Category: DTM

While information and data have always been valuable commodities, they have never been as available and distributed as they are in our digital world today. With digital information being so readily generated and shared, data security rises in importance. Learning about data security and how it may impact your business, government, and personal life is a necessity. So let’s dive in to what data security means and its importance in today’s technologically driven world!

What is Data Security

“Data security is the process of safeguarding digital information throughout its entire life cycle to protect it from corruption, theft, or unauthorized access,” defines Fortinet, a computer, data, and network security company. “It covers everything—hardware, software, storage devices, and user devices; access and administrative controls; and organizations’ policies and procedures.”

“When properly implemented, robust data security strategies will protect an organization’s information assets against cybercriminal activities, but they also guard against insider threats and human error, which remains among the leading causes of data breaches today,” adds IBM. “Data security involves deploying tools and technologies that enhance the organization’s visibility into where its critical data resides and how it is used. Ideally, these tools should be able to apply protections like encryption, data masking, and redaction of sensitive files, and should automate reporting to streamline audits and adhering to regulatory requirements.”

The Importance of Data Security

In today’s digital world, protecting proprietary information—including client data, financial transactions, knowledge archives, infrastructure and databases—must be a top priority for companies and organizations. If they fail via data breaches, hacking, or theft, companies may lose customers and lose trust.

“All businesses have data that’s valuable and that has to be protected,” said Candy Alexander, international president at Information Systems Security Association, a nonprofit organization for information security professionals and practitioners.

Individuals and organizations rely on the companies they do business with to safeguard their data. If a trusted company fails at this task, the company will have more than just the legal fallout to contend with.

According to UpGuard, the combined cost of global data breaches in 2021—including customer repayments, auditing services, legal fees, and fines, among other costs—was approximately $6 trillion. But a failure to protect private information negatively impacts more than just a business’s bottom line, it endangers their reputation and future success. As such, companies employ skilled professionals to prevent or mitigate such risks.

“The cloud, mobility, and the powerful devices most of us have in our pockets enable a culture of convenience, and the ability to collaborate and be more productive. While this convenience arguably makes our lives easier, it also makes it easier for cybercriminals to gain access to our sensitive personal information wherever it lives or wherever it is traveling across the network,” explains SimpliLearn. “New security threats pop up all the time, and IT security professionals need to stay up to date with the latest tactics hackers are employing in the field.” Data security teams must include strategists, communicators, and lifelong learners to ensure IT security is consistently a top priority.

ZorroSign is a Data Security Platform Build on Blockchain

Advancing data security is critical for any technology managing data, and ZorroSign delivers data security in several ways.

The first way ZorroSign supports data security is by using distributed ledger technologies—originally built on Hyperledger Fabric, now expanded to include the Provenance Blockchain—ZorroSign provides superior privacy and security, while preventing fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance.

Blockchains provide structural layers of protection from cybercrime like ransomware, malware, or phishing attacks by decentralizing the data set itself (preventing any one breach to access the entire data set), and then by giving endpoints (or nodes) a quick path to recovery, even if they are themselves breached or their access ransomed. Unlike centralized databases—which can be breached at unsecure endpoints (users and devices) or even at managed service providers (MSPs) hosting them—giving attackers complete control once they gain central access, blockchain technology distributes data physically across separate nodes. By decentralizing data storage, blockchain effectively prevents any one endpoint (even if compromised) from gaining control of the full data set. This distributed nature defeats any attack seeking to breach a system and holistically encrypts the data files stored inside: A single endpoint node might be breached, and its files held for ransom, but the larger data set cannot be controlled by any one endpoint (or central authority) and so attackers cannot capture the full data set for encryption, ransom, and shutting down the network.

ZorroSign has further elevated our data security through our patented fraud detection technology we call the Z-Forensics token. This unique digital solution can:

• Prove that the individual who is performing the action to sign the document is who they claim to be (verification)
• Apply a digital equivalent of a wet-ink signature to the document (legal intent)
• Prove the authenticity of the printed or digital version of an electronically signed document, its content, attachments, and the signatures on it (authenticity)

Plus ZorroSign supports computer security with passwordless authentication capabilities, leveraging the biometric security of Apple and Android mobile devices to login to the device (and ZorroSign app) with hardware biometric capture features such as face, fingerprint, and iris scans.  Such biometric login facilitates user authentication at the device-level without passwords (which can be hacked or stolen) for elevated security of digital signatures and your digital documents.

Contact us to learn more about data security and put us to the test:  Start your free trial of ZorroSign’s data security platform built on blockchain today!

Many in the real estate industry have made the jump into digital operations and this has allowed them to conduct business on the go while elevating their client’s security and compliance needs.

Only ZorroSign pairs a web3 transaction platform with mobile technology—delivering 21st century security to the age-old ceremony of signing and storing purchase agreements, and giving your customers peace of mind needed when conducting real estate transactions digitally and remotely.

Here are three reasons that you need to make the switch to digital operations with ZorroSign . . .  

Give Your Client Peace of Mind

By using ZorroSign, all the parties involved in a real estate transaction can Z-Sign documents anywhere, anytime and from their preferred device. That’s a win for everyone—especially the client! You no longer have to patiently wait through the frustratingly slow process that is paper operations. And they can keep up with their busy schedule and buy that house all while saving time and money. ZorroSign relieves you from being tied to the office or one particular place and lets you and your clients sign, send, and track documents while on-the-go.

Ensure Elevated Security

ZorroSign is the only company that offers a multi-blockchain platform to secure, track, and manage your digital signatures, transactions, and documentation.

By using distributed ledger technologies—originally built on Hyperledger Fabric and recently expanded to include the Provenance Blockchain—ZorroSign provides superior privacy and security, offering peace of mind for your real estate digital transactions, while preventing fraud and ensuring regulatory compliance.

How does this blockchain architecture contribute to ZorroSign being the best platform for your real estate needs?

Blockchain provides structural layers of protection from cybercrime, like ransomware, malware, or phishing attacks: First, by decentralizing the data set itself (preventing any one breach to access the entire data set); and second, by giving endpoints (or nodes) a quick path to recovery, even if they are themselves breached or their access ransomed.

Unlike centralized databases which can be breached at unsecure endpoints (users and devices)—or even at managed service providers (MSPs) hosting them—giving attackers complete control once they gain central access, blockchain technology distributes data physically across separate nodes. By decentralizing data storage, blockchain effectively prevents any one endpoint (even if compromised) from gaining control of the full data set.

This distributed nature so defeats any attack seeking to breach a system and holistically encrypts the data files stored inside: A single endpoint node might be breached, and its files held for ransom, but the larger data set cannot be controlled by any one endpoint (or central authority) and so attackers cannot capture the full data set for encryption, ransom, and shutting down the network.

ZorroSign intentionally used blockchain as the framework of our business to ensure that our customers were able to experience elevated security and peace of mind.

Stay Compliant

With ZorroSign, you can easily complete and sign multiple mandatory documents and ensure compliance at every stage—we are proud to make the security and privacy of our customers’ data our top focus!

Our unique combination of security architecture and data privacy functionality grants ZorroSign compliance across international standards for privacy and security, including but not limited to:

• Canada:  The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
• Canada:  The Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA)
• EU:  Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy and security
• EU:  The electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) regulation
• India:  The Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act of India)
• International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) No. 3402, Type II audited
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 certified
• PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES) is a set of restrictions and extensions to PDF and ISO 32000-1
• UAE:  Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect
• USA:  American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 Type I audit
• USA:  California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
• USA:  Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encryption standards
• USA:  The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
• USA:  The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act)
• USA:  FDA Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures
• USA:  The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• USA:  The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)

To learn more about how ZorroSign serves the Real Estate industry, please contact us or start your 14-day free trial subscription today!

Whether you work in education, finance, government, healthcare, IT, legal, real estate, or other industries, you often need repetitive but complex forms completed and submitted.

It might be your team filling out the information—or clients, constituents, customers, parents, parties, patients, partners, or students—but getting through the forms accurately and completely is critical to performing a key operation.  And often capturing and managing the information on those forms falls under privacy and/or security compliance regulations as well!

As more and more information capture forms move to digital formats, ZorroSign can help!

The Power of AI

We realized early in our platform development that many repetitive processes can be streamlined with the help of machine learning. A subset of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning is an application of AI that allows digital systems to learn and improve processes through repetition without being explicitly programmed. 

Machine learning “can be loosely interpreted to mean empowering computer systems with the ability to ‘learn,’” explains Towards Data Science.  “The intention of ML is to enable machines to learn by themselves using the provided data and make accurate predictions.”

Within ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform, we’ve nested a machine learning engine that enables our platform users to digitize documentation, eliminate the paperchase and improve efficiency, while speeding up the process of filling out forms for employees and customers alike—all with increased accuracy.

We call this intelligent form-fill feature, Z-Fill.

Bringing Intelligent Forms to Your Organization

No matter your industry, if you are capturing detailed and privileged/private/secure information on multiple forms, ZorroSign’s intelligent form-fill can speed your process and improve compliance with international privacy and security standards.

Our Z-Fill feature brings immediate benefits to any organization, including:

• Helping users fill forms with ease by anticipating entries with AI and machine learning
• Speeding document uploads and conversions in a semi-automated process
• Allowing signees to upload forms, which are converted to digital with autofill options via profile information
• Reducing errors by matching profile information to a form-fill option
• Anticipating entries with use as our machine-learning engine learns your processes over time
• Saving time with auto-fill learning at every point in a document’s journey!

If you’re ready to try ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform for yourself—for digital signatures, workflows, or form-fill—start a Free Trial for 14 days.  No credit card required, just an email address!

Block it down!  Now, you can count on regulatory compliance and the immutability of your signed documents within your stored data and workflow records on ZorroSign’s blockchain.

Z-Vault enables ZorroSign platform users to store, structure, organize and search documents in folders and subfolders natively, with the peace of mind that comes from superior privacy and security.

Digital Signatures on Blockchain

Since 2000, several technologies have come to market to deliver digital signatures, but when a distributed ledger technology—or DLT, such as blockchain—is used for digital signatures, signers gain the unique advantages of:

• Privacy — with a private blockchain, only participants to the transaction can see details of the transaction, and those participants share equal access to such details
• Immutability — all records and changes are tracked and cannot be changed, providing important chain-of-custody audit capabilities for courts
• Security — all records are individually encrypted and distributed for better protection from phishing and ransomware attacks

ZorroSign was built from the ground up on Hyperledger Fabric to deliver digital signatures with the superior privacy and security of blockchain. And we recently announced a partnership with Provence Blockchain to add their DLT to our architecture as well, effectively becoming a multi-chain blockchain platform.

Z-Vault for Better Contract Lifecycle Management

Contract lifecycle management, or CLM, spans the entire process of generating contracts, the workflows of approving and negotiating changes to contracts, the signing (or executing) of the contracts, storing and archiving the executed contracts, plus tracking and audit trails to retrieve contracts and review their lifecycle of approvals, iterations, and signatures.

