need to be made (this, I'm sure, is not under serious debate by anyone) but it is far better than the crude pen-and-paper version.
There is an organization www.esignrecords.org that is working to advance the use of legally binding electronic signatures. All of the major eSign vendors, law firms and financial institutions are involved and work together to promote this use. I have been involved with the eForms business since early 1990's and contnue to see the desire to reduce paper and manual processes.
There is an organization www.esignrecords.org that is working to advance the use of legally binding electronic signatures. All of the major eSign vendors, law firms and financial institutions are involved and work together to promote this use. I have been involved with the eForms business since early 1990's and contnue to see the desire to reduce paper and manual processes.
I have been using some form or another of electronic signiture for well over ten years, most recently a DocuSign user. I am amazed at the slow acceptaince to this paper and time savings developement over the years. We are not there yet, maybe one day.
I am amazed at the slow acceptaince to this paper and time savings developement over the years. I hope someday I can go there. (http://www.karenmillendressesfactory.com)
I know of only one that is tamper resistant, scams substantiation, in an electronic vault, approved in every Fifty says, accredited through FNMA, FHLMC, HUD and also finally is the exceptional in support of company to support a number of patents, that to me the most crucial one inch real estate property http://www.shopcambridgesatchel.com is the obvious regarding the electric unique from a related escrow record. I deliver this upwards due to the fact within Los angeles, if you proper upward an investment provide contract while using Los angeles Association regarding Realtor's agreements, it's a "Residential Acquire Agreement using Combined Escrow Instructions". If you decide to indicator with another firm apart from Settleware or perhaps ExpressDox by simply Settleware, you're in violation of these obvious. In terms of I realize, I had been the first dealer to consider electric signatures inside my property broker inside Oc Los angeles in '09. Each my personal attorney's (in several regions of law exercise we.at the. Purchase Property, Basic Real estate property, Test Legislations, Mistakes & Omissions Law and so forth.,) verified Settleware was the safest to make use of. Being an dealer and also owner I did not desire our brokers to utilize an electronic platform along with break this kind of obvious when they composed way up an offer (or another escrow linked report). Come about should be to reduce direct exposure.
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