The ever-growing amount of digital data and the increasing complexity of cyber threats have made data security more important than ever before. In 2023, companies must take steps to elevate your data security to protect both your own information and that of your customers.
One of the main risks to digital data today is the increasing sophistication of cyber attacks. Hackers are using more advanced techniques to bypass traditional security measures—such as using machine learning to evade detection and launching targeted phishing and spear-phishing attacks against specific organizations. Companies must be prepared to defend against these types of attacks by implementing advanced security measures, such as artificial intelligence-based security solutions, and regularly updating and patching your systems.
Another risk to digital data in 2023 is the growing number of connected devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). As more devices are connected to the internet, the attack surface for hackers becomes larger, making it easier for them to gain access to sensitive information. Companies must take steps to secure your IoT devices and to ensure that those devices are not used as a means to gain access to other systems.
Further, the use of cloud services and the increasing amount of data that is stored in the cloud has also increased the risk of data breaches. Companies must ensure that your cloud services are properly configured and that you are using a reputable provider with a strong track record of security. Companies also need to implement strong access controls and encryption to protect data stored in the cloud.
Protecting data against the growing risks in 2023 requires a multi-layered approach that includes regular updates and patching, securing IoT devices, properly configuring cloud services, adopting advanced security measures such as:
Blockchain technologies for tamper-proof record keeping with no single point of failure
Digital signature technologies to authenticate and authorize remote transactions
Identity-as-a-Service solutions for scalable identity and access management (IAM)
Passwordless authentication to reduce the human risk in security systems
Organizations that fail to take these steps will be at a higher risk of data breaches and will be more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
It is important to remember that data security is not only important to protect your company’s information but also to protect the personal data of your customers and employees.
To read more about the growing risks to digital data in 2023—and learn how adding blockchain, digital signature, IDaaS, and passwordless authentication technologies to your security stack can combat those risks—download our eBook today or contact us to start a discussion!
Digital Signatures
Digital signature technologies have become a reliable way of doing business in a primarily digitized world. These technologies are expected to grow in popularity in 2023 and here are several key trends to watch:
Increased adoption: As more organizations and individuals become aware of the benefits of digital signature technologies, you can expect to see greater adoption of such solutions. This adoption includes a wide range of industries such as financial services, real estate, legal, IT and many more that serve as early-adopters of new technologies and which process a high volume of digital transactions requiring digital signatures.
Improved security and compliance: One of the key advantages of digital signature technologies is the enhanced security and compliance they offer. These technologies use advanced encryption and authentication methods to ensure the integrity and authenticity of signed documents. In 2023, you can expect to see further developments in the security and compliance of digital signature technologies. ZorroSign’s data security platform provides users with the security and privacy afforded by blockchain technology, plus our patented fraud detection technology (the Z-Forensics token), and passwordless login options through biometrics security.
Enhanced user experience: As digital signature technologies become more widespread, you can anticipate a greater focus on improving the user experience. This could include the development of more intuitive and user-friendly interfaces, as well as the integration of digital signature technologies with other tools and platforms. In this spirit, ZorroSign just recently launched our completely redesigned user experience! On the back-end, we’ve updated to a scalable microservices and containers architecture—allowing our platform to grow quickly while enhancing our development team’s productivity, autonomy, and efficiency. We’re also deploying on Provenance Blockchain for select organizations and continually enhancing our privacy, security, and compliance capabilities. On the front-end, you will quickly see the simplicity of our new user interface—delivering what we believe to be the best user experience for digital signatures!
Increased use of biometric authentication: Biometric authentication methods, such as fingerprint scanning and facial recognition, offer an additional layer of security for digital signature technologies. In 2023, you can expect to see more organizations and individuals using biometric authentication methods to sign documents electronically. ZorroSign leverages the biometric security of Apple and Android mobile devices to login to individual devices (and so the ZorroSign app) with hardware biometric capture features such as face, fingerprint, and iris scans. Such biometric login facilitates passwordless user authentication at the device-level for subsequent ZorroSign digital signatures and document management.
Moreadvanced integration with other technologies: Digital signature technologies can be integrated with a wide range of other technologies, such as workflow management systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and document management systems. In 2023, you can anticipate more advanced integration of digital signature technologies with these and other tools, enabling organizations to streamline and automate their document signing processes.
Overall, 2023 is shaping up to be a promising year for the adoption of digital signature technologies! As more organizations and individuals embrace these solutions, ZorroSign is expecting to see a range of benefits, including improved security and compliance, enhanced user experience, and greater integration with other technologies.
Contact us to learn more about our data security platform built on blockchain and put us to the test: Start your free trial of ZorroSign’s data security platform today!
Blockchain-based digital signatures for greater privacy and security
With more and more businesses, governments, and individuals employing blockchain technology for commerce and operations, ZorroSign stands as key addition to your technology stack.
Whether you’re decentralizing data with web3, securing cloud or software-as-a-service (SaaS) architectures, committing to digital transformation, or elevating sustainability, our multi-chain blockchain solution is the perfect addition to your IT offerings—learn how!
If You’re Decentralizing with Web3
The idea of escaping a centralized authority managing protocols, transactions, and access was built into the World Wide Web from its earliest days.
Web 1.0 was the initial iteration of the World Wide Web in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. “Web 1.0 is the term used for the earliest version of the Internet as it emerged from its origins with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),” writes Kuntal Chakraborty for Techopedia. “Experts refer to it as the ‘read-only’ web—a web that was not interactive in any significant sense.”
From those early static web pages, a platform model of computing soon evolved that would become Web 2.0 or the ‘social web.’ Here, interaction with growing web applications and platforms drove e-commerce and the expansion of the Internet, allowing large providers to aggregate and control much of the shared data. This is the Internet we know today.
The dream of Web 3.0, however, is to break the centralization of information and democratize the Internet more to the vision of its earliest founders. “Web3, ” claims Chris Dixon from Andreesen Horowitz in a recent article in The Economist, “combines the decentralized, community-governed ethos of web1 with the advanced, modern functionality of web2.”
“The rise of technologies such as distributed ledgers and storage on blockchain will allow for data decentralization and create a transparent and secure environment, overtaking Web 2.0’s centralization, surveillance and exploitative advertising,” writes Charles Silver in a recent Forbes article. “Indeed, one of the most significant implications of decentralization and blockchain technology is in the area of data ownership and compensation… Web 3.0 will bring us a fairer internet by enabling the individual to be a sovereign.”
Blockchains are distributed ledger technology (DLT) leveraging cryptography—user authentication, data encryption and verification—to secure information records (blocks) distributed across peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. DLTs replicate, share, and synchronize digital data geographically spread across multiple sites (nodes), with no central data storage or administrator. They can run publicly (open) or privately (permissioned).
Perhaps most importantly, blockchains can support smart contracts—where terms, conditions, and permissions written into the digital code that require an exact sequence of events to take place to trigger the agreement of the terms mentioned in the blockchain contract. This hardwiring of contract details greatly increases speed (via automation), trust (where accuracy and backup are built into the transaction), and autonomy (as no third parties are required to mediate or control the exchange) of transactions.