If contracts are critical to your business or organization, then a secure, reliable solution for managing the contract life cycle is imperative.

Key functionality to look for when assessing CLM solutions include visibility (a dashboard or overview of where individual contracts are in the life cycle), integration with communications and storage systems, automation (as few contracts start from scratch—most are iterations of previously created agreements), and of course change tracking to readily see how contracts changed during negotiations and what final version was executed by all parties.

ZorroSign’s platform unites and uniquely delivers:

• Digital signatures via Z-Sign to quickly execute legally binding contracts
• Patented Z-Forensics token to prevent fraud and tampering
• Z-Flow workflow automation to quickly build templates and approval chains
• Z-Fill leveraging ZorroSign’s artificially intelligent, machine-learning engine
• Z-Verify to know exactly who signed what and when, with full validation of every document’s authenticity and immutability
• Z-Vault to securely store contract and transaction records immutably on blockchain

ZorroSign’s platform can be accessed via PCs and mobile devices, allowing your legal department, operations and procurement teams, and sales teams to efficiently generate, negotiate, communicate, and sign agreements. And with our Z-Vault, contracts reside on an immutable DMS where they can be saved, searched for, and managed easily from a single, intuitive user interface.

Z-Vault Benefits

• Superior privacy and security to PKI-based solutions using a centralized database
• The latest privacy and security technologies, delivering powerful encryption safeguards
• Secure, yet intuitively navigable and easily accessible (for authorized users) platform
• Ability to share and review eSign and architectural drawings, adding your own comments
• Time savings with access to specific folders and documents in seconds, no loss of records

ZorroSign Privacy & Security Compliance

Our combination of security architecture and data privacy functionality ensure your compliance across many international standards for privacy and security, including:

• Canada: The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
• Canada: The Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA)
• EU: Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy and security
• EU: The electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) regulation
• India: The Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act of India)
• International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) No. 3402, Type II audited
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 certified
• PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES) is a set of restrictions and extensions to PDF and ISO 32000-1
• UAE: Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect
• USA: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 Type I audit
• USA: California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
• USA: Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encryption standards
• USA: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
• USA: The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act)
• USA: FDA Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures
• USA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• USA: The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)

To learn more about Z-Vault and how ZorroSign can help you securely store contracts, data, and documents on blockchain, contact us today or start your 14-day Free Trial subscription!

According to Gartner, contract life cycle management (CLM) is the “process for managing the life cycle of contracts created and/or administered by or impacting the company. These include third-party contracts, such as outsourcing, procurement, sales, nondisclosure, intellectual property, leasing, facilities management and other licensing, and agreements containing contractual obligations now and in the future.”

 

CLM spans the entire process of generating contracts, the workflows of approving and negotiating changes to contracts, the signing (or executing) of the contracts, storing and archiving the executed contracts, plus tracking and audit trails to retrieve contracts and review their lifecycle of approvals, iterations, and signatures.

 

If contracts are critical to your business or organization—as most contractual obligations are—then a secure, reliable solution for managing the contract life cycle is imperative.

 

 

According to a Villanova University article, CLM solutions can help organizations:

1. Avoid litigation from contract non-compliance – A major issue in many contracts is compliance. If contractual obligations are incomplete, the potential for litigation can increase.
2. Save money – Penalties for non-compliance, missed opportunities from special terms and rebates, and payment errors incurring fees and penalties can be avoided with good contract administration.
3. Deliver greater value to customers – Fulfilling and exceeding customer expectations through proper contract performance enhances an organization’s value and leads to future business.
4. Reduce costs and time involved in contract administration – Streamlining processes in contract administration has a direct affect on labor time and costs.
5. Prevent contract managers from functioning as contract administrators – Contract managers, dealing with details and delays, are best doing just that, while contract administrators focus on higher-level management activities, such as developing important relationships with suppliers and customers.

 

Why ZorroSign for CLM?

ZorroSign is built entirely on a blockchain architecture that protects identities and data—uniquely authenticating users, encrypting communications, and securing digital data immutably through its lifetime . . . including contract data.

 

Specifically, ZorroSign’s platform was developed on private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric. Hyperledger emerged as an open-source collaborative effort, hosted by the Linux Foundation, to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies and improve trust, transparency and accountability.

 

With this technology architecture, ZorroSign can manage contracts as it manages all digital documents, providing:

• Digital Signatures to quickly execute legally binding contracts
• Patented 4n6 (“forensics”) token to ensure contract immutability
• Workflow automation to quickly build templates and approval chains
• Document management system (DMS) leveraging Hyperledger Fabrics secure distributed ledger
• ZorroFill deploying machine learning to streamline form completion

 

ZorroSign’s platform can be accessed via PCs and mobile devices, allowing your legal department, operations and procurement teams, and sales teams to efficiently generate, negotiate, communicate, and sign agreements. And with our blockchain architecture, contracts reside on an immutable DMS where they can be saved, searched for, and managed easily from a single, intuitive user interface.

 

Unlike any other CLM solution, ZorroSign seals contracts with our 4n6 token—capturing the complete audit trail and the contract’s DNA. The token is encrypted and contains information on all the details about the transaction including timestamps, user authentication, documents and attachments.

 

Only the 4n6 token:

• Allows ZorroSign customers to manage permissions as to who gets to see what level of information about the transaction and the contract
• Stores the ZorroSign security encryption certificates, which—unlike other digital security certificates—never expire!
• Can verify, validate and authenticate both digital and printed (paper) version of electronically signed contracts

 

Our unique platform supports CLM to speed digital transformation—reducing paper costs and logistics, supporting environmental conservation, and improving operational efficiencies for in-office and remote teams.

 

Plus ZorroSign delivers the automation capability necessary to proactively and methodically manage contracts from creation and negotiation, through execution, compliance and renewal. To learn more about CLM and how ZorroSign can support your organization in managing contracts, contact us today!

Add blockchain security for documents & workflows.

 

ZorroSign’s API services let you digitally sign documents, request signatures, automate your forms and data, and much more—all from your existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

 

Development teams can readily integrate our digital signature REST APIs into any app, website, mobile app, or embedded system that can make HTTPS requests. With ZorroSign API, your organization can quickly extend and enhance your document signing processes and easily implement document security and authentication capability.

 

ZorroSign exposes our secure digital signature functionalities via four key APIs: User Service, Workflow Service, Subscription Service, and Token Service. We also provide notification services to handle all the alert service routines.

 

These APIs allow you to quickly integrate with the ZorroSign digital business platform (DBP) to

• Communicate subscription data
• Create and retrieve workflow documents
• Create custom workflows—including document processing, self-signing, labeling, etc.
• Leverage a workflow dashboard
• Generate and read 4n6 (“forensics”) tokens
• Download blockchain based certificate and audit trail

 

Why ZorroSign?

 

ZorroSign provides the ultimate security in digital signatures. Our platform was built on Hyperledger Fabric—the world’s most trusted blockchain—ensuring that all aspects of all transactions are captured on a private permissions-based blockchain with an immutable, non-reputable record.

 

As governments, organizations, businesses, and individuals move to paperless environments, the promise of distributed ledger technologies offers an appealing new approach to digital connections and security. “We are proud to deliver a mature blockchain solution for digital signatures that is cost-effective and more secure than any encrypted e-signature technology that relies upon public-key infrastructure for security credentials,” says ZorroSign co-founder and CEO, Shamsh Hadi. “ZorroSign’s platform efficiently leverages blockchain to protect online identities and documents such as business agreements, government files, healthcare records, and other legal evidence stored in digital formats.”

 

Digital signatures can speed a return on investment (ROI) by accelerating agreements, contracts, and transactions and facilitating the secure exchange of digital documents. A digital business platform (DBP) that readily complies with international privacy and security standards and regulations is critical in today’s zero-trust world across companies, organizations, partners and borders.

 

Low Pricing for Integration

 

ZorroSign’s API pricing falls into four tiers, determined by how many document sets your organization might use per year. For example, a Bronze license supports up to 500 document sets per year, while Gold and Platinum licenses support many more and our Diamond API license can be customized to the scale you require. All ZorroSign API packages include unlimited templates and workflows, unlimited fields, mobile, authentication, embedded signing & sending, personalized branding, real-time reporting, bulk send, and intelligent forms. Visit our Pricing page for details.

 

Learn More

 

We offer multiple paths to learning more about integrating ZorroSign’s platform:

1. Review our API documentation where we provide guidance and code samples for user services including multifactor authentication (MFA), user management, and passwordless login, plus subscription services, workflow services, token services, notifications, and more!
2. Request a copy of our API QuickStart Guide — a short developer manual showing you how you can integrate our REST APIs, which are more secure with light data payloads into any app, website, or embedded system using HTTPS requests.

Or contact us today to discuss how you can quickly bring ZorroSign’s secure blockchain-based digital signatures and 4n6 token into your enterprise software!

“Modern digital technology that supports information sharing,

communication, collaboration, and learning are

central to daily living and to the function of government.”

~Teri Takai, Executive Director at the Center for Digital Government

 

Local governments in the United States such as counties, municipalities, and school districts serve the public with codified processes for business, education, health and safety, law enforcement, property development, transportation, utilities, and more. The sheer volume of legal agreements, licenses, permits, records, and reports are daunting to manage, and digital solutions are becoming more and more necessary to effectively administrate public services.

 

Further, local governments know the value of operating more efficiently both in cost-savings (by reducing administrative costs in paper, printing, reproduction, storage, etc.) and in resource allocation (by being able to serve more constituents with the same resources). Technology solutions that speed clerical work, reduce errors, and lower administrative costs can readily generate a return on investment for the public.

 

As local governments strive to move paper administration to digital environments, privacy and security become top priorities. Beyond simply digitizing forms, processes, and records, these government organizations must:

 

• Validate end users as constituents engage digital public services
• Authenticate digital data as it is moved between users and offices
• Secure digital documents for storage, archiving, and retrieval—ensuring immutability with non-repudiation audit trails and post-execution fraud/tamper protection

 

Digital Benefits for Local Governments

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated local governments’ need to move to digital services.

 

“When offices were forced to close, many local governments were unable
to conduct business without physical access to legacy systems,
holding up everything from building permits to license renewals
and access to land records.”
~Doug Harvey, VMware Head of U.S. State & Local Governments & Education

 

As local governments add remote administration capabilities, the promise of digital transformation is tremendous. Large municipalities to the smallest administrative districts can leverage digital signature and document management software to protect the chain of custody (CoC) for documents and securely review, approve, archive, and retrieve:

 

• Across-agency or inter-department agreements
• Architecture and engineering drawings/schematics for construction permits
• Benefits administration programs and processes
• Certificates of occupancy
• Court decrees and orders
• Facilities management forms
• Housing programs and building permitting management
• Human resources processes (e.g., employment agreements, expense forms, payroll sign-off sheets, etc.)
• Licenses for alcohol, auctions, business, construction, farming, plumbing, restaurants, retail, valet services, etc.
• Logistics and procurement processes
• Permits for building, carnivals and fairs, exhibit and trade shows, explosives, fireworks, gas, hazardous waste, hospitals, lumber, medical facilities, nursing homes, public assemblies, waste handling, etc.
• Public health programs administration
• Purchase agreements for public assets, products, or services

 

ZorroSign blockchain digital signature, a secure, encrypted platform provides a means for local governments to digitize records—eliminating duplication errors, streamlining clerical work, decreasing costs and time spent, and ensuring public record immutability for legal enforceability and transparency.

