Author: Shamsh Hadi

It is a proud moment for the ZorroSign team to become the winners of Rising Star and the prestigious Great User Experience award in December 2017 by FinancesOnline, a B2B & software solutions review site. This highly reputed and popular software review platform featured ZorroSign where their experts analyzed how our solution is changing the eSignature and Digital Transaction Management game.

Expert enterprise software analysts from FinancesOnline review and examine hundreds of the best free electronic signature software and Document Management Software categories under Collaboration Software and we are honored to be recognized as leaders in our space. According to their experts ZorroSign offers sophisticated yet flexible functionality that can handle simplest to most complex document signing workflows and processes used by SMB and large enterprise companies.

According to Finances Online, eSignature is a facilitating confirmation option, but also an online mechanism for trustworthy validation of critical information and documents. A good solution makes faking signatures extremely difficult, if not impossible. The high-end digital eSigning software for enterprises automates the workflow by allowing users to convert proprietary documents into templates and also by providing a set of pre-made templates you can distribute instead of drafting special ones for every occasion. More sophisticated solutions like ZorroSign also offer full logic-based content automation capabilities. Our solution was also recommended as one of the top e-signature alternatives suggested by the experts.

When it comes to operations, processes, and requirements, no two companies are the same. That is why ZorroSign offers a consultative approach to helping our customers find the right solution. Our demos are also customized.

We invite you to reach out to us, ask us questions, see a custom demo, and sign up for our free Starter account and get your first 10 document sets for free.

Did you know that simply using electronic signature for your business is insufficient when it comes to security of your signature and documents, and also for automating your business processes? If at any point you are scanning, printing, or mailing business documents, you have an incredible opportunity to automate all of that, eliminate paper, save tons of time and money, and close deals within hours instead of days. Companies that are looking to optimize their businesses, automate mundane tasks and become efficient, eSignature and DTM are key to digital transformation.

According to Aragon Research, a leading B2B technology research firm, the race to digital starts with making document-based transactions fully digital. Digital Transaction Management (DTM) is often the catalyst for the start of digital transformation, helping enterprises to operate faster.  The research report published by Aragon Research offers great insight for SMB and large organizations and what to look for when evaluating eSignature and advanced DTMsolutions available in the market. The report covers following key insights.

1. Automating Paper Transactions
2. Basic DTM Gives Way to More Advanced Capabilities
3. Use of Electronic and Biometric signatures
4. Workflow and Content Automation
5. Mobility
6.  

ZorroSign is recognized by Aragon Research as hot vendor in Digital Transaction Management. ZorroSign is considered an advanced DTM solution because of its innovative product, unique technology, bank-grade security, lead in mobile biometrics, and robust enterprise-grade automation engine.

Download full research paper here for free.

Electronic Signature was invented in 1995. It only took 5 years and in 2000 eSign Act was signed by President Bill Clinton. This was the turning point for the business process automation, business process optimization, and digital transformation of workplace and business movements. It was the same time when people didn’t yet feel comfortable giving their credit card information online. The mainstream business leaders knew little about what to do with this eSign Act and how it will impact the business world. Today eSign Act is 17 years old, what’s the state of electronic signature

 

The main intention of the eSign Act was to validate and legitimise business transactions that occurred over the internet, save the parties from fraudulent behaviour, and ultimately replace pen and paper signatures or “wet” signatures. When it comes to understanding whether your eSigned document is legally binding, the definitions provided both by UETA and the US eSign Act are both amply clear, provided you have a trustworthy provider. Implicit and explicit promises made by the eSign Act included:

1. Reduce and eventually eliminate use of paper from every business transaction that required signatures or acknowledgement of any sort (Save trees)
2. Automate and optimize business processes
3. Make business transactions secure, fraud-resistant, legal, and error-free.
4. Save time and money (shipping and handling, copying, physical storage, etc.)

 

Where are we today?

Unfortunately, we have barely scratched the surface when it comes to adoption of electronic signatures. Rightfully so, it took us over a 100 years to figure out the pen-and-paper process. We had to work through different cultures, business practices, languages, countries, education level, and more. The good news is that we have a much better idea of what it will take for electronic signatures to become mainstream. Here is our take on where we are today:

1. There is limited adoption company-wide. It’s less of a company-wide initiative and more a prerogative of a particular department. HR and procurement is easy sell, legal, not so much.
2. Our POS systems are capturing electronic signatures but companies are not authenticating, verifying and processing them in the back end. Since credit card companies insure fraudulent purchases, merchants don’t feel the need to invest in this particular area.
3. Most electronic signature solutions are images of signatures coupled with security wrappers around them.
4. We haven’t quite figured out the security aspect of the signatures and the eSignature vendors who house these documents and valuable customer information.
5. Only a small percentage of world’s businesses have adopted eSignature at some level.
6. Masses or mainstream is educated at a very rudimentary level.
7. There is a resistance to changing years of business processes due to old habits, lack of full confidence in the solution, comfort level, legality and more.
8. A handful of vendors have developed great basic solutions and out-of-the-box integrations.
9. Majority of the companies shy away from adopting this solution because of huge underlying cost and time required to implement the solution.