As such, centralized solutions such as blockchains have immense potential to transform business contracts, real estate deals, digital rights, supply chain security and provenance, estate planning, and many other legal transactions.
And here is where ZorroSign shines!
We have built our digital platform from the ground up using blockchain technology. Launched with Hyperledger Fabric, our multi-chain platform now supports the public Provenance Blockchain as well, giving our users an entirely new world of decentralized digital transactions.
Our web3 technology platform also provides identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) capabilities through a patented Z-Forensics token plus fraud prevention, user authentication, and document verification. Web3 features such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) allow us to automate form completion for digital documents, and can improve regulatory compliance across global standards for legally enforceable digital signatures.
Paired with Provenance Blockchain—which reduces the need for third-party intermediation, drastically reducing costs and freeing up capital in financial transactions—ZorroSign’s platform promotes greater transparency and liquidity for organizations, and allows for new kinds of financial engineering and business opportunities.
If You’re Securing SaaS or Cloud Solutions
More than 90% of all cyber attacks begin with phishing but blockchain architecture, originally built for zero-trust environments, can deliver a compelling alternative to centralized databases and a strong protection against cyber attacks. How?
In phishing attacks that seek to steal data, blockchain presents a data architecture where no single endpoint node controls the data set. Even if an individual endpoint is hacked through phishing or other social engineering, the data set is distributed across many nodes. This decentralization of data and access means even successful phishing attacks that penetrate a blockchain endpoint only gain a small piece of system access.
In cyber attacks that seek to inject malware such as ransomware, the distributed nature of blockchain defeats those seeking to breach a system then holistically ransom the data files stored therein. Again, a single endpoint node might be breached, 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.
Recovery is quicker with blockchain, too. With blockchain, each endpoint node has a unique encryption key to access and write to the distributed ledger. If any one of those endpoints is successfully hacked (compromising their access key), the blockchain can simply remove distributed ledger access for that compromised key, issue the endpoint a new key, and allow that endpoint to quickly regain distributed ledger access (effectively as a new endpoint). This speedy recovery process effectively maroons any ransomware on the endpoint it attacked—ending its access and threat—while allowing the endpoint to re-engage the larger data set with a new key and without needing to pay any ransom to the attackers for restored access.
ZorroSign technology leverages the biometric capabilities of hardware endpoints to verify user identities—for example, PC and mobile device fingerprint scans, iris scans, and face recognition to ensure users are who they claim to be.
And ZorroSign multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides maximum security, as before a user can sign a document, our platform can validate multiple dimensions of authentication based upon your transaction security needs: What you know (i.e., your ZorroSign login password ), what you have (e.g., your laptop or mobile device), who you are (e.g., biometrics such as fingerprints or eye iris on the device securing who can access it), etc.
ZorroSign has further elevated our security through our patented fraud detection technology we call the Z-Forensics token, our unique digital solution that 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); and,
Prove the authenticity of the printed copy or digital version of an electronically signed document, its content, attachments, and the signatures on it (authenticity).
Unlike any other digital signature solution, ZorroSign seals all your documents with our Z-Forensics token—capturing the complete audit trail and accompanying attachments and signature workflow. The token is encrypted and contains all the details about the transaction: Time stamps, user authentication, documents and attachments.
And like your SaaS solutions, ZorroSign’s SaaS model can be deployed in various cloud configurations, making it seamless to integrate into your existing platform as a public, private, hybrid, or on-premise cloud:
Our standard deployment is on Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud computing network
In our private cloud configuration, all your data and the ZorroSign application run in a private and secure cloud network dedicated to your organization
In a hybrid cloud configuration, your data can be stored on either ZorroSign data centers or in the private cloud, while the ZorroSign platform and applications run on their standard public cloud configurations
On-premise deployments require your department to manage and maintain your own data centers, but gain the benefits of unlimited API calls and total control over identity access management (IAM), data privacy and security, and data integrity processes
If You’re Committed to Digital Transformation
For years, organizations have steadily moved more and more of their operations to digital data and delivery. Such advances save time and effort, automate key processes, and drive greater efficiency and effectiveness. With digital transformation, customers or constituents can receive services faster and gain self-service options, and employees get more time to work on the most important projects.
“Digital transformation is no longer an option, but an imperative,” notes the Harvard Business Review. “Recent research from Accenture has found that in the three years prior to 2018, firms who led their industry in enterprise technology adoption grew two times faster than laggards. Today, they are growing five times faster. The risk is no longer merely getting left behind, but being eliminated altogether.”
For organizations leveraging digital data, apps and SaaS, IoT, or any of the multitude of other digital solutions, adding ZorroSign can be an important consideration.
To transact business, commerce, government, or individual trade in such a digital ecosystem also requires legally enforceable digital signatures to prove agreement and intent. Our multi-chain blockchain platform delivers such digital signatures and ensures the digital chain-of-custody necessary to successfully defend digital signatures in a court of law.
And by digitizing paper-based workflows, ZorroSign’s digital signature and document management platform can decrease costs, reduce errors, and increase productivity across digital operations . . . a massive benefit for any organization committed to digital transformation!
If You’re Focused on Sustainable Business
Digital operations also eliminate paper so “going green” with paperless operations may readily align to your IT organization’s corporate social responsibility goals or vision.
At ZorroSign, we help IT organizations deliver paperless operations. We all understand that switching from doing business using paper to digital records is not only a smart business decision, but it is also good for the environment. Each time you use ZorroSign to digitally transact agreements, contracts, and other documents—instead of printing, faxing, scanning, shipping documents overnight to collect signatures—you save trees and water, plus reduce carbon emissions.
Further, ZorroSign is dedicated to advancing sustainability while advancing new technologies, promoting a paperless life and leading sustainability programs that support environmental conservation. The company’s Save-a-Tree, Plant-a-Tree program, for example, plants a tree on behalf of customers every time they save 8,000 pages of copy paper. As one tree produces roughly 8,000 pages of copy paper, this amounts to a double incentive: Reducing the destruction of trees via reduced paper use, plus increasing the number of trees as a reward for reducing paper use.
For all these reasons and more, if you are using blockchain technologies—or planning to in 2023—consider ZorroSign as a strong complement to your technology stack! You can start with a free 14-day trial to see what we can deliver or contact us to learn more!
We use blockchain technology for superior privacy, security, and compliance. Governments, businesses, and individuals around the world trust ZorroSign’s web3 solutions for their digital signatures, digital transactions, and digital document management.
The user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) of technologies, especially web-based solutions and apps, are critical to such technologies’ market success. “Taking advantage of the benefits of great UI/UX design is more vital than most people realize,” explains Eliza Brooks in a JumpStory article on design. “Everyone wants to experience and have the best technology, while at the same time not wasting any precious time.”
“If users cannot use your product and access all of its features, your prospects of success are greatly reduced,” notes Digital Solutions. “This usability factor is where the realms of User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) enter the picture. A great User Interface will draw people to your app right away, while a great User Experience will leave a lasting impression on your users.”