Digital Transaction Management (DTM) helps to increase efficiency and productivity by simplifying paper-based processes and making them digital. The result is higher accuracy with fewer errors, improved controls, and customer satisfaction resulting from simplified process. When paper-based business transactions are converted into digital processes, we enjoy the benefits of efficiency, cost and time saving, and helping to save the environment by reducing the use of paper. Perhaps the biggest business benefit of going digital is the increase of productivity and the ability to monitor and track the progress of digital signature transactions at every step and in real time. There are three simple and easy steps to transacting a document digitally.

 

Document Preparation: This is the creation and preparation of digital documents that will control the transaction. In this first step, the process of preparing a document for signature could be as simple as filling out a form by hand or in digital format, or as complex as something that needs a formal document collaboration and compilation solution or document preparation service such as the one offered by paralegal staff. Once the document has been prepared, the second step in a digital document transaction is the execution of the document.

 

Document Execution: In the second step the documents, contracts, attachments, supporting documents, etc. are signed by one or more authorized parties in a particular sequence (workflow), filling in critical information. Security provisions are enforced and meta data is associated with signatory to ensure the authenticity and validity of each step of the digital documents’ transaction. Once a document set is completed by all parties, step three, is where the post execution process can begin.

 

Post Execution Processes: The post execution process includes securely storing the document, protecting it from tamper, alteration, and theft. In case of a dispute, the record must contain a detailed audit trail and chain of custody of the transaction for its legality and validity to be proven. Finally, only the authorized person should have access to and visibility into the document set. Post execution processes apply to both digital and printed versions of the documents.

 

Now that you understand the three steps of a digital document transaction it is important to understand why ZorroSign is the gold standard in post execution processes. ZorroSign’s patent pending 4n6 (forensics) token uses a private permissions-based blockchain to deliver verification, security, audit trail, chain of custody, along with other features. Users who access a ZorroSign’ed document through appropriate permissions can scan the 4n6 token and request access to view the documents history. With the 4n6 token, the parties in the workflow always have access to the document. Access to any external parties is limited to viewing the content of the document, its attachment, and audit trail and is based on permissions approved by the originator of the transaction.

As many businesses have started to adjust to the ‘new’ normal, remote working teams are surging in number. For many employees, working from home can be a struggle with added distractions and little experience prioritizing—especially if sharing a home with a spouse or children. However, it is important to understand that with the right tools, remote work teams can outperform their in-office counterparts. Remote work teams often enjoy reduced stress from not commuting to work and increased availability as a result of a more flexible schedule. This article will discuss 10 tips for increasing a remote team’s productivity.

 

Implement the Right Tools

For any workforce, being equipped and trained to use the right tools for the job is hugely important. Having the right tools can be the difference between a highly efficient team and a team that struggles to communicate and accomplish its goals. When choosing tools for your workforce, remember that one size doesn’t fit all and having tools that integrate well with one another can help increase efficiency. Below is a list of five tools all organizations need to secure and implement within their remote work teams in order to maximize productivity and efficiency.

1. Collaboration Platform
2. Meeting Software
3. Scheduling Software
4. Digital Signature & Digital Transaction Management Software
5. Hardware & Internet

For further details  on the five tools, please read our blog article, Five Tools for Increasing Efficiency When Working from Home.

 

Set SMART Goals

Goal setting is like using a maps app to get to a new destination. The maps app allows you to anticipate each turn until you reach your destination. Setting goals allows you to clearly define steps needed in order to achieve the goals. In order to develop effective goals, they should be SMART:

• Specific – state what you will accomplish using action words
• Measurable – ensure you can evaluate if the goal has been accomplished, think data
• Attainable – Is the goal within the scope of your team? If it isn’t then consider changing
• Relevant – Does the goal improve the business?
• Time-bound – set a deadline and stick to it

Setting SMART goals is a great starting point to ensuring transparency for the team and ensuring everyone is working towards common goals.

 

Maximize Mornings

Getting the day off to a productive start is a sure-fire way to increase the odds of an overall productive day. Setting times with team members to check-in each morning can help set the tone for the day and ensure every team member understands how they fit into the day’s goals.

 

If you are a team that is in relatively close geographic location, consider establishing a daily virtual check-in. This morning check-in can be a quick stand-up meeting where everyone briefly says their top three priorities for the day. Remember, setting the tone at the beginning of the day can help employees who are having trouble with productivity start their day off on a positive note.

 

However, maximizing mornings to set the tone for the day doesn’t mean taking away remote teams’ flexibility. Remember that working remotely also allows for you to work when you are most productive, so you should take advantage, if possible.

 

Encourage Dedicated Work-spaces

If you are a manager or supervisor of a remote team, you have little control of your employee’s work-spaces. However, setting guidelines and providing tips to employees about creating a workspace that is conducive to increased productivity is a great way to show you are invested in your team’s success. Here is a short list of recommendations for a dedicated workspace:

• Identify a dedicated workspace that is self-contained. If you do not have the space for a self-contained space, set-up your office in an area with as few distractions as possible.
• Make sure your workspace has as much light as possible, preferably natural light.
• Utilize multiple computer screens.
• Limit clutter in your workspace.

Having a dedicated workspace will not guarantee increased productivity. However, a dedicated workspace can be a very effective tool if you share your home with others. When you are in your dedicated workspace it signals to everyone in your space that you are working and should not be bothered unless there is an emergency. A dedicated workspace helps you set boundaries with other people in the home while you work.

 

Stick to a Routine

Creating a routine when working remote can be a very effective way to increase productivity. A routine allows for you to manage your time appropriately while also being intentional about scheduling time for things you want to accomplish, and not just work tactics you must accomplish. When developing a routine, here are a few things to include:

• Get dressed and prepare for your workday.
• Set office hours.
• Schedule breaks.
• Create daily goals and achieve them.
• Don’t forget to include professional and personal tasks in your routine.

Developing a schedule and sticking to it is a great way to hold yourself accountable for meeting daily goals. Sticking to a routine also makes it easier to get your day started. If you share a home with someone, a routine like making a cup of coffee before starting work can help signal to anyone in the space that you are about to start working and need to be left alone.

 

Stay Focused, Work on One Thing at a Time

Many people feel that they are wonderful multi-taskers, and this may be true. However, multitasking is proven to decrease productivity. Staying focused on one task at a time increases efficiency and allows your brain to stay focused on one thing, increasing the capacity you have for the task at hand. While you may be able to multitask, it is important to understand that it is proven to decrease efficiency and even accuracy. If you want to truly maximize your productivity, work on one task at a time and then move on once that task is complete.

 

Promote Transparency

Transparency is paramount for remote work teams. When remote work teams have full transparency all team members have the necessary data and information needed to effectively complete their work. Full transparency reduces unnecessary meetings and keeps track of all team members performance. When possible ensure all team members know where to go for pertinent information—collaboration software helps greatly.

 

Over-Communicate

One of the pitfalls about working with a remote work team is the inability to just pop-in on someone in the office and get an impromptu update on a project. In order to make sure all team members who have a vested interest in your projects have a clear understanding of where you are with each tactic, it is extremely important to over-communicate project status. Consider both formal and informal project updates. You may want to send an email detailing where you are with a project and what is still needed, then perhaps use a collaboration chat tool to get any necessary feedback.

 

The point is that over-communication will always be more effective then not communicating enough when working as a part of a remote work team.

 

Don’t Forget Employee Development and Training

Within a remote workforce it is easy to overlook the need for employee development and training. Often with traditional office work environments, companies will arrange for training opportunities on-site. With remote workforces it is sometimes overlooked that employees should continue to develop their skills and seek training opportunities.

 

Companies should either provide continuing education and training for their employees or create a system that encourages employees to continue to develop their skill set. Investing in employees through training is an excellent way to create loyalty and show the company is vested in its employees’ professional development.

 

Recognize Achievement

When employees work from home, feeling isolation and disconnected from the company and team can occur. These things can lead to feelings of inadequacy and feeling unappreciated. Managers and team leaders can help by recognizing the achievements of their team members—big and small.

 

Celebrate wins as a team and encourage all team members to join in when recognizing employees who are achieving excellence is a great way to show your team that you notice their accomplishments and appreciate their hard work. You’re never too busy to say, “Great Job!”

 

Conclusion

Improving the productivity of a remote work team can be difficult at first. With the proper tools it is possible to have your remote work team working even more efficiently than your in-office work team.

 

Looking for an easy way to gain efficiency today? Through June 30, 2020 ZorroSign is offering our digital signature solution free for three-months. Sign up today for your free trial subscription!

If your office becomes inaccessible for any period of time, are you prepared to ensure business continues as normal? Having a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place is a great start when preparing for the worst. When COVID-19 started to spread throughout the globe, many companies were not prepared to shift their workforce to a primarily work from home team.

 

Early on, ZorroSign executives made the decision that all employees across the globe would work from home until further notice. This decision was easy to make, as the organization had a solid BCP in place, so invocation was seamless.

 

Develop a Business Continuity Plan

 

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is when a company develops a plan for preventing and recovering from any potential harm to the company; knowingly or unknowingly. These could include fire, flood, natural disaster, cyber attack, criminal mischief, global pandemic, etc. The goal of the BCP is to prevent unnecessary damage to organizations assets or personnel and to ensure company assets are recovered and personnel can quickly get back to work after a disaster or crisis.

 

Wondering if your company is on par with companies around the globe when it comes to disaster preparedness? A recent survey conducted by AvidXchange determined that only 37% of 500 companies surveyed had the appropriate technology in place to abruptly shift employees to telecommute, also known as working from home, in the event of an emergency. This survey was eye-opening and demonstrated a large gap in BCP. Below are a few of those gaps:

• Only 61.8% of businesses have a BCP in place.
• 48% of businesses that have a BCP in place can only operate two to three weeks with their current plan.
• 19% of businesses reported none of their employees have the right company provided technology to work from home.

Based on the survey results above, it’s easy to see that most companies are not prepared for the current global pandemic. Below are some key elements that all companies should include in their BCP.