 

Trends in Electronic Signature over the next few years

If we continue to make progress at this pace, over the next few years we anticipate work in the following seven areas:

1. Security and assurance
2. Post-execution fraud protection
3. Acceptance in court
4. User experience and ease of use
5. Pre-packaged integrations
6. Blockchain implementation
7. Biometrics and mobile biometrics

 

When an organization converts its paper-based business processes and transactions that involve filling out forms and collecting signatures and dates, it opens up the possibility of incredible insight into its business operations. This insight into business processes and business transactions not only helps identify what’s working and what needs to be improved it can also predict what to expect. All this is possible with big data. Digitization of our business opens doors for massive amount of structured and unstructured data to be collected, processed and analyzed. Business processes that involved electronic signatures, automation engine and workflows are no exception, rather, they are ideal for big data implementation.

 

In this article we analyze various components of a digital transaction management system including electronic signature and outline some of the best practices for big data application. We organize components of a DTM into categories of insights and outline best practice insights under each. For the purpose of this article, we will only use five user-based categories.

Transaction Templates

How many templates of what type are there.

1. How many times each template has been used.
2. How many times each template has been rejected and for what reasons.
3. How many workflows are there for each type of workflow categories
4. How many total transactions use some type of template
5. How many eSign transactions were completed

Document Sets

1. How many Document Sets are used (by each user, overall)
2. Are the number of Document Sets sufficient for the company?
3. How many Document Sets end up having attachments? Size of attachments?
4. Number and frequency of Document Sets printed, shared, granted access to.

Transactions

1. How long (min, max, average) has it taken to complete a transaction
2. How long (min, max, average) has it taken to complete a transaction for each type of work flow.
3. What is the (min, max, average) length of a bottleneck.
4. Number of transactions rejected and for what reasons.
5. What is the (min, max, average) number of signers in the transactions.

Mobile App

1. Number of users
2. Number and frequency of log-ins.
3. Number of scans
4. Number of users who create new signatures using the ap

Usage Patterns of Signers

1. Location
2. Devices used
3. Type of signatures used
4. Integrated users, Cloud users, 3rd party app users.

 

And the list goes on. The idea is to identify actionable insights. That’s the beauty and true value of big data. Digital Transaction Management systems are specially ideal for big data applications because they contain extremely large data sets that can be analyzed computationally and can easily reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behavior and interactions.

With the era of “going paperless” well underway, the days of “wet signs” are soon going to be an ancient history. Going paperless, of course has its advantages, ranging from efficiency to environmental benefits, however, it is vital to keep in mind safety and security when it comes to using eSignatures as the replacement of actual wet signatures.

 

There is a plethora of evidence supporting the tectonic shift of going digital, however, many are concerned about the end-to-end execution of the entire document signing process. The US Federal ESIGN act defines it as, “an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.” This is a broad definition, and there are a plethora of ways documents can be signed electronically and contracts (or transactions) can be executed ranging from entering your initials, checking a box, typing your name, pasting a scanned image of your signature, and using a cryptographic-based digital signature.

 

Many digital signature solutions have been created with different levels of security measures around each. These include ensuring that they are tamper proof by forming a link between the signatory and his signature with the help of an encryption key that may be in the possession of the signatory.  This layered security ensures that the three vital aspects of the digital signature that ensure its legal validity have not been breached. These three aspects are:

 

Authentication: All the signatories are known to each other and can be authenticated easily.

Integrity: The signatories are the same persons who have signed the contract. I.e., the documents and the digital signatures have not been changed en-route

Non-repudiation: None of the signatories to a contract can deny that they are in fact, the actual signatories of the contract

 

But, this however, leaves a glaring gap, the susceptibility to hacks, forgery, and fraud.

Enter the world of biometric signatures.

 

Biometric verification of a signature now adds yet another level of security to the documents that are a part of a digital transaction.  The idea is to find a very unique way to authenticate and verify signatory because even the most complex passwords can be cracked. Biometrics is the natural answer because it is unique and, if done right, cannot be stolen or duplicated. A ‘bio’ signature is pretty much amongst the highest levels of security solutions out there. It has the capability of recording individual idiosyncrasies of the person signing the digital document. Traditionally biometrics means signing and verifying signatures and documents with retina scan, iris scan, and recently popularized by mobile devices, fingerprints and facial recognition technology. Advanced biometric may also use the personal mannerisms of the signatory such as the ‘flourish’ of the pen when he signs, when he slows down and consequently where he accelerates when signing, his overall rhythm and speed; and many other seemingly random variables that taken together, form a highly personalized and forensically identifiable and therefore utterly unique foolproof signature.

 

And the applications for biometric signatures are endless. They can be as basic as opening a bank account to as complex as closing multi-million dollar deals. Biometrics can also be used in conjunction to a simple 2-form authentication. Biometrics can be used not only to secure the digital transactions but also to restrict access to authorized individuals only.  And we are just getting started.