At ZorroSign, we have taken this truth to heart and are proud to unveil our entirely redesigned UI/UX for the next generation of our multi-chain blockchain platform for digital signatures!
To begin, a quick definition of UI and UX may be helpful. “Generally speaking, UX is the one that ensures your digital platform works smoothly—including pleasant and accessible designs, a clear and concise user journey, simple navigation processes, responsiveness, etc.,” explains a recent Wire Delta article. “On the other hand, User Interface or UI Design is for just that—the interface. In other words, UI takes care of typography, layouts, colors, graphic design, and visual design. So, while it is helping customers interact with different digital products and services, it does not consider the user journey.”
In other words, the UX is the sum of the whole—the complete experience a user has of using a specific UI, engaging its features and functionality, and generating whatever outcomes the technology produces—functionality, information, calculation, etc.
While the UI is the environment of the screen or app, the physical engagement and interaction via clicks, buttons, form entry, and all other inputs and outputs.
“User interface elements usually fall into one of the following four categories,” write Maria de la Rivva for Career Foundry. “Input Controls, Navigation Components, Informational Components, Containers. Input controls allow users to input information into the system. If you need your users to tell you what country they are in, for example, you’ll use an input control to let them do so. Navigational components help users move around a product or website. Common navigational components include tab bars on an iOS device and a hamburger menu on an Android. Informational components share information with users. Containers hold related content together.”
So UX is the total experience of using a technology, while UI is the tactical, direct engagement of the technologies interface.
Why Your UI/UX Must Continuously Evolve
“User Interface (UI) updates present an exciting opportunity for design teams to reinvigorate stale experiences, address issues, and explore future iterations,” writes Ayana Campbell Smith for Envy Labs. “It’s never a question of if interface updates will be necessary, but instead, when.”
For an innovative technology company, resting on the laurels of a successful product is simply not good enough. Innovators must continuously revisit, refine, and improve their solutions to ensure their great technologies are also great experiences for their customers, clients, users, and prospects.
A well-designed user interface delivers five key user experiences according to GeeksforGeeks:
Simplicity—which is to say, the minimum clicks or keystrokes to achieve a task
Consistency—across typeface, style, size, and components to deliver information with minimal chaos and ambiguity
Intuitiveness—input and navigation that is easy to learn, with concise and cogent icons and labels
Prevention—readily prevent users from performing inaccurate/inappropriate actions on the site by steering them always to the correct functions
Forgiveness—a quick way back/out if users find themselves in functions or content they did not mean to engage
Perhaps equally important, users’ expectations for simplicity, consistency, intuitiveness, prevention, and forgiveness evolve over time—especially as new technologies come to market and reshape their expectations. Recall for example the leap in UI expectations from desktop computers (keyboard and mouse), to our expectations on mobile phones or tablets (touchscreen or voice command)! Evolving technologies produce evolving user expectations and needs for UI/UX.
The Value of Great UI/UX
“A strong and valuable user experience offers a business a strong competitive advantage in attracting and retaining their customers,” continues Brooks. She calls out five critical benefits to a strong user experience, including:
Improving customer acquisition—”The more aesthetically pleasing a brand’s site design is, and the more intuitive the features are, the easier it is for them to build trust and thus increase the chances of the brand attracting users and quite possibly converting them into customers”
Helping with customer retention—delivering an intuitive, beautiful experience brings people back to that experience!
Optimizing development time and costs—by focusing on the customer experience, development teams can more “easily pinpoint and address usability issues” and “anticipate the needs of users before releasing the solution to a wider audience”
Increasing productivity—efficient UI/UX design streamlines tasks, work, and outcomes
Generating more user engagement—for example, employing UI design that is instructive, clearly conveying the help/benefits of engaging a specific page or functionality
“Investing in an effective Ul/UX design increases customer satisfaction, resulting in satisfied customers,” continues Digital Solutions. “People like to work for companies that make them happy. Ultimately, this will improve your firm’s credibility as a client and fosters positive associations with your company and brand. As a result, the worth of your company and your brand name will shoot up and increase.”
At ZorroSign, we agree completely!
“Digital products with a good user interface give you a competitive edge in a constantly growing world where companies are starting to realize the importance of good user experience,” says Tiffany Eaton for UX Collective. We realize this truth and are excited to share the new UI/UX we bring to market.
Contact us to learn more about ZorroSign’s completely redesigned UI/UX for 2022 . . . or start your free trial to put our next generation user interface to the test!
(Originally published on LinkedIn by Shamsh Hadi, CEO and Co-Founder of ZorroSign)
Last year, I shared how ZorroSign’s early roots in Dubai, UAE, helped us grow into an international company. I want to update that theme today and talk about ZorroSign’s role as a global company providing global solutions that improve data democratization, privacy, and security.
As CEO and co-founder of ZorroSign, I have dedicated my career to advancing technology while simultaneously advancing sustainability: Ensuring the new technologies we bring to market elevate information privacy, data security, and data democratization while not coming at the expense of future generations.
At ZorroSign, we saw very early a market need to push past web2 solutions for digital signatures and digital transactions—escaping centralized information architectures that consolidate data with a provider (and expose that data to the risks of single-point-of-failure cyber-attacks) while simultaneously pulling data ownership away from users (to be housed and monetized by the web2 provider). Alternatively, ZorroSign empowers our users by deploying web3 solutions that decentralize data and ensure users will always own their documents and transaction metadata—even after their subscriptions with us end.
Dubai Start, Dubai Strong
As a long-time resident of Dubai, I was greatly inspired by the Digital City Vision—Smart Dubai of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. ZorroSign’s technology very purposefully supports Dubai’s paperless initiatives for Digital Dubai and helps to advance Dubai’s leadership in digital operations, specifically focused on:
Security—providing superior digital privacy and security by leveraging a private, permissioned blockchain technology
Digital Signatures—a platform that is easy-to-use and legally compliant to global standards
Chain of Custody—delivering immutable records of every step of every digital transaction: Authenticating users, securing data, and verifying documents for legal enforceability
Advancing UAE’s 10 Principles for the Next 50 Years—specifically helping Dubai to build the best and most dynamic economy in the world; defining new UAE development with digital, technical, and scientific excellence; and promoting a value system based on openness and tolerance
Initially, our company served government departments in UAE but soon grew into an international business—helping people to build, sign, store, and track mission-critical documents on the blockchain in Sri Lanka, India, and the United States.
Last year, ZorroSign was named Blockchain SaaS Innovator of the Year at the UAE Business Awards 2021, then at the turn of the year, Unlock News Desk showcased a story on UAE Based ZorroSign introducing six new features to our blockchain platform.
This spring, Tech Channel wrote a great article on ZorroSign making waves in digital signature space using blockchain technology, and TahawulTech.com interviewed me on how ZorroSign helps tackle identity theft on our now multi-chain blockchain platform.
I am incredibly proud of our continued success in my home town, and while ZorroSign expands our global presence, the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries will be a strategic market for us.
Success in South Asia
From the start, ZorroSign has had close ties with the south Asia countries of India and Sri Lanka. While operations started in Dubai, our development center of excellence has always been in Colombo!
Our blockchain architecture was conceived, coded, and cultivated entirely in Sri Lanka with a vision to provide global customers with the ability to securely transform paper-based workflows to digital operations. I could not be prouder of our Sri Lanka team, and though they are struggling through that beautiful country’s difficult political and economic crisis, they have proven again and again the resilience and tenacity of their engineering genius.
Recently, APAC Business Headlines recognized the ZorroSign team as the “Most Innovative Blockchain Company from Sri Lanka” for 2022! The award validates the hard work of our center of excellence team, and further proves blockchain’s prominence on the global stage.
This recognition followed our 2021 success where the International Business Awards® named ZorroSign a Gold Stevie® Award Winner for Blockchain Solutions. The Stevie’s are the world’s premier business awards program, where in 2021 more than 3,700 nominations from organizations across 63 nations and territories—of all sizes and in virtually every industry—were submitted for recognition. We were delighted to be awarded a gold Stevie for our blockchain solution and to be recognized as a Company of the Year, and Most Innovative Tech Company of the Year. Most flattering, the judges were quick to note that ZorroSign is “one of the few companies that are able to use blockchain technology to solve a real business problem” . . . a strong endorsement of our digital signature technology, built on blockchain, and paired with identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) and patented fraud detection, to authenticate users and verify documents across digital transactions.
Tackling North American Markets
As a U.S. citizen who has lived in Canada, China, and the UAE at various times over the past forty years, my goal was always to return home and bring ZorroSign’s blockchain solutions to North American users.
In August 2020, we opened our global operations hub in Phoenix, Arizona—ushering in a new phase of business growth. We quickly established local partnerships with Arizona State University, Grand Canyon State University, the Arizona Commerce Authority, Arizona Technology Council, City of Phoenix, Global Chamber®, the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and many other incredible organizations!
And we’ve engaged government agencies, financial services providers, IT businesses (and departments), legal services firms, real estate companies, and several other verticals to prove the value of a paperless life and the most private, secure, compliant digital transactions hosted on blockchain. Early adopters of our web3 solutions are excited to embrace ZorroSign’s robust platform to advance their digital operations and gain a competitive advantage in a market place still dominated by legacy, web2 technologies.
Global Privacy and Security Compliance
Our unique combination of blockchain architecture, web3 technologies, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and patented fraud prevention grants ZorroSign compliance across many international standards for privacy and security.
The list continues to grow as we expand our markets, but already includes:
Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
Canada’s Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA)
The European Union’s Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy and security
EU’s electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) regulation
India’s 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
The UAE’s Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 Type I audit
USA’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
USA’s Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encryption standards
USA’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
USA’s Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act)
USA’s FDA Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures
USA’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
USA’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
I am proud of all ZorroSign has achieved for our international customers and incredibly excited about some big announcements later this summer! ZorroSign is truly a global company delivering global solutions, and we are not resting on our laurels—the best is yet to come.
Contact us to learn more . . . or start your free trial to put our digital signature software to the test!
ZorroSign Brings the Elevated Security and Compliance Standards that Your Real Estate Business Needs
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)
We are proud of our multi-chain blockchain platform at ZorroSign—delivering digital signatures paired with identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) technologies, a patented fraud prevention solution, AI/ML-driven form completion, and customizable workflows to ensure the highest privacy, security, and compliance for your digital transactions!
But while we live-and-breathe digital signatures, you might still be learning how digital signatures work and what benefits they might bring to your organization. We can help!
Below find some common questions we hear about digital signatures and short answers to get you started . . .
1. Are digital signatures legally accepted/enforceable like paper-based signatures?
Yes! Back in 2000, the U.S. passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act along with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) granting electronic signatures the full strength and legality of paper-based “wet” signatures. As such, digital signatures are valid in all 50 U.S. states, plus most countries around the world.
Beyond the United States, Australia’s Electronic Transactions Act, Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), China’s 2004 Electronic Signature Law, the European Union’s Directive 199/93/EC, India’s Information Technology (IT) Act 2000, Japan’s Law Concerning Electronic Signatures and Certification Services, New Zealand’s Electronic Transactions Act, the UAE’s Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce, the United Kingdom’s Electronic Communications Act and subsequent Electronic Signatures Regulation 2002, all regulate and support the legal enforceability of digital signatures around the world.
2. Why do companies, governments, or other organizations typically switch from paper-based to digital signatures?
Public and private organizations move to digital signatures for many different reasons, for example:
Some switch to save the costs of paper-based document printing, copying, couriering, and storage
Some switch to speed transaction workflows, document signing ceremonies, and execution of legal agreements
Some seek to improve regulatory/quality compliance with the digital management of transaction and personal information
Some want to improve the privacy and security of documents and transactions through digital encryption and security protocols
Some aspire to improve customer/constituent experiences with digital and mobile operations
Some are looking for the competitive advantage digital operations bring with all these benefits
Why are you considering the move to digital signatures?
3. With digital signatures, how do we know the person signing is really who they say/are supposed to be?
While some digital signature platforms grant access via simple username and password, the industry standard is two-factor authentication and rapidly evolving to MFA with password-less logins.
With ZorroSign, we’ve integrated identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) technologies to verify users, for example:
ZorroSign technology leverages the biometric capabilities of hardware endpoints to verify user identities.
ZorroSign is the first to adopt password-less login amongst our digital signature competitors.
ZorroSign MFA provides maximum security, as before a user can sign a document, our platform can validate multiple dimensions of authentication based on the transaction security needs, such as:
What you know (i.e., your ZorroSign login password),
What you have (e.g., your laptop or mobile device),
Who you are (e.g., biometrics such as fingerprints or eye iris on the device securing who can access it), etc.
Additionally, ZorroSign users can optionally use our dynamic knowledge-based authentication (KBA) feature—provided by LexisNexis—which requires the knowledge of confidential information of the individual to prove that the person providing identity information is the actual person.
These technologies secure the endpoints of our private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric blockchain architecture where only approved nodes (endpoints) are allowed to access our distributed ledger system.
4. How Does ZorroSign Use Blockchain and Web3 Technologies for Digital Signatures?
ZorroSign is the first company that offers a multi-blockchain platform to secure, track, and manage your digital signatures, transactions, and documentation!
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.
Assuming contracts are critical to your business or organization, then a secure, reliable solution for contract lifecycle management (CLM) is imperative and blockchain supports CLM in amazing ways.
Strong CLM solutions must 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.
With our blockchain architecture, 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-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 document management system (DMS) where they can be saved, searched for, and managed easily from a single, intuitive user interface.
5. How Do Digital Signatures Meet International Privacy and Security Compliance?
At ZorroSign, 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)
6. How much does it cost to try digital signature software and learn if it’s right for me?
ZorroSign offers a free 14-day trial license to test out our features, securely sign digital documents, build templates and approval workflows, and store your transaction data on blockchain.
No credit card required, visit our Free Trial page to get started!
June 30th, 2022 marks the 22nd anniversary of the U.S. Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN Act)—a critical piece of legislation that ensures “a signature, contract, or other record relating to such [commercial] transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.”
In 2010, both Houses of Congress passed a resolution recognizing June 30th thereafter as National ESIGN Day!
If you’re a fast-growing business or organization that still uses pen and paper to sign your mission-critical documents or uses a different digital signature solution, here are three reasons why you should start using ZorroSign on this day we commemorate the global adoption of digital signatures . . .
Elevated Privacy and Security
ZorroSign was built from the ground up on Hyperledger Fabric—one of the most trusted private blockchains—to deliver digital signatures with the superior privacy and security of blockchain. “Hyperledger Fabric is a permissioned blockchain where each component and actor has an identity, and policies define access control and governance,” explains Hyperledger’s Security Model. “Each of these actors has a digital identity encapsulated in an X.509 digital certificate issued by a Certificate Authority (CA). These identities matter because they determine the exact permissions over resources and access to information that actors have in a blockchain network.”
Further, ZorroSign incorporates Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) to authenticate users across multiple dimensions, such as what you know (your login password), what you have (your laptop or mobile device), and who you are (biometrics such as fingerprints or eye iris on the device securing who can access it), etc.
All that being said, with the amount of cybercrime that is present today, it is vital that you have peace of mind that your information and critical documents are private and secure, and ZorroSign provides that solution for you and your business.
Helps Reduce Errors and Omissions (E&O)
Make your critical document form-fill completion process smarter, faster and more accurate using ZorroSign’s automated engine, Z-Fill.
Built with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to speed form completion and increase accuracy, ZorroSign’s Z-Fill feature helps your customers fill forms with ease by anticipating entries, reducing errors by matching profile information to form-fill options, and learning from historical form-fills to anticipate more and more entries over time.
Plus all of your documents can be stored on ZorroSign’s Z-Vault for regulatory compliance and the immutability of signed documents, metadata, and workflow records. Z-Vault enables you to store, structure, organize and search documents in folders and subfolders natively, with the peace of mind that comes from superior blockchain privacy and security.
Available in Multiple Cloud Configurations
On top of providing the security and compliance features that your company and customers need, ZorroSign’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) model can be deployed in various cloud configurations, making it seamless to integrate into your existing platform.
Our standard deployment is on Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud computing network
In our private cloud configuration, all your data and the ZorroSign application run in a private and secure cloud network dedicated to your organization
In a hybrid cloud configuration, your data can be stored on either ZorroSign data centers or in the private cloud, while the ZorroSign platform and applications run on their standard public cloud configurations
On-premise deployments require your department to manage and maintain your own data centers, but gain the benefits of unlimited API calls and total control over identity access management (IAM), data privacy and security, and data integrity processes
If you’re ready to try ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform for yourself on National ESIGN Day, start your Free Trial today!
In today’s global economy, there are lots of bad actors and threats to your digital information. Whether you work for a government agency, a business, an IT department, a law firm, a financial service provider, or just about any other organization generating and storing digital data, your information—and your customers’ or constituents’ information—must be protected.
ZorroSign’s U.S. headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona brings blockchain technology to U.S. companies, organizations, and individuals signing digital documents and executing transactions digitally.
“If you’re looking for a secure way to transact with third parties or multi-parties,” says Robert Vera from GCU‘s Canyon Ventures Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, “ZorroSign is that technology that you need to have confidence that your transactions are secure in today’s environment.”
If you’re ready to try ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform for yourself—for superior privacy and security for all your digital signatures and transactions—start a Free Trial today!
In a digital environment, transactions take place between people and organizations who may not know each other, and likely cannot verify each other’s identities using traditional, physical means.
Yet as the world moves more and more to digital transactions—exchanging real-world assets such as automobiles, financial instruments, goods and services, even real estate, to exchanging digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, in-game purchases, metaverse assets, NFTs, and even more in the years ahead—it becomes critical to verify exactly who signed what and when, with full validation of every transactional document’s authenticity and immutability, to prevent forgery, fraud, or tampering.
CNBC reports that “Sales of real estate in the metaverse topped $500 million last year and could double this year, according to investors and analytics firms.” And transactions in the metaverse were expected to cross $6 billion in 2021, according to India’s Business Standard.
To facilitate commerce in digital realms, ZorroSign is pleased to include the Z-Verify feature in our multichain blockchain platform to protect privacy, secure transactions, and prevent fraud.
Digital Signatures for Digital Transactions
To transact business, commerce, government operations, or individual trade in a digital environment requires legally enforceable digital signatures to prove agreement and intent. There are several technologies supporting digital signatures, but how do such solutions provide legal enforceability?
They must ensure WHO is signing the legal documents via user authentication; plus,
They must ensure WHAT was signed (agreed upon) via immutable document control with full audit trail of changes for document verification; and
They must ensure WHERE, WHEN, and HOW digital signatures were executed in signing ceremonies via metadata captured on digital devices and digital network.
On June 30, 2000, then President Bill Clinton signed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act), establishing that electronic signatures have the same legality as traditional signatures on paper, and defined the criteria for legality. The legislation opened the door for digital transactions and digital commerce has boomed in its wake.
Digital Signatures on Blockchain
Since 2000, many technologies have come to market to deliver digital signatures, but when a distributed ledger technology—such as blockchain—is used for digital signatures, transaction parties gain the unique advantages of:
Privacy — with a private, permissioned blockchain such as Hyperledger Fabric, only participants to the transaction can see details of the transaction, and those participants share equal access to such details
Immutability — all blockchain records and changes are tracked and cannot be changed, providing important chain-of-custody audit capabilities for courts
Perhaps most importantly, digital signature platforms that incorporate Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) can authenticate users across multiple dimensions, such as what you know (your login password), what you have (your laptop or mobile device), and who you are (biometrics such as fingerprints or eye iris on the device securing who can access it), etc.
Digital Signatures with Z-Verify
ZorroSign’s Z-Verify unites multi-factor authentication, the biometric capabilities of your hardware devices, the opportunity for password-less logins, and even knowledge-based authentication (KBA) features—requiring the knowledge of private information of the individual to prove that the person providing identity information is the actual person—to ensure each party to the digital transaction is who they claim to be.
Further, Z-Verify features allow ZorroSign users to maintain and review a chronological, immutable, real-time record of transactions: Ensuring the security and privacy of users’ information and that of the data itself!
Z-Verify Benefits:
Immutable attribution of the signatory of any document secured in ZorroSign
Globally accepted security certificates that never expire – unlike any competitive solution certificates
Secured by private, permission-based blockchain technology built on Hyperledger Fabric
Authentication, verification and validation of digital and paper versions of documents using our patented Z-Forensics token
Verification applies to internal (registered) and external (not registered) users alike!
To learn more about Z-Verify and how ZorroSign can ensure you know exactly who signs your digital documents, when they signed, how they signed, and what they signed has not changed—contact us today or start your Free 14-Day Trial subscription to test us yourself!
ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform is a mobile-first solution with Android and Apple apps designed to run on any mobile device such as smart phones and tablets.
Our technologies help governments, organizations, businesses, and individuals sign digital documents and execute transactions securely from anywhere, at any time, including:
Quickly execute digital documents and transactions from any mobile device with ZorroSign’s blockchain-based platform, ensuring superior privacy, security, and legal enforceability.
Verify exactly who signed what and when, with full validation of every document’s authenticity and immutability, from any mobile device with ZorroSign’s mobile app.
Make your critical documentation form-fill completion process smarter, faster, and more accurate from any mobile device using ZorroSign’s AI/ML engine.
Block it down! Ensure regulatory compliance and the immutability of your signed documents from any mobile device by storing your documents on ZorroSign’s blockchain platform.
Create an immutable audit trail and complete chain-of-custody validation from any mobile device with ZorroSign’s patented 4n6 (forensics) token.
Mobile Supported by Public/Private/Hybrid Cloud Deployments
ZorroSign’s mobile solutions can be deployed in various configurations to meet your organization’s data security requirements. For example . . .
Public Cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
Our standard deployment is on Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud computing network. This configuration benefits from AWS data centers and a network architected to protect your information, identities, applications, and devices. Built with the highest standards for privacy and data security, AWS is designed to help ZorroSign deliver secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient infrastructure for our applications.
Private Cloud SaaS
In ZorroSign’s private cloud configuration, all your data and the ZorroSign application run in a private and secure cloud network dedicated to your organization. This fully managed service is ideal for financial services institutions or any organization requiring that your data resides only in servers where you have full control.
Hybrid (Public/Private) Cloud SaaS
Sitting between fully-public and fully-private cloud deployments is the option for a hybrid cloud configuration. Here, storing your data on our private, permissioned blockchain can occur on either ZorroSign data centers or in the private cloud, while the ZorroSign platform and applications run on their standard public cloud configurations. We collaborate with your organization to configure the right mix of public self-service, scalability, and elasticity with private control and customization available with dedicated hardware.
On-Premise Configurations
Finally, for those customers who require both the ZorroSign platform and their data reside behind their own firewall or demilitarized zone (DMZ)—where a physical or logical sub network contains and exposes your organization’s external-facing services such as ZorroSign digital signatures, workflow management, and identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) applications—we support on-premise deployments.
Or sign up for your Free Trial of ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain solution for digital signatures, documents, and transactions—no credit card or payment required!
April 22 is Earth Day—an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection. At ZorroSign, however, we aspire to protect the environment and conserve natural resources every day.
How?
Environmental conservation is part of our corporate social responsibility and intrinsic to our mission, our values, and even our technology.
Our Mission
At ZorroSign, we help individuals, businesses, organizations, and even government entities to achieve a paperless life. We all understand that switching from doing business using paper to digital records is not only a smart business decision, but it is also good for the environment. Each time you use ZorroSign to digitally transact agreements, contracts, and other documents—instead of printing, faxing, scanning, shipping documents overnight to collect signatures—you save trees and water, plus reduce carbon emissions.
And with ZorroSign’s SAVE A TREE – PLANT A TREE initiative, for every 8000 pages you save using our digital platform, we will plant a tree on your behalf!
Our Values
ZorroSign is committed to democratizing user privacy and data security by bringing digital signatures and a paperless life to everyone around the world. Not only can you save operating costs by moving away from paper, printing, copying, conveying, and storing hard copy documents, but you also decrease your environmental consumption by digitizing your communications and operations.
Achieving a paperless life helps you and your organization to have a positive impact on the environment through sustainable practices. Visit our environmental savings calculator to quickly see how you can save trees, wood, water, CO2 emissions, and time by “going digital” with ZorroSign.
Our Technology
It has been a long-running criticism of cryptocurrencies that the data mining required to produce coins consumes an astonishing amount of electricity. With the public blockchains used for cryptocurrencies, mining coins requires complicated mathematical processing on high-end graphic processing units (GPUs), consuming energy both for calculation processing and cooling those GPUs down under heavy load.
However, ZorroSign was not built on a public blockchain architecture.
Instead, we are built on private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric. Unlike Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency models for blockchain, Hyperledger Fabric is a next-generation enterprise blockchain architecture “with even lower electricity costs and attendant carbon footprints,” writes Michael Barnard in a CleanTechnica report.
This combination of speed and energy-efficiency made Hyperledger Fabric the ideal technology for ZorroSign’s digital platform.
“We are proud to use Hyperledger Fabric as our blockchain architecture,” says ZorroSign CEO and co-founder, Shamsh Hadi. “Not only does this private, permissioned approach bring greater privacy and security to our users, but the environmental costs of operating a private enterprise blockchain—like Hyperledger Fabric—is magnitudes lower than the high energy consumption required of public blockchains like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”
To learn more about ZorroSign’s commitment to environmental conservation, our corporate social responsibilities, and how we deliver greater privacy and security for digital signatures and documents, contact us.
Blockchain technology can better secure supply chains and digital transactions.
December 2020 brought a flurry of news stories around the massive cyber attack on the U.S. government. Called the Solar Winds Orion Supply Chain Compromise, or the Great Supply Chain Hack, this evolving story reflects the risks even sophisticated networks—like those run by the federal government—face when dealing with attackers deploying anti-forensic techniques, user impersonation, privilege escalation and persistence, and MITRE ATT&CK® techniques.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an alert on December 17th on the advanced persistent threat (APT) to government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private sector organizations, saying the attack began in at least March 2020 and the attacker “demonstrated sophistication and complex trade craft in these intrusions. CISA expects that removing the threat actor from compromised environments will be highly complex and challenging.”
A December 21st NPR article says the “list of affected U.S. government entities reportedly includes the Commerce Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Pentagon, the Treasury Department, the U.S. Postal Service and the National Institutes of Health.” Plus, the Department of Energy acknowledged its computer systems had been compromised, though not the critical National Nuclear Security Administration systems.
“Hackers exploited the way software companies distribute updates, adding malware to the legitimate package,” note NPR reporters Bill Chappell, Greg Myre, and Laurel Wamsley. “Security analysts said the malicious code gave hackers a ‘backdoor’—a foothold in their targets’ computer networks—which they then used to gain elevated credentials. Solar Winds traced the ‘supply chain’ attack to updates for its Orion network products between March and June.”
“This is looking like it’s the worst hacking case in the history of America,” says one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They got into everything.”
In this environment of fear and reaction, the promise of distributed ledger technologies offers an appealing new approach to digital security. For example, blockchains have quickly been embraced as a solution for improving supply-chain security for data, communications, and logistics.
The emerging technology of blockchain “adds layer of security to movement of critical components,” claims SAIC, an American government contractor. “We see blockchain as a transformative technology to protect elements of supply chains.”
“Blockchain can greatly improve supply chains by enabling faster and more cost-efficient delivery of products, enhancing products’ traceability, improving coordination between partners, and aiding access to financing,” says Vishal Gaur and Abhinav Gaiha in a Harvard Business Review article. “There is considerable room to improve supply chains in terms of end-to-end traceability, speed of product delivery, coordination, and financing. Blockchain can be a powerful tool for addressing those deficiencies.”
“It’s about time we start talking about the advanced methods of privacy and security we can ensure on blockchain,” adds Shamsh Hadi, CEO and co-founder of ZorroSign, Inc. “How many times do we need hacks to happen before we finally ask the right questions?”
For governments organizations and companies that require secure digital transactions, ZorroSign’s digital signature and document management platform can decrease costs, reduce errors, and increase productivity. Unlike other electronic signature solutions, ZorroSign’s platform is built on a private, permissioned Hyperledger Fabric blockchain architecture to secure digital assets and deliver security certificates with robust audit trails and lifetime document escrow.
“Ultimately, blockchain technology helps make digital transactions more secure, faster and less expensive,” says Hadi.
Learn how blockchain can more securely manage your organization’s digital signatures and documents—contact ZorroSign today.
“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
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.
We are thrilled to launch ZorroSign’s new global headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona!
The Phoenix-based team is already growing and we are starting with offices in Grand Canyon University’s Innovation Center—home to Canyon Angels; Cerberus Sentinel; the Cybersecurity Center of Excellence; Digitile; GCU’s Innovation, Development and Entrepreneurship Association (IDEA) Club; HomeKey; Journeyage; Youngblood Works, and many more innovative startups and technology companies.
And local media have been warm in welcoming ZorroSign into the Greater Phoenix economic and academic environment:
In today’s digital world, data privacy and security are critical. At ZorroSign, we are proud to put privacy and security at the heart of everything we do—including how we’ve built our digital transaction management (DTM) platform. With our private, permissioned blockchain foundation, our commitment to security and privacy meets important regulations and standards upheld by countries around the world. Here are some quick examples…
NORTH AMERICA
In the United States, there have been many laws and regulations enacted around data privacy and digital security, including:
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) set national standards for electronic health care transactions and codes, unique health identifiers, and security—ZorroSign DTM helps organizations meet HIPAA compliance.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 is an anti-piracy statute protecting digital rights management—ZorroSign’s digital signatures support DMCA.
In 1999, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) established the legal equivalence of electronic records and signatures, with paper documents and manually-signed (wet) signatures—ZorroSign digital signatures meet UETA compliance.
In 2000, the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act) validated electronic records and signatures for commerce across states and countries—ZorroSign digital signatures fulfill ESIGN compliance.
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) set regulations for the financial practice and corporate governance of U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms—ZorroSign DTM helps organizations fulfill SOX requirements.
In Canada, similar laws such as the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) defined how organizations can collect, use or disclose personal information; and the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act of 1999 (ULCC) regulated the provision and retention of electronic information, and the communication of electronic documents. Again, ZorroSign digital signatures meet both Canadian standards for privacy and security.
EUROPE
The European Union has enacted two major regulations for data privacy and security in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Electronic Identification and Trust Services Regulation (eIDAS) of 2018. This elaborate set of rules and requirements are also met by ZorroSign’s digital signatures and DTM platform.
MIDDLE EAST
In the Middle East region there are two major laws that govern electronic signatures in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. ZorroSign meets the United Arab Emirates’ Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect. ZorroSign also meets the KSA laws in Saudi Arabia as governed by the Electronic Transactions Law, Royal Decree No. (M/8) 8 Rabi’ I- 1428H from 2007.
ASIA
In 2000, India passed a sweeping Information Technology Act, with further amendments in 2008, providing legal recognition for transactions performed by electronic data interchange, eCommerce, and digital signatures, plus rules for electronic records and certifying authorities. Again, ZorroSign DTM meets the security and privacy requirements of India’s IT Act.
UNMATCHED PRIVACY & SECURITY
While ZorroSign’s platform ensures compliance with these (and other) regulations around the world, we separate ourselves from our competition by going even further to protect our customers’ data and privacy. ZorroSign’s patent-pending blockchain architecture uniquely ensures:
Immutability—maintaining a chronological record of transactions in multiple copies on a ledger to avoid doubt or ambiguity.
Legal Enforceability—ZorroSign uses patented and legally-binding electronic signature with real digital information versus competitors who simply superimpose a flat image of a signature on a document… legally distinguishing intent to sign a document vs actually signing a document.
Signature Attribution—signatures are protected and validated using ZorroSign’s private permissioned blockchain, plus high-level security provisions and multifactor authentication (including biometrics) to ensure signatory attribution.
Fraud Prevention—our proprietary 4n6 token detects document fraud, document tampering and signature forgery (as a tamper seal that runs on the blockchain).
Lifetime Escrow—while competitors often use third-party digital security certificates that expire every two years, ZorroSign issues its own certificates that never expire for lifetime document escrow.
We are proud to be the digital signature solution of choice for organizations around the world committed to privacy and security.
June 30, 2020, marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN Act)—a critical piece of legislation that ensures “a signature, contract, or other record relating to such [commercial] transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.
In 2010, both Houses of Congress passed a resolution recognizing June 30th as National ESIGN Day.
HISTORY
The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) of July 1999, and accompanying ESIGN Act enacted June 30, 2000, are U.S. federal laws ensuring the legal standing and validity of electronic records, signatures, and contracts.
The UETA established that electronic signatures and records should be accorded the same legal status as wet ink signature and paper records, and has been adopted by 47 U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Illinois, New York, and Washington have not adopted the UETA, but have similar statutes validating electronic transactions). The UETA does not contain any requirement that consumers be provided with disclosures, though it does govern the attribution of electronic signatures. And UETA addresses when an electronic record has been sent and received.
The ESIGN Act, in contrast, defines essential requirements for electronic signatures and establishes a federal safety net to ensure that electronic contracts are legal for both interstate and global commerce. Together, the UETA and E-Sign Act have four major requirements for an electronic signature to be recognized as valid under U.S. law:
Intent to Sign— meaning signatories must intend to sign, whether documents are paper executed with wet ink or electronically executed with digital signatures.
Consent to Do Business Electronically – meaning the parties have consented to transact electronically, as proven by:
Parties having received UETA Consumer Consent Disclosures,
Parties have affirmatively agreed to use electronic records for the transaction,
Parties have not withdrawn their consent.
Association of Signature with the Record –meaning the electronic system (or platform) used to manage the digital transaction must keep an associated digital record that tracks the process by which the signature was created, so proving that records was executed with an electronic signature.
Record Retention – meaning digital transactions require record keeping and retention of accurate reproductions of the documents and digital signatures that can be referenced by all parties . . . or other persons entitled to retain the records.
Finally, a key requirement of the ESIGN Act was to ensure that business and commerce between states would not be complicated by competing electronic signature statutes. As such, the June 2000 ESIGN Act established guidelines that could only be modified or limited by states in the case of adopting the UETA (or when similar procedures were provided, as with Illinois, New York, and Washington states).
BUSINESS IMPACTS
Before the ESIGN Act, many businesses struggled with how to handle online transactions. Although companies were beginning to accept electronic signatures, it was unclear how those signatures might be upheld in court. The ESIGN Act established electronic signatures as having the same legal standing as wet ink signatures, such that a contract or record of transactions would not be denied legal effect or ruled unenforceable simply because it is in electronic form.
The ESIGN Act also supported U.S. companies in global commerce, effectively promoting electronic signatures for international business transactions whenever all parties can use their preferred technologies to authenticate and secure such digital transactions. Parties to international digital transactions gained the legal means to prove the legal effect, validity, and enforceability of their electronic signatures and agreements.
THE ESIGN ACT LEGACY TODAY AT ZORROSIGN
A key element of the ESIGN Act’s enduring value is the requirement that parties retain evidence of their contractual agreements to ensure the continued legitimacy of a contract and its terms.
“Trusted electronic signature software contains security measures to ensure the legitimacy of an agreement and prevent fraud,” notes Andreas Rivera in Business.com. “For the best security, pick programs that allow for multiple forms of authentication to be used. Another common security measure is the implementation of a digital signature along with the electronic one.”
The ZorroSign platform was built ground-up on Hyperledger Fabric (a private-permissioned blockchain) for securing and storing electronic documents. ZorroSign’s Digital Transaction Management (DTM) solution leverages public-key infrastructure with AES 256-bit encryption hashing and logging each digital transaction via ZorroSign’s patent-pending 4n6 (“forensics”) token.
ZorroSign is proud to secure digital signatures and manage digital transactions as defined by the ESIGN Act, including:
Legal enforceability: Providing digital signatures that are legally binding, tied to the actual person (signatory attribution), and immutable with court-admissible security certificates that never expire
One Solution: Providing a unified platform for document security, electronic signatures, and digital transactions across PC and mobile endpoints
Cost-Savings: Streamlines clerical work and approval workflows with automated contract processing
Risk Governance: Providing non-repudiation audit trails and post-execution fraud protection for electronically signed contracts
Innovation: Delivering a unique blockchain architecture bolstered by artificial intelligence and machine learning to speed workflows
And ZorroSign helps people and organizations Go Green—eliminating the waste of printing, faxing, scanning, and overnighting paper contracts via environmentally-conscious digital processing.
June 12, 2020 marks ZorroSign’s fifth anniversary. Today, we celebrate our history and our future – as well as our competitive strategy, by continuing to innovate extremely fast and ahead of our competition. We provide a complete end-to-end solution which includes many features and functionality that are missing from our competitors’ solutions. ZorroSign continues to provide a superior product, a highly secure solution, and better service. Core to ZorroSign’s vision, we continue to invest heavily in innovation.
Five years ago, ZorroSign was founded to tackle shortcomings in the eSignature industry, namely:
Competitors were using an image of a signature super-imposed on a document instead of using the real electronic signature (digital bits).
Competitors used third-party digital security certificates that expire every two years instead of documents that don’t expire.
Simple signature capture process instead of using an advanced Digital Transaction Management system with workflows, templates, and business process automation.
PDF documents that can be tampered with and electronic signatures that can be forged instead of ensuring the sanctity of electronically signed documents with high level of security.
Today, ZorroSign continues to improve the world-class Digital Business Platform customers have depended on for the last five years, providing organizations the necessary tools to transform their businesses into efficient digital powerhouses. ZorroSign, the pioneer of electronic signature technology and the developer of ZorroSign DTM, a unified platform, a complete Electronic Signature, Digital Signature and Digital Transaction Management solution. ZorroSign’s unique patent pending Document 4n6 (forensics) technology offers post-execution fraud detection and verification and authentication of electronic and digital signatures and documents using blockchain tokenization.
ZorroSign’s long-term vision is to be the most advanced Digital Signature and Digital Transaction Management solution in the market, always putting security and privacy first. ZorroSign will continue to offer services and products that are real, mission critical, and legally acceptable in any court of law. Even after five years, one of ZorroSign’s key differentiating components, which is also the highlight of our solution, is the ZorroSign 4n6 (forensics) token technology, which ensures sanctity of electronically signed documents against fraud and tampering and signature forgery.
ZorroSign is a socially responsible company where employees and customers can make a positive impact in the world; by encouraging companies to go paperless.
As ZorroSign celebrates five years of commitment to the Electronic and Digital Signature industry, we reflect on how DTM enables us to deliver greater environmental impact by means of reducing carbon footprint, water consumption, deforestation, while delivering significant savings of time and cost of doing business. That is truly inspiring to the ZorroSign team.
The future of ZorroSign is promising and filled with innovation and growth. In the very near future customers will see, through advances in development, a new set of capabilities and functionality in the areas of Advanced Digital Transaction Management, Workflows Automation, Business Process Optimization, and advanced security and privacy. ZorroSign will continue to innovate and incorporate state of the art technology in the areas of mobile biometrics, privacy and security, use of Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into our solution.
Now and into the future, ZorroSign will continue strategic, calculated and intentional rapid growth. As a solutions provider we will work tirelessly to earn and keep users trust by proving to them that their data is safe when using ZorroSign.
To our customers, investors, employees, business community and families, thank you for supporting us over the last five years! The ZorroSign journey has been fantastic till date and we look forward to an even more successful future.
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.
Trust is considered the single most important aspect in conducting business. The same holds true with electronic document execution; all parties involved in a document/contract need to have 100% confidence that the executed document not only has been signed by all intended parties, but that the document has not been tampered with during or after its execution. There is only one solution (with patent pending technology) that provides full and complete confidence that all executed documents can be authenticated and that is ZorroSign. Incorporating the ZorroSign 4n6 (forensics) Token on all electronically transacted documents removes any doubt in trust issues. It provides the gold standard in document authentication.
What is the ZorroSign 4n6 Token?
ZorroSign’s 4n6 (forensics) Token securely displays, to authorized users, the information that is stored on a private permissions-based blockchain. In short it delivers verification, security and authenticity of every transaction and the Users that were party to it. The 4n6 Token allows authorized users to gain access to view the final, untampered version of a document, its audit trail and chain of custody. The 4n6 Token incorporates the document’s workflow, chain of custody, audit trail, the final document(s), its attachments and an undeniable confirmation that the Users party to the transaction are the true individuals. External parties to the workflow can also be given limited viewing access to the contents of the transaction in order to have full confidence.
Why is the ZorroSign 4n6 Token the gold standard in document authentication?
Simply put the ZorroSign 4n6 Token by far provides the most trusted methodology of authentication, meaning it is the most advanced document authentication solution available today. The ZorroSign 4n6 Token reader built into the ZorroSign mobile app is the only reader that can securely decrypt the information stored on 4n6 Tokens as it can only be read by authorized users. The ZorroSign 4n6 Token is the only solution that can verify, validate and authenticate both digital and printed (paper) version of electronically signed documents. The 4n6 Token does not expire and it cannot be altered, pasted or forