EchoSign 3.0 arrives, but will it take in the enterprise?

The release of version 3.0 sees EchoSign with a new set of web threads along with the introduction of 'true' enterprise class service features for its one click electronic document signing and delivery service. The developers have bitten the process complexity bullet and delivered a service that has enterprise credibility. I must admit some bias. EchoSign was one of the earliest examples of a business service that delivers immediate and obvious benefit. The problem was (and remains) that very few enterprises have heard about it, let alone are prepared to give it a spin.

EchoSign will tell you about their deals with SalesForce.com and BT but in reality, the take up via those channels has been slow. EchoSign refers to 60 joint customers with SalesForce.com. That's a fleabite out of the company's 38,000 plus corporate customer base. BT doesn't report numbers for joint customers. At least one media company I can think of insists on paper contracts. A bank recently refused to use EchoSign because it has not been through the compliance meat grinder. The fact existing processes cost everyone and especially customers both time and expense doesn't come into the equation. It's a classic case of disruptive technology being given the cold shoulder by organizations with their common sense heads buried firmly in the sands of antiquity.

What's fresh then? Zoli Erdos provides a comprehensive round up but in brief:

The UI got significantly revamped, there are new subscription levels to manage up to thousands of documents, new forms were introduced, but the most important change per CEO Jason Lemkin is the introduction of complex workflows.

Referring to EchoSign's write up of process examples:

And for the most complex workflows, EchoSign now offers a novel “Signature Workflow Language” where Enterprise customers can craft their own custom document worfklows. Want (A) your customer to fax sign your contract, (B) auto cc your sales rep, (C) autoroute to legal for electronic counter-signing, (D) but only by certain authorized signers, and then (E) have signed copies automatically sent back to the (F) customer, (G) legal, (H) sales ops, (I) accounting and (J) the sales rep? Now, no problem. Contact your account manager for access here and configuring workflow options beyond those you can set yourself on the Account tab.

Perhaps the most important aspect of EchoSign is that it can now be used by any business or organization of any size. It has blanketed the market while at the same time morphing from a glorified feature into a credible application in its own right. Now it has to grow - and quickly.