When we convert our business transactions that involve paper and signatures into digital processes, we enjoy the benefits of efficiency, cost and time saving, save trees, save on file cabinets and much more. Perhaps the biggest benefit of going digital is the ability to monitor and track the progress of electronic signature transactions at every step in real time, including the ability to identify bottlenecks.

 

Typical electronic signature workflow (digital transaction) scenario looks something like this: The originator of the transaction initiates the workflow and takes some actions (fills out a form, dates etc.) then identifies who all the people are who need to sign and date the document and in what order. Once every signs it the originator receives an email notification that everyone has signed it and the transaction has completed, or someone has rejected the document.

 

Now imagine you are running a relay race and each person in the race (workflow) has a stopwatch attached to them. The coach (originator) has the master stopwatch for the entire race (workflow) and also can see the stopwatch reading of the individual runners (signers).

 

Monitoring the race (workflow) will reveal some very interesting actionable insights.

1. How long it’s taking to complete the transaction
2. How long did each signer took to complete his/her step
3. Which step and/or person is taking a very long time (or the longest time)
4. Which document was rejected and by whom and reasons for rejection

 

Once you gather this intelligence, you can work with your team to figure out what’s causing the delays. Some common reasons for delays in getting the documents signed electronically are:

1. Not having the right technology and tools
2. Need for education and training
3. Processing payments
4. Waiting for information to confirm something
5. Security risks or privacy concerns
6. Unavailability of the person or their proxy to sign

 

Armed with a robust electronic signature and digital transaction management tool, imagine how it will transform your business processes – invoices, new hire process, critical consent form collection and processing for thousands of employees (financial/HR compliance), sales contract, partnerships, procurement, legal documents and much more.

As we become a truly mobile and digital society, soon all paper-based business transactions will be the thing of the past. Digital Transaction Management (DTM) is leading the charge of this digital transformation.  As businesses strive to remain competitive not only in products and services but also in operations, user experience, and more, they need a simple yet robust way to convert their business transactions into truly paperless. This move is incredibly advantageous and lucrative for organizations.

Here are some of the more significant and tangible advantages of going digital by using a complete DTM solution.

• Be efficient through automation
• Eliminate errors
• Save time
• Reduce cost
• Realize revenue (close deals) faster
• Realize more revenue (in many cases)
• Be environmentally friendly
• Deliver great user experience
• Truly embrace mobile
• Be compliant to standards, regulations, and legal requirements
• Take advantage of latest security and privacy technologies

In addition to all the benefits, it makes total business sense to cater to the ever-so-digital and mobile customer base. Majority of the millennials won’t do business with a vendor unless they can interact completely using just their mobile devices and can take advantage of Social Media.  They are comfortable storing their credit card and social security numbers in an online profile with multiple vendors. They are completely trusting to conduct thousands of dollars of transactions by signing their name on a digital paper on a mobile phone.

 

DTMs are still in their infancy and they are already delivering tremendous benefits. Advanced DTMs are event more robust, secure, and extremely efficient. We are just getting started with our Digital Transformation.

Electronic Signature was first invented back in the mid 90’s. After President Bill Clinton signed the Digital Signature Act into law in 2000, it’s popularity has been growing both, in the Point of Sale (POS) systems and for signing documents.  Since then there have been multiple generational advancements made to the eSignature technology. Today, eSignature or ‘electronic signature’ is part of our normal business vocabulary.

 

However, as the #Digital movement gave birth to ‘Digital Transformation,’ organizations quickly realized that in order to truly become paperless, eSignature alone is not enough, when it comes to managing business transactions that involve documents and signatures.

 

A December 2015 report by Aragon Research, Aragon Research Tech Spectrum for Digital Transaction Management, estimates that fewer than 12% of all document processes were fully digital in 2015—but predicts that 65% of enterprises will retire legacy paper-based processes in favor of those based on DTM by 2017[1].

 

This realization comes with the understanding that every business transaction has a ‘document signing ceremony’ associated to it.  This includes all types of loans, real estate transactions, legal notices, insurance transactions, agreements, and contracts to name  a few. In order to go completely digital there needs to be a way to support all different types of document signing ceremonies.

 

This gave birth to the notion of Digital Transaction Management or DTM. DTM is governed by the xDTM Standard, which is a foundational set of criteria for managing digital transactions. At the core, a DTM system includes electronic signature component, an automation engine, workflow management, and some basic security features.

 

An Advanced DTM however extends the core DTM functionality to a much robust and secure enterprise level.  An advanced DTM solution includes a document management system, rules and policy engine, adherence and compliance to various laws and regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, and Document Retention Policies, and filling out forms. Lastly, there are provisions for security, privacy, authenticity, legality, and trust for managing document-based transactions.

 

Here is a list of key components that make up an Advanced DTM solution.

1. Electronic Signature
2. Post-execution fraud Protection (paper and digital documents)
3. Full audit trail
4. Document Management System
5. Content Automation, Workflow Management, and Rules Engine
6. Intelligent Forms
7. Security, Trust, and Compliance
8. Advanced Security and Biometrics

 

To bring about complete and true digital transformation of their business, organizations must consider full implementation of an Advanced Digital Transaction Management Solution.