 

Business Continuity Plan Elements

 

Each company’s BCP will be different and unique to the individual business. However, there are four main elements every BCP should include, this will ensure that all business operations have a prevention and recovery plan. The four elements are:

1. Identify purpose and scope – Clearly identify and state the purpose and scope of the BCP. Include all business operations and detail any exclusions.
2. Determine responsibilities – Clearly identify who has permission to invocate BCP, along with what employees have authority before, during and after an incident. These identified employees should be given clear roles on the Business Continuity Response Team (BCRT).
   1. Documentation – identify a document owner that will be tasked with keeping track of BCP approvals and change history for company records. The document owner should be responsible for ensuring BCP procedures are reviewed and tested regularly.
   2. Change management – BCRT leaders should control the message and get employee buy-in for the BCP. The BCP document owner should publish it where it is easily accessible to all stakeholders in both digital and hard formats.
3. Develop Business Continuity Plan – Information in the plan must be understood by and accessible to everyone in the organization, and details of how and when the BCP will be invoked should be included. In order to create a thorough BCP a few items should be addressed:
   • Define potential risks to the company and conduct a business impact analysis.
   • Identify how potential risks will affect company operations.
   • Identify and implement safeguards to mitigate identified risks. Be sure to identify how to recover critical business operations.
   • Practice and test out safeguards to ensure they accomplish the desired outcome.
   • Continually review and update the BCP so it is always up to date.
4. Communicate and Train – Clearly determine how, and under which circumstances, the pre-identified BCRT will communicate with employees, stakeholders and emergency contacts. The last step is to thoroughly train the BCRT, as well as employees.

 

Quick List – 5 Actions to Take Today to Prepare for Tomorrow

 

ZorroSign takes business continuity very seriously. Having 100% of the workforce fully functional independent of location is the standard for the company’s BCP. Here are a few things we recommend any company without a robust BCP implement immediately, in order to prepare employees for an emergency that could result in an extended time away from a physical office:

 

• Company Issued Equipment – Issue all employees company laptop at start of employment. Desktop computers are not useful in emergency situations, as work location may abruptly change, not allowing transition of equipment that is not easily portable.
• Collaboration Software – Implement use of team collaboration software; this allows employees to effectively and efficiently communicate, before, during and after a disaster. Microsoft Teams is an example of a great tool. During a crisis where employees change their work location abruptly, having a communication collaboration tool is essential.
• Mobile Device Management (MDM) – A MDM tool is software used by IT departments that allows them to identify what company issued mobile devices are accessing, their location, remotely lock a device, and even wipe a device clean if lost or stolen. MDM capabilities are very important with an increase in remote workers, as this can protect company intellectual property, as well as physical assets. An example of an MDM tool is Microsoft Intune.
• Virtual Private Network (VPN) – Ensure all employees are using a VPN when accessing office network and resources. A VPN is the easiest way to protect company data and be cyber aware, while protecting data security.
• Employee Internet Connectivity Audit – Make sure all team members have good internet connectivity. This can be accomplished through a simple employee survey. Work to help employee’s with unreliable internet connectivity to either use a secure mobile hot spot or identify solutions for increasing their stability of a reliable internet connection.
• Cloud Hosting – Host all critical environments in the Cloud. This will allow full continuation of ongoing projects independent of employee location. Cloud hosting should include disaster recovery options.

 

Communication & Training

 

Having a BCP in place is a great start to having a business being able to function during a disaster. However, without proper communication with all stakeholders and employees, and without proper training, a company’s BCP will not be effective. It is important to communicate the plan with all employees, not just those on the Business Continuity Response Team. Training employees on what to do in the event of an emergency and when to execute the BCP is a key part of a successful plan.

 

A tip for maintaining a usual level of communication and efficiency when working remotely is to have team leads prepare daily task lists that include all project dependent variables and ensure they are assigned to appropriate employees. Conducting quick stand-up meetings at the start and end of each day via a collaboration software tool like Microsoft Teams can also identify employees that need a little extra help to achieve their targets. Restricting all communication to trusted tools like Microsoft O365, Outlook and Microsoft Teams can help protect the company’s intellectual property.

 

Conclusion

 

Having a Business Continuity Plan is kind of like purchasing insurance, you invest in it hoping to never have to use it. The unprecedented impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the business world is reassurance that a BCP should be a part of all business’ operations plan.  Having a strong BCP in place could mean the difference between being in business once the crisis ends and continuing business operations as usual and not experiencing negative business fallout do to a disaster. It’s not too late, if your business doesn’t have a BCP in place start the process of creating one today. If you have a half-baked BCP in place, take the time and build your plan out completely. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 epidemic is impacting every part of business and society, so we encourage you to stay safe, work smart, stay home.

The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted businesses across the globe. Many employers have shut their offices and employees are now working from home to stop the spread of the novel Coronavirus. For many, the idea of working from home is a dream come true, for others, working from home is a stressful proposition. In this blog post we will discuss tips our own ZorroSign team uses to stay productive while maintaining work/life balance when working from home during the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

Develop a Routine

 

Developing a morning routine can help get your day started and productive. Think about what makes you most productive and include that in your morning routine. Does exercise invigorate you, if so, include that in your morning routine. Do you need coffee to get started, maybe that means you set an automated machine to make your coffee at just the right time. Getting dressed for the day can be a good way to not only physically prepare for working from home, but it can also signal to those you live with that you are working and will engage them once you are finished with your workday.

 

Create, use and stick to a daily to-do list

 

Developing a list of everything you need and want to accomplish in a day is a great tool for ensuring you are accomplishing your goals for the day. Try and create a list of things you need to accomplish each day, and then stick to it. Separate the list into personal and professional items. Schedule your workload around the list that you created. Creating a to-do list and sticking to it can be the difference between a productive day and a waste of a day.

 

Set rules of engagement with those you live with

 

When you work from home and live with other people it can be difficult to set boundaries during work hours. Set clear rules for everyone who shares your space about when you are available and under what circumstances you can be interrupted. If you have a partner/spouse clearly discuss expectations about communication during work hours. Maybe a kiss and a hug signal you are about to start work and will engage with them at the end of your workday or while taking a break. If you have children, set expectations on noise level and if you are unable to have childcare make sure to have activities arranged to keep the children busy while you dedicate yourself to work. Predefined rules of engagement will make working from home easier for everyone in your household.

 

Set Office Hours

 

Set regular office hours. Work with your manager to determine “online” and “offline” hours. For many employees this can mean setting base hours, indicating the hours you will always be reachable. If you work with an international team a split day may increase efficiency and productivity. A split schedule may also give you the flexibility needed to handle personal business during the day. Communicating clearly with your manager and colleagues regarding your office hours can prevent you from receiving phone calls during family-time.

 

Schedule Breaks

 

Working endlessly without a break can lead to not just a lack of creativity, but strain on the eyes and body. Give yourself predetermined breaks through your work schedule. We recommend taking a 15-minute break about every 2.5 hours, along with setting aside time to eat lunch away from your desk. During these breaks physical movement is very important, so get up and get moving. Take a walk around the house or block. If the weather doesn’t permit outdoor activity jog in place, stretch and do jumping jacks. Physical activity is very important for remote workers, as a sedentary lifestyle can lead to health problems.

 

Setup a dedicated office space

 

Having a dedicated office space can help with work/life balance. When you are in that space that signals to you and anyone you share a home with that you are working and to respect the rules of engagement for work hours. In an ideal world you will have a self-contained office, but if you don’t have the space, try and set up a space away from distractions, but with a lot of light. Having multiple screens increases productivity so consider this when setting up your space. If you are self-employed, consider setting up a partition on your hard drive for business and another for personal use. If you work for a company, make sure you only use company equipment for work.

 

Maintain social contact with colleagues

 

Depending on if you are an introvert or extravert working from home can lead to feelings of loneliness, isolation and a general feeling of disconnect. Maintaining professional social relationships with colleagues can be very important. Utilize team collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack if your company has them in place. Some organizations may decide to setup general interest channels within their collaboration tool in order to promote additional employee communication. Social contact with colleagues can help build trust, so don’t shy away and work on genuinely getting to know your colleagues.

 

Stay organized

 

An organized workspace provides for reduced visual stress and removes unnecessary distractions. It may not be realistic to keep your entire home tidy, but make sure that your workspace is bright and organized. Remove items from your desk that you do not need. If you are a visual person, hang a large calendar on the wall and write all your appointments, meetings and deadlines on the calendar for quick refence. Think of your computer desktop as an extension of your physical space and make sure to keep your files organized and easily accessible.

 

Overcommunicate

 

When you don’t see your manager and colleagues in the office, clear communication can help set expectations and allow your manager and team to know what you are working on, what your priorities are, and what you need from them. Ensure that anyone who needs to know what you are working on knows when you start on projects, when you reach certain milestones and when you reach project completion. Also ensure you overcommunicate about time away from work for vacation so that everyone knows you will be unavailable. Be aware that when working remote it can be difficult to gauge someone’s mood, so using emojis and punctuations can help with imparting tone and feeling into your emails and chat messages. It’s okay to let your personality come through in communication, just keep it professional.

 

Proactively seek out professional development opportunities

 

Professional skill development will always be worthwhile. When you work remote it is important that you are being proactive about developing your skills and seeking new skills. For an employee who works 100% remote for a company that provides onsite training try and attend onsite training opportunities that will allow you to interact with colleagues in person. No matter if you work for a company or are self-employed, seek online training and certificate opportunities that will increase your knowledge and make you more valuable.

 

Conclusion

 
Treat working from home like you do working from an office. Maintain professionalism, boundaries and a schedule. If you have children, be sure to set ground rules and a schedule so everyone in the home understands your expectations of them while you work. Understand that organization, goal setting and effective communication can help in creating work/life balance as you begin your journey as a remote employee. Most important, stay home, stay safe!

 

 

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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic many companies are finding that their workforce has abruptly shifted to a remote workforce. This shift can be challenging for many companies and stressful for employees who are accustomed to working in an office. In this article we will explore five tools for increasing efficiency when working from home during the COVID-19 outbreak: collaboration software, scheduling software, eSignature & Digital Transaction Management software, meeting software, computer hardware & internet access.

 

Collaboration Software

 

Streamlined communication, collaboration and transparency are three important factors when working remote. Having the necessary software in place to encourage effective communication, promote transparent project management, and conduct reliable meetings can be the difference between a successful remote work team and one that fails to meet deliverables. There are many options on the market for software that accomplishes these goals, here are a few:

 

• Communication
  • Slack is a collaboration tool that brings remote teams together. Slack’s instant messaging platform makes real-time communication seamless and engaging.
  • Microsoft Teams replaced what used to be Skype for Business. This collaboration platform is Microsoft’s answer to an online meeting hub. What we like most about Microsoft Teams is it combines video conferencing, calling and document collaboration into one easy to navigate app. (At the time of posting this blog article Microsoft Teams is being offered for free for users working remote.)
  • Google Hangouts is a professional business collaboration tool that gives users the ability to use both voice and text to communicate in real-time. Hangouts seems to work better with smaller teams from our experience.
• Project Management
  • Asana is a web and mobile application aimed at helping teams organize, track and manage projects. Asana makes project collaboration simple with tools to help keep everyone working toward a common goal and completing projects on time.
  • Monday.com was previously Dapulse and is a collaborative space that helps teams plan, organize and track projects all in one place. Monday.com has a sleek platform with visually appealing charts that help keep track of projects.
  • Trello is a great collaboration tool built into a visually appealing app. Trello is fun and flexible with many uses both professional and personal. Great for a start-up or large family trying to keep appointments straight.
• Document Collaboration
  • Google Docs is a cloud-based collaboration tool that allows teams of all sizes to create, share, edit and even publish documents and presentations.
  • Zoho Docs make document creation, storing, editing, sharing and collaboration seamless. Zoho Docs allows users to store all their files like music, videos and spreadsheets in one place.
  • Quip is a collaboration and communication tool for teams. Quip allows users to edit documents and spreadsheets in real-time.

 

Meeting Software

 

Virtual meeting platforms are a necessity when working from home. These platforms allow for visual communication in a virtual meeting space. They also allow users the ability to share computer screens in real time for a collaborative meeting experience. The following software allows for both internal and external virtual meetings.

 

• GoToMeeting is great for large virtual meetings and is easy to get started. It also has the option to set up turnkey onsite meeting rooms with prepackaged equipment for those businesses that have a team of both location-dependent and location-independent employees.
• WebEx is an enterprise solution for video conferencing, online meetings, screen share, and webinars. WebEx stands out because it integrates well with other applications like salesforce, Google Drive and Office 365.
• Zoom allows users to visually connect without having to physically be together. Zoom is easy to navigate and works well with very large groups. One thing we like about Zoom is the easy option for those without a video connection to dial-in to meetings from their phone. (At the time of this blog post Zoom has extended its free account to have additional features for users working remote.)

 

Scheduling Software

 

One challenge with remote teams is the ability to schedule internal and external meetings without the need for lengthy email chains. While collaboration software can cut down on the need for meetings, sometimes meetings are necessary. These scheduling tools make scheduling meetings quick and help keep you organized.

 

• You Can book me is a simple straightforward tool to help your team schedule online meetings.
• Calendly touts the ability to help you schedule meetings without the back and forth emails.
• Doodle is an online scheduling tool specifically focused on helping larger teams find the best time for a meeting that works with everyone’s schedule. After a time is identified the system will send out a calendar invite.

 

eSignature & Digital Transaction Management Software

 

eSignature and Digital Transaction Management (DTM) software can increase productivity and efficiency while reducing errors and cost. ZorroSign can help companies:

 

• Track completed work, enabling accountability of workflow.
• Centralize in-process and completed documents so users don’t have to check multiple sources.
• Reduce fraud with blockchain based audit trail, so users have full trust and confidence that executed documents will be legally binding globally.
• Execute documents and contracts anywhere, any time, and on any smart device.

 

Hardware & Internet

 

When working from home having secure computer hardware that can handle the type of work the employee does is very important. A data analyst, systems engineer, or graphic designer would each have very different hardware needs. Many people use laptops, so physically switching locations (from work to home) should not be too difficult. Just as important is the ability of an employee to have access to reliable and fast internet. Internet speed often varies depending on the location of the individual. In general, most people who work from home can comfortably conduct business with internet speeds around 25 Mbps. If the user is downloading very large files or needs to stream 4K content, 200+ Mbps or greater should be used. Unfortunately, in many locations outside of larger cities higher speed internet is not available. If an employee plans on working from multiple locations, a personal hotspot would be useful to ensure uninterrupted internet access.

 

Another consideration companies should take when relying on a remote workforce is security and privacy. Company issued equipment should have appropriate security software pre-installed. If an employee is using their own hardware then the company should have protocols in place to ensure sensitive data is protected. Companies should be concerned with cybersecurity and take steps to protect company equipment and information. A few tips for being cyber aware when working remote are to: secure your home network, encrypt sensitive files, dispose sensitive data securely, patch vulnerabilities when prompted, use multi-factor authentication to access systems, use a VPN, have MDM and EPM policies in place, and don’t open emails from unknown senders.

 

Conclusion

 

The bottom line is if you are not accustomed to working from home this can be a very stressful time. As you begin to navigate a new normal, having the correct tools in place to increase your efficiency will help reduce some of the stress you are feeling. Remember, when you are working remote, clear and consistent communication is very important. Using the tools and resources above can help you and your company succeed in the remote workforce environment. If your company doesn’t already have some of these tools in place, many of them are easy to implement with low costs. The right tools, with the right attitude and drive will make working remote through the COVID-19 outbreak fun, effective and efficient.

 

 

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If there was something you could do to increase workforce productivity, efficiency, employee wellness, increase employee satisfaction and save money, would you?

 

For many businesses a remote workforce can provide the benefits stated above. For small businesses the benefits of a remote workforce can drastically decrease overhead cost, allowing additional talent acquisition and business growth. For larger businesses a remote workforce can decrease turnover and attract top global talent.

 

Remote employees, also known as location-independent employees are those company workers that can accomplish their work from a location other than the physical location of a company office. In addition to the benefits of a remote workforce, it’s important to realize this is not a fad. In fact, a survey conducted by Owl Labs determined that as much as 52% of employees around the globe work remotely at least one-day per week, with 16% of global businesses operating 100% remote. The reason for the increase in businesses utilizing remote workforces are many, in this article we will explore increased productivity, increased employee satisfaction, access to top talent and saving money.

 

Increased productivity

 

Imagine having a cohesive team that consistently gets more done in less time. The University of Illinois published a study that showed telecommuters often outperform their location-dependent peers and go above the call of duty to provide more effort for their companies. Remote workers generally work more hours as they start earlier since they do not have a long commute. These same workers also take shorter breaks and are more likely to work until the end of the day, as they are not rushing out of the office to try and decrease their commute time in traffic or run errands before businesses close. Remote workers also tend to work through lunch and unscheduled leave for sick days decrease. According to a study in the Harvard Business Review, remote employees actually worked almost an entire day more per week than their in-office counterparts.

 

Flexibility to get demanding work done during hours the employee is most effective increases productivity and deliverables. For some employees the early morning hours are when they are at their best, for others the middle of the day is when they are most effective or creative. Other employees are inspired by their environment and the flexibility to physically change their work environment helps to increase their productivity and give all their attention to the project at hand.

 

Remote collaboration using conference calling and video chat cut down on lengthy meetings and help provide a smoother transition from meetings to working on projects. Instead of using valuable time chatting about the weather before or after a meeting, online meetings are more likely to start and end on time, allowing employees to begin meaningful work much faster after a virtual meeting, rather than an in-person meeting.

 

Increased employee satisfaction

 

Remote work leads to increased employee satisfaction. Namely, location-independent jobs allow for work/life balance. This balance decreases employee stress and increases wellness. With the flexibility of working remotely employees are often able to increase their physical activity, while still spending time with their family as a result of saving considerable time not commuting each day. Location-independent work arrangements also lead to the flexibility of employees being able to explore additional education and career training. This flexibility to improve one’s skill set leads to not only increased employee satisfaction, but personal fulfillment and career growth. Along with the savings realized by corporations, Flexjobs reported that employees save on average $4,600 per year by working remote full-time.

 

Access to top talent

 

A remote workforce can allow a business to tap into top talent and subject matter experts across the globe. With geographic constraints removed employers are now able to seek the best and brightest talent, regardless of living location. AfterCollege conducted a study showing that 68% of millennials would consider a remote work arrangement a favorable perk when deciding on a prospective employer. When competing for top talent, offering remote work arrangements can give a business a competitive advantage.

 

Save money

 

It’s simple, reduce the number of employees in an office and you can reduce overhead cost. Some of the cost reduction associated with fewer employees working in an office are office rent, furniture, supplies and utilities. According to Flexjobs employers can experience a $22,000 savings per full-time remote employee per year by offering a full-time remote work arrangement. According to an online article in Forbes, Insurance giant Aetna is one of the largest employers offering remote work. This arrangement has paid off big for the company with an estimated cost savings of $78 million per year from a reduction in rented space.

 

Location-independent employees also have a reduced rate of employee turnover. Remote employees are more likely to stay loyal to their company. It is estimated that millennials average job tenure is about two-years, imagine being able to double that. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has conducted research that suggests average replacement cost of a salaried employee is six to nine months’ salary. It’s clear that keeping a valuable employee engaged and loyal will ultimately pay dividends given the cost to replace an employee, remote work arrangements help with turnover reduction.

 

Conclusion

 

For some businesses, allowing employees to work remotely will greatly benefit both the business and the employee. Workers who feel valued and inspired will ultimately be more productive, efficient and more willing to work harder in order to be a valuable member of the team. While remote work takes discipline, providing employees with tools that will help them succeed will allow businesses the ability to experience significant benefits by allowing for partial or total remote work. Finally, remote workforces help to decrease carbon emissions, thus improving the global environment, which is a major focus area for ZorroSign.

 

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Walk into any office and you will see remnants of paper use, whether it’s paper receipts, file cabinets full of contracts, printers, courier services, or even medical records. Paper has long been the standard in most businesses, but this is changing. With the recent ‘go digital’ movement, more and more companies are choosing to replace their paper processes with digital workflows. The companies who have already made the switch to digital are realizing many benefits, both for their employees and the company. There are cost savings, environmental benefits, and even increases in employee satisfaction. Paper processes are costly, in this article you will learn about 11 immediate cost savings your company can benefit from by adopting an eSignature and Digital Transaction Management (DTM) solution.

 

In order to fully understand potential cost savings of going digital, let’s first briefly explore the dollar costs associated with paper based processes, specifically, Print-Sign-Scan-Email or Courier processes. Businesses large and small generally have different processes, and this results in slightly different cost estimates for paper based processes. As a result it is better to provide a framework for cost calculation.

 

Cost Analysis Framework (USA estimates)

 

Copy paper $5 / pack of 500 sheets	Printer/WorkCenter B/W: $8,000 Color: $4,500	Printer Ink (per printer) B/W: $250 50k pages Color: $360 20k pages
Scanner Included w/Printer/WorkCenter	Electricity $99.06 /Month/printer	Steel file cabinets $600 average / Cabinet
Folders & stationery $300 / Year/Employee $1000/Year/Employee (Law Firm)	Courier services $33,000 to $65,000/Year	Man hours, Time 260 hours/ Employee/Year
Off-site paper storage $0.72 /Box/Month $864/100 Boxes/Yr.	Office space (file cabinets) 15 Sq.Ft (standard 4-drawer file cabinet) Avg. $50 /Sq.Ft = $9000/Year	Insurance (Data Breach Policy) $12k to $120k /Year size of company, includes cyber attack coverage.

As you can see from the above cost analysis framework, paper processes are expensive and a major cost for businesses. Going digital and having your company adopt a paperless lifestyle can drastically impact company profits, increase employee satisfaction, while also positively impacting the environment. The cost savings of going digital are immediate, below is a list and additional details of just eleven of these savings:

 

1. 1. Copy Paper – Copy paper is costly, and printed documents are vulnerable to copying, theft or damaged, whereas digitally signed documents are encrypted and safely stored inside password protected accounts that are always accessible.
   2. Printer Ink – Paper processes require documents to be printed using printer ink or toner in order to wet sign a document. When going digital, the need for printer ink can be eliminated altogether or drastically reduced.
   3. Printer/WorkCenter – Printed documents require companies to invest in expensive printers or WorkCenters that are capable of handling extensive printing needs. Assuming the company is not printing and distributing printed marketing collateral, this expense can be reduced or eliminated by adopting a digital process.
   4. Folders & Stationery – When using paper processes, companies must organize printed materials that are then stored. The use of file folders and stationery are often the answer to methodically storing paper based documents. Transitioning to a digital process can eliminate or reduce the need for file folders and stationary.
   5. Filing Cabinets – Physically signed documents are often stored as an archive copy in storage cabinets. These filing cabinets cost money. Transitioning to electronic signatures will reduce or eliminate the need for filing cabinets.
   6. Office Space (for file cabinets) – Physically signed documents that are stored in filing cabinets use valuable office space. Adopting an eSignature and DTM solution reduces or eliminates the cost associated with extra office space to house these filing cabinets.
   7. Off-site paper storage – Often companies are forced to use off-site storage facilities for archived documents in order to make room for current and new documents in their daily office space. This opens the door for damage, theft or loss of these valuable documents when being transferred in between locations, not to mention the expense incurred to store these documents off-site. Prevent risk of loss or damage with eSignatures as physical filing of documents becomes unnecessary.
   8. Courier Services – Shipping and handling of paper documents for signature is avoided all together.
   9. Legal Fees – Using ZorroSign’s patent pending 4n6 (Forensics) Token Reader, ZorroSign offers non-repudiated audit trails and chain of custody. ZorroSign users can be confident their documents have been executed with tamper-proof security and enforceability. This audit trail and chain of custody can drastically reduce legal fees if a contract is disputed in a court of law.
   10. Insurance – Decrease of insurance premiums from lowering fire and theft risk by eliminating paper file storage.
   11. Personnel Resources:
       a. Save time retrieving documents.
       b. Save time managing signature process like tracking and follow-up, etc.
       c. Save time with the ability to manage multiple versions of documents and templates.
       d. Save time by identifying bottlenecks and make appropriate adjustments to the process in order to increase efficiency.
       

 

Along with immediate and long term cost savings achieved by using an eSignature and DTM solution, there are substantial environmental impacts, these include: conservation of water, energy, and trees as well as reduction of carbon footprint. Check out ZorroSign’s Environmental Savings Calculator to see your company’s potential environmental impact. For organizations adopting a ‘go digital’ mindset, there are tangible benefits like cost savings and intangible benefits like doing your part to save the environment, these benefits not only help the company, but its employees as well. Studies show that 3 in every 4 companies who adopt paperless processes experience a tangible payback within 12-18 months.

 

To learn more about ZorroSign’s green initiative, please visit Paperless Life and find out just how large of an environmental impact your company could have by going paperless. Click here to check out ZorroSign Plans & Pricing, enabling your company to do an accurate analysis on their total current cost of using paper and compare that cost to purchasing and using an eSignature and Digital Transaction Management system like ZorroSign.

 

 

References

• File Cabinets Don’t Make Companies Money

The increased popularity of, demand for, and mainstream use of electronic signature is the result of the global “go digital” movement, significant enhancements in the technology, and  governments passing laws to go completely digital in the near future. It does not suffice to use an image of your signature as an “intent to sign” or use incomplete electronic signature solutions that do not include an audit trail. Security, privacy, legal acceptability, signatory attribution, and authenticity of electronic signatures, electronic records, and document transactions have become key decision factors for users in legal, financial services, real estate, insurance, banks, healthcare industries and more.

 

In this article we outline the clear competitive advantage that ZorroSign has over its competitors, their products and why we believe we have developed the most advanced electronic signature and digital transaction management platform, that was created to meet the past, current and future needs of both the private and public business sector.

 

ZorroSign Competitive Advantages

 

ZorroSign is an advanced Digital Transaction Management (DTM) platform. There are less than a handful of competitors who may qualify as DTM providers, but studies show that those solutions do not meet basic DTM requirements of many customers. ZorroSign, on the other hand, is considered an Advanced DTM due to its enterprise-grade workflow automation, workflow builder, content automation, bank-grade security, built-in Document Management System, and intelligent forms.

 

1. ZorroSign uses (patented) true legally-binding electronic signature with real digital information vs our competitors who simply superimpose a flat image of a signature on a document. It’s about capturing intent to sign a document vs actually signing a document.
2. We use high level security provisions and multi-factor authentication (including biometrics) to ensure signatory attribution. This is increasingly becoming a problem when it comes to legal matters.
3. Our proprietary technology, the Document 4n6 (forensics) Token, detects document fraud tampering and signature forgery. It is  a tamper seal that runs on the Blockchain.
4. Our competitors use 3rd party digital security certificates that expire every two years. ZorroSign is authorized to issue its own certificates and they never expire. We call it Lifetime Document Escrow.
5. ZorroSign is a true Advance DTM platform complete with workflow automation and exception handling.
6. ZorroSign is built on permissions-based private Blockchain technology. We take advantage of its security, privacy and trust features to manage all our customer’s document signature transactions.
7. For ZorroSign, privacy and security are at the core of everything with do. We think security and privacy first for every product design, policy, and business practice decision. We use bank-grade security protocols, AES Encryption, biometrics, MFA, and other heuristics for handling our customer’s document signature transactions.

 

For a complete competitive analysis including analysis of a particular ZorroSign competitor, please contact our customer advisors.

 

Disclaimer: All competitive information is based on publicly available information.  When reviewing competitive information including pricing, please consider that products are continuously enhanced and modified by vendors and pricing published on the website is MSRP. ZorroSign does not disclose product roadmap and features that are in development and not yet released to the general public. ZorroSign also does not disclose feature-by-feature comparison for the same reason.

 

Signing agreements, contracts, documents, and forms with electronic signatures is becoming the norm. Using electronic signatures is easy, fast, and convenient. People use different ways to e-sign documents. Some paste images of their signatures captured off of a laptop camera onto documents and some use computer generated signatures. Yet others use more sophisticated tools which allow them to sign documents with pen or finger onto a touch-sensitive screen. The act of signing a document is one aspect of it, security and privacy is another. In this article we share tips on how to protect your identity and think security first when eSigning agreements.

 

As we use electronic signatures to sign more high value, critical and sensitive documents we must make sure that our signatures, documents, information, and the entire transaction is secure and protected against fraud, tampering, and miss-use.  Examples of high value transactions are buying a home or business, signing sales contracts, promissory notes, loan documents, credit card applications, your child’s medical information release forms, and more. Over the years, ZorroSign has helped thousands of customers sign contracts and agreements securely, in this article we share best practices that we have learned.

 

Tips for protecting your identity

1. Avoid signing documents by pasting an image of your signature on documents. Use highly secure online eSigning solutions instead.
2. Shy away from eSign products that distribute documents via email attachments.
3. Never use the same password for more than one online profile.
4. Make the length of your passwords across different online profiles different.
5. Avoid using obvious strings and numbers as your passwords that people can easily guess by knowing little about you.
6. Take advantage of free online random password generators.
7. If you use a password manager program, make sure to take full advantage of all of its features. For example use its random password generator and also review reports showing where you are repeating passwords and strengths of your passwords.
8. Even if you are using a random password generator, make sure to change your password at least 4 times a year.
9. If your online profile offers options to use Biometrics, like ZorroSign does, take full advantage of it.

Here are the most popular ZorroSign product training videos.

Checkout ZorroSign YouTube channel for the entire video library.

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What is ZorroSign?

 

Tired of reading? Interested in learning more about Blockchain, Electronic Signature, DTM and Document Security? Check out the Introduction to ZorroSign webinar and get an in-depth look at how ZorroSign uses eSign, Blockchain, chain of custody, distributed ledger, electronic signature, biometrics, workflow automation and other signature workflows.

 

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How to use ZorroSign

 

Want to get to the point and learn to be more efficient with ZorroSign’s newest updates? Check out the Workflow builder 2.0 playlist and learn everything you need to know about ZorroSign’s latest updates.

 

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ZorroSign Admin Tools

 

If you are an existing customer, learn about admin tools here.

 

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How ZorroSign Gives Back

 

Interested in understanding how ZorroSign gives back to the community? Check out how ZorroSign supports Reforestry efforts.

 

 

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Ready to learn even more? View the ZorroSign Kickstart Training playlist, and with our new pricing plan you can Sign up for a free account and get 3 document sets each month free with no credit card required for registration.

 

Don’t forget to subscribe to the ZorroSign YouTube channel and be the first to be notified when new videos are posted.

When it comes to eSignature and Digital Transaction Management solutions consumers have a few choices. It’s a challenge to identify the best solution that meet your business needs. In addition to your unique business requirements like workflows and approvals,  you are also concerned about legality of eSignatures and documents signed with them, security of electronically signed documents against tampering and fraud, what is and how to implement a Digital Transaction Management (DTM) System, and how to manage change within your organization in order to successfully implement a new system like ZorroSign.

 

ZorroSign has those businesses looking to understand these factors and what sets ZorroSign apart from other eSignature and DTM providers covered. Read on to learn why ZorroSign is the only REAL electronic signature solution provider, how we use advance workflow automation to automate your signature signing ceremonies, and how using Blockchain technology helps detects electronic signature fraud and tampering of digital documents. Furthermore our bank-grade security secures and protects your user information, your signature and your documents.

 

ZorroSign was co-founded by one of the inventors of the original real electronic signature technology including signature pads and stylus type pens. This same technology was used by President Bill Clinton to sign the eSign Act into law in the United States in June 2000. Meaning documents signed with this proprietary technology use REAL electronic signature and not just an image of a signature superimposed on a document. ZorroSign eSignatures capture the real “digital bits” of a person’s signature as it is written, including the speed, color, thickness, and pressure of the pen and includes additional metadata. ZorroSign also offers use of computer-generated signatures. The underlying technology used makes them legally binding and addresses the question of signatory attribution. ZorroSign is authorized to issue its security certificate that never expires unliked those used by our competitors. Although ZorroSign also works with all third party digital security certificates to satisfy our customer’s needs, ZorroSign DOES NOT use or require them to authenticate or validate eSigned documents. Through our own proprietary 4n6 (Forensic) Token technology, ZorroSign customers are able to authenticate and validate both digital and paper versions of eSigned documents and in perpetuity.

 

Finally, ZorroSign is a unified platform and is a complete advanced Digital Transaction Management (DTM) System with bank-grade security for eSignatures and documents that can be used anywhere, anytime, and on any device. The platform includes other components such as full workflow automation, Document Management System, and intelligent forms.

 

With ZorroSign DTM users have the ability to create different types of templates and workflows, track progress, and handle exceptions such as reject, recall, cancel, and it can also handle sub-workflows. ZorroSign provides full Sarbanes-Oxley compliant audit trail and chain of custody and a report on each document signed. By using proprietary permissions-based private Blockchain architecture, ZorroSign is leading the field in using Blockchain and distributed ledger, chain of custody, and audit trail with regard to digitizing contracts and documents.

 

At ZorroSign we understand that adopting new processes and software can be a huge undertaking. This is why ZorroSign offers full end-to-end professional services to help manage and onboard all ZorroSign users at your company and we also train designated ZorroSign software administrators who support ZorroSign at your company.

 

We invite you to sign up for a free Individual account today and send up to 3 documents every month for free for life with no credit card needed. ZorroSign also has other subscription plans to fit your business needs. To learn more about ZorroSign and how it can fit your business needs, schedule a custom demo now.

Earlier this month, on December 5, 2018, the 21st Century IDEA (Act) passed in the US House of Representative and December 12, 2018 it passed the Senate. On the 20th of December 2018, the President of the United States signed the “21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act” or the “21st Century IDEA” bill into law. We discussed this in a blog article speculating what it means and its impact on business. The passage of this bill is a tremendous milestone particularly for the Digital signature and digital transaction management industry and represents rather progressive “forward” thinking of our country’s leaders. The law addresses issues with regard to:

 

• Website Modernization
• Digitization of Government Services and Forms
• Plan to Increase use of Digital Signatures within Federal Agencies
• Improving Customer Experience and Digital Services Delivery

 

With this new legislation, the ability to conduct all of your government business via digital technology is closer than ever before. 21st Century IDEA, will position the US Government to be a fully digital public sector operation, potentially in the next few years.

 

The goal of the 21st Century IDEA legislation is to enhance the digital services within the federal government. Accelerating the federal government’s ability to improve digital service delivery and customer experience. The 21st Century IDEA will:

 

• Enhance federal agency websites, making them mobile friendly, and establishing minimum standards.
• Transition from paper-based forms to electronic transactions.
• Decrease federal costs, saving taxpayers money.
• Increase efficiency and productivity of federal employees.
• Promote the use of Digital signatures standards established via the eSign Act.
• Reinforce the validity of Digital signatures.
• Decrease use of paper, and potentially decrease human error by digitizing processes.

 

We think there are two areas of significant impact that beg to be called out here.

 

Workflow Automation and Business Process Optimization

 

With the passage of this bill, there will be even greater emphasis on enhancing business process optimization and using workflow automation. The digitization will create opportunity to revisit how we run our operations, how we handle approvals, how we manage storage and tracking of information, how we handle inquiries and how we provide service to the constituents in the front office and how we handle everything else in the back office. Digital signature is just one part of the complete Digital Transaction Management system which will be a core enabling technology. An added benefit of going digital is the business savings of time, cost and efficiency. Check out our blog article of complete business impact of going digital.

 

Environmental Benefits of 21st Century IDEA

 

Imagine what the approximately 800,000 federal employees do every day. Add millions of State and local government employees to this list and then add all the millions of private companies that interact and do business with all the government agencies and programs. Now imagine how much paper is used every day, printers, ink, and storing of those files and documents. On average about 3 Gallons of water is required to produce one page of copy paper, 1.5 Gallons if recycled water is used. The magnitude of positive impact on the environment is tremendous. Water, trees, and Carbon footprint. Checkout ZorroSign’s Environmental Savings Calculator (a part of its Paperless Life initiative) to estimate the environmental impact this law will have.

 

Checkout our complete review of the environmental impact of going digital in this blog article.

 

ZorroSign is excited for the 21st Century IDEA to be implemented so we can start to see the digital transformation within the government. This marks a fundamental shift in Government to consumer customer experience. ZorroSign would like to thank and recognize all of the cosponsors of this legislation for a bipartisan job well done: Rep. Ratcliffe, John [R-TX-4], Rep. Kelly, Robin L. [D-IL-2], Rep. Russell, Steve [R-OK-5], Rep. Connolly, Gerald E. [D-VA-11], Rep. McMorris Rodgers, Cathy [R-WA-5], Rep. Krishnamoorthi, Raja [D-IL-8], Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-8], Rep. Raskin, Jamie [D-MD-8], Rep. Costello, Ryan A. [R-PA-6], Rep. Watson Coleman, Bonnie [D-NJ-12], Rep. Hunter, Duncan D. [R-CA-50], Rep. Lawrence, Brenda L. [D-MI-14], Rep. Comstock, Barbara [R-VA-10], Rep. Eshoo, Anna G. [D-CA-18], Rep. Curtis, John R. [R-UT-3], Rep. Swalwell, Eric [D-CA-15], Rep. Stefanik, Elise M. [R-NY-21], Rep. Walker, Mark [R-NC-6], Rep. Ross, Dennis A. [R-FL-15], Rep. Faso, John J. [R-NY-19]. Read the entire bill here.

 

ZorroSign is the pioneer of the Digital signature technology which was instrumental in passage of the eSign Act in June of 2000. President Clinton also signed the bill into law using the technology invented by one of ZorroSign’s co-founders. That is a matter of pride for our team. ZorroSign not only uses the real true electronic code to sign documents it is also an enterprise-grade Digital Transaction Management platform built from the ground up using Blockchain with security and privacy at the core of its philosophy and design. With ZorroSign There is the added benefit of its proprietary document tampering and signature forgery detection system. With ZorroSign, documents are not only signed with real Digital signature, use of biometrics, and full automation, the Government can also ensure, verify and validate the sanctity of electronically signed digital documents for the life of the document.

 

ZorroSign is idiosyncratically poised to aid executive agency leaders to convey their proposal to the OMB and Congress and federal agencies in order to meet their 180-day requirement to demonstrate how their agency will increase the use of Digital signatures.

 

ZorroSign looks forward to using our industry and subject matter experts to help executive agencies identify their plans to meet the June 2019 deadline to submit their plan on accelerating the use of Digital signatures within their agencies. For consultative discussion, federal agencies can email [email protected] for immediate assistance.

 

Read more on how ZorroSign Supports the 21st Century IDEA for government agencies here.

For most real estate brokers and agents, long gone are the days where more time was spent paper chasing than with customers. Over the last decade, the real estate market has seen many improvements in the buyer experience, thanks to the use of technology. The industry is now using everything from virtual reality, 3D mapping, aerial drone photography, as well as eSignature and digital transaction management solutions to digitize contracts and the real estate sales and lease process. Whether you are a buyer/seller, broker, real estate agent, home inspector or real estate appraiser, these technologies are probably already impacting how you conduct business.

For those professionals in the real estate space who are already using eSignature/ digital signature software along with a digital transaction management (DTM) solution, you may feel that you are set and you do not need to adopt other technologies. For those who are not currently using an eSignature solution along with a DTM solution, you may be researching the best solution for your business, along with the benefits of a DTM solution. Others just use the eSignature solution provided by their business.

Now, what if you found out that your current solution may not have you covered long term? Specifically, in order to authenticate a signature that has been placed on a document, eSignature solutions often use something called a third party certificate. The third party certificate does not validate the person, his / her signature or if it was done with / without their permission, it only validates the ‘act’ of placing an unverified signature on the document. Digital certificates have a two year validity and eSignature providers using these third party certificates build in the cost of renewing the digital certificates for each of your documents that you have signed in your annual license cost. Essentially, this means that without your knowledge, eSignature solutions are binding you to use only their solutions, otherwise the digital certificates on your documents will expire within two years (or less) after you cease using their service. If for any reason you would need to take that document to court or need to validate it at a government agency, you would have to ensure the digital certificate thus meaning that you would have to go back to the solution you signed the document with and pay the arrears from the time when you stopped using the solution to when you needed your document certified. Needless to say, 10 years into a 30 year mortgage if something were to occur and documents needed to be certified for a pending legal action or civil dispute this would present a very expensive problem. However, ZorroSign solves this problem by issuing our own security certificates with our proprietary patented technology, whereby these certificates remain accessible for life, which we call our ‘lifetime escrow,’ even if you are no longer a customer.

As a digital disruptor, ZorroSign wants to highlight to users where there can be major gaps, specifically in security and service within their current eSignature and DTM solutions. Electronic signature solutions are here to stay and the acceptability and use will only increase over time, however, using the right solution which can validate the signature, authenticate the user and confirm the signature was placed with the knowledge of the authenticated user is what will really matter in the future. As a result, understanding digital security certificates is important, and having an eSign solution with a lifetime document certificate that is included as part of the service is imperative for long term piece of mind and future cost abatement.

Your company may already offer you an eSign solution for free, but with ZorroSign you can feel confident in knowing you are using the real esignature patented technology built into an advanced DTM along with a lifetime digital certificate. This will allow you to close residential and commercial real estate deals faster and more securely. If you are not convinced, sign up here for a free trial and try it yourself.

In our 24/7, mobile, competitive global business environment, being able to conduct business fast is critical. That means executing business documents efficiently and securely is important for businesses in any industry. Along with document execution, having processes that eliminate errors and cut costs are just as important. Adopting a DTM solution for your business is the answer. This means execute all types of documents and get approvals quickly, securely and with legally binding signatures on documents while eliminating errors and cutting costs.

 

There are solutions in the market that simply handle collecting signatures, some capturing digital copies of your signatures and some only capturing intent to sign from multiple parties. Then there are advanced DTM solutions like ZorroSign, that go beyond collecting legally accepted signatures from multiple parties. They handle various document signing ceremonies, help secure approvals, handle complex workflows and routing of these documents using automation like exception handling. Here is what you should look for in an advanced DTM solution.

 

1. Legally accepted Electronic Signature and Digital Signatures
2. Post-execution fraud detection of documents
3. Full audit trail and chain of custody
4. Document Management System (DMS)
5. Content Automation, Workflow Management, and Rules Engine
6. Intelligent Forms
7. Security, Trust, and Global Compliance
8. Advanced Security and Biometrics

 

Below we have listed eight ways an advanced DTM can help businesses go digital.

 

1. Automation – Full automation saves time, money and avoids errors.
Using a DTM platform can improve workflows and approval processes by automating document routing and processing. It can also connect one or more systems by providing interfaces between different applications by integrating the workflows using ZorroSign API. Automate your workflow with one click, assign to the correct people, send reminders, collect approvals and signatures without manual work.

 

2. Cost Savings – Save trees, water and office supplies,while reducing carbon emission and potentially even insurance premiums.

With automation comes savings of time, space and money. By specifying conditions and rules in a workflow, you can avoid costly errors that people typically make when executing documents. Outside of immediate cost savings from cutting back or discontinuing the use of consumables like, printers, toner, scanners, ink pens, paper, postage, and file storage, companies also see enormous labor related savings and decrease of insurance premiums from lowering their fire risk by eliminating paper file storage. Automating processes using a DTM solution cuts back on time demands, thus increasing capacity and output.

Interested in better understanding how your company can impact the environment, check out ZorroSign’s Environmental Savings Calculator and estimate savings per year in terms of trees, water, Carbon emission, time, and cost.

Along with positively impacting the environment, your company can save money by adopting a DTM solution. Learn more about the business impact of using office paper for business here.

 

3. Timely Execution – Decrease process time.

The DTM workflow allows the process owner to view and set time limits on each stage of the signatory process. Track a document from the start of the execution process through to the end with either user specific or document specific workflows and take advantage of automatic reminders.

 

4. Increased Efficiency – Time saved.

Through the use of an Advanced DTM solution, companies are able to save  time spent on retrieving documents, managing the signature process and managing multiple versions of documents and templates.

 

5. Reduce Errors – Decrease opportunity for human mistakes.

Using a DTM solution can reduce decision fatigue, environmental distractions and pressure to meet deadlines, consequently improving accuracy. Even the best, most experienced employees make errors. However, DTM systems support templates that ensure that the information is captured correctly 100% of the time. A DTM system also enables the user to validate data in real-time, allowing for potential corrections to be made on the spot.

 

6. Checks and Balances – Identify bottlenecks and audit your processes.

The workflow system within ZorroSign DTM allows for a graphical representation of where a document is in a specific workflow, allowing for process controls and monitoring of each document process and chain of custody. With the introduction of a DTM solution into a workflow comes the ability to monitor and track the progress of eSignature transactions at every step, in real time. This will also allow the workflow owner to identify bottlenecks and make appropriate adjustments to the process in order to increase efficiency where possible and ensure accountability throughout the workflow.

 

7. Audit Trail – Non-repudiation audit trails and full progress tracking.

With ZorroSign real eSignature solution, ZorroSign users can be 100% confident their documents have been executed with tamper-proof security and enforceability of documents of both digital and printed versions of your documents. . ZorroSigned documents create a non-repudiation audit trail, that include full progress tracking and bank-grade security using the Blockchain.

 

8. Compliance – Comply with all regulations, regardless of industry.

A reputable DTM solution will be compliant with international laws & regulations such as, E-Sign Act, UETA, HIPAA and GDPR. Advanced Digital Transaction Management solutions, eSignature solutions and digital signature solutions should also improve a company’s ability to remain compliant with their own industry specific rules and regulations.

 

Be an early adopter of ZorroSign’s DTM solution and take advantage of using a eSignature solution. Global businesses are quickly adopting Digital Transaction Management solutions as these solutions have  already proven the ability to deliver immediate and immense benefits. Get ahead of the crowd, let ZorroSign help you lead your digital transformation, click here to schedule a demo today.

There are a lot of great resources out there that inform and educate business consumers about the direction of the technological revolution. Especially those core business technologies that directly impact how companies run their business transactions. At ZorroSign, one of our favorite blogs to read is written and published by DLA Piper. When lawyers write about technology we take that very seriously.

Recently, DLA Piper published an article called Electronic Signatures: The element of intent in the digital environment. The article addresses the legal enforceability of electronically signed document under the notion of “intent.” To make a person’s signature legal on a digital paper and how the ESIGN act and UETA define a signature similar to the Uniform Commercial Code’s definition of a signature. If you are interested in how a businesses process must explicitly include an action of verifiable intent to sign a contract in order to make an eSignature legally binding, click here to read the full article.

Another article, published this year is, eSignature and ePayment News and Trends. In this article, DLA Piper goes into detail about case law where the use of electronic signatures are upheld over and over when a defendant can produce an electronic record showing that the plaintiff’s unique login and password were used to access and acknowledge an agreement. Click here to read the full article and explore the case law referenced. This article also covers use of Blockchain in business transactions, remote notary and other interesting regulations and use of technology. We find it invigorating to learn that ZorroSign technology is at the forefront of legally acceptable and binding eSignature and DTM solutions.

An interview with Shamsh Hadi, a co-founder and CEO of ZorroSign.

 

Since the mid 1990’s when electronic signature was first invented by one of ZorroSign’s Co-Founders, global commerce has experienced a rapid digital transformation. Businesses soon began to realize that in order to compete on a global scale, implementing processes that allowed for paperless (digital) transactions was imperative for growth. As a result, companies started adopting eSignature solutions.

 

Almost two decades after eSignature became legally recognized through the passage of the ESIGN Act of 2000, many companies are still slow to adopt this transformative technology. ZorroSign has taken the eSignature technology into its next phase of evolution; Digital Transaction Management (DTM) and digital document security. Today, ZorroSign customers are not only using electronic signatures to execute contracts, but they are managing entire business processes using workflow automation. There are several products in the market today that don’t necessary fulfill the promise of DTM. Shamsh Hadi, Co-Founder and CEO of ZorroSign explains the five questions he feels are most important for business leaders to ask before choosing an eSignature and DTM solution.

 

1. What is DTM and how different is it from eSignature?
Digital Transactions Management (DTM) refers to a software system that enables organizations to digitally manage document-based business transactions.  From simple business transactions like non-disclosure agreements and sales contracts to more complex ones such as new hire packet handling and purchase order processing.  ZorroSign customers are managing diagnostic lab workflows, M&A transactions, and real estate deals. A true DTM platform is more than just eSignatures, it also includes verification and authentication, non-repudiation, automation engine, workflow management, and multiple levels of security and privacy controls. There are levels of DTM, from basic to more complex enterprise systems. An advanced DTM solution can include a document management system, rules and policy engine, adherence and compliance to various laws and regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, GDPR, Document Retention Policies, and intelligent forms management. There are also provisions for security, privacy, authenticity, legality, and trust for managing document-based transactions conducted on all types of devices used.

 

In contrast, eSignature is one, but very important, component of a DTM system and refers to “any electronic indication of intent to agree to a record.” eSignature has its own set of characteristics, features, and use cases. Customers get the advantage of signing a document using a verbal signature, like giving consent over the phone, with a simple click on a checkbox or any electronically signed authorization. The four main components of a valid eSignature are: Method of signing, Data Authentication, User Authentication and the ability of the eSignature to capture the intent to eSign.

 

2. What can I use eSignature and DTM solution for?
eSignature and DTM are key to digital transformation for any organization. The grand promise of DTM is that it eliminates physical paper from the office and offers highly secure way to execute business transactions. Specifically, a DTM system can be used to automate business transactions from contracts execution to approval processes, managing digital records, capturing electronic and biometric signatures to secure sensitive documents, content automation, and support for mobile devices. More sophisticated solutions offer protection of documents or digital assets. All industries benefit from adopting an eSignature and a DTM solution, and each industry has its own blend of use cases and applications to use DTM system for.  What DTM is to business transactions; CRM is to contact management.

 

3. How are eSigned documents legally binding and admissible in court?
The US Federal ESIGN Act of 2000 made electronic signatures and eSigned documents legally binding and admissible in court if they meet specific qualifications and constitute, “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.” Further, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) provides additional guidance on the validity of eSignatures and how to ensure they are legally binding. In the case of ZorroSign, we go beyond the legal parameters and offer added features to ensure authentication and verification of users, documents, and processes.

 

4. Is pasting an image of a signature on a document same as eSigning a document?
No, what we call, superimposing an image of a signature on a document is not the same as eSigning a document. In short, a legally binding electronic signature must meet specific criteria where the intent to enter into a contract is clear and verifiable and can be traced back to the person who the signature belongs to. Furthermore, a simple image can be simply cut out of a document and replaced with something else. That’s why only real electronic signatures are legally binding and admissible in court.

 

5. Are my eSigned documents secure against document fraud?
With ZorroSign, they are. ZorroSign has a proprietary technology, called Zorrosign 4n6 (Forensics) Token, that helps detect post-execution document fraud and signature forgery. ZorroSign 4n6 encrypted Token is the multipurpose bridge which comprehensively validates both electronic and paper documents. 4n6 Token can help verify that a document has not been tampered, revised, revoked, replaced or canceled. By adopting Zorrosign 4n6 (Forensics) Token Technology in their document transaction process, businesses can have the peace of mind that their documents are secure and always verifiable.

 

Zorrosign 4n6 Token, when challenged or investigated, can be used as evidence without repudiation in a court of law. Users can view audit trail including attachments, signatories, biometrics, time stamp, among many other pieces of information about the users, the documents and process used. Thus, you will never have any trouble with online document verification whenever required.

 

Contact ZorroSign if you are curious and interested to learn more about eSignature, document fraud, and DTM.

Email Clients and Security Programs work hard to protect customers from receiving unwanted emails, also known as spam. The unintended result of this security measure is occasionally emails you are expecting are blocked by email filters that are keeping your inbox free of junk.

 

What you need to know

 

Email providers ‘blacklist’ unknown domains and domains that appear to be sending spam. At the server level, emails never make it to the customer and these emails are ‘bounced’ from the server. At the client level, emails are delivered to the customer, but filtered into a spam or junk folder. Depending on where the email is being stopped determines how the issue should be resolved.

 

A whitelist is a list of approved people or products. Adding specific domain names and email addresses to your email client or security program’s whitelist will allow messages to be received and prevent email blocking programs from sending requested subscriptions or desired messages to spam.

 

At the server level, the email account account admin would need to whitelist the domain of the company that emails should be received from. At the client level, each user can identify emails that are filtered into their junk or spam folder as safe, or add the desired domain to their contact list. Here is an example resolving the non receipt of emails at both the server and client level:

 

Server Level Solution: Office 365

 

1. Log in to Office 365 as an Admin.
2. Click the “Admin” drop-down box at the top of the screen, select “Exchange” and click the “Mail Flow” heading.
3. Click the plus sign icon and select “Bypass spam filtering” from.
4. Type a name for the rule in the appropriate text box. Something simple such as “Whitelist”.
5. Select “The senders domain is…” from the “Apply this rule if” drop-down box.
6. Enter domain name [zorrosign.com] to allow access. Click “OK”.

 

Client Level Solution: Gmail

 

1. Log in to your gmail account.
2. Select contacts from the options on the left side of the Inbox.
3. Select “Create Contact” on the top menu.
4. Enter the email address [[email protected]] in the primary email box.
5. Click “Save”.

 

Take Action

 

Every email provider is different and the steps needed to whitelist an email address or domain name is just as unique. Don’t miss another important email. At a minimum, we recommend that you add “[email protected]” to your electronic address book, whitelist, or safe list to ensure delivery of your important eSigniture documents. Once you have successfully whitelisted ZorroSign on your email client or security program, you will ensure receipt of electronic signature communications and will gain the peace of mind that your documents are protected against post-execution forgery and tampering.

 

Looking for detailed information on how to whitelist a domain on your internet service provider or security program?

 

Click here for step-by-step instructions for many of the top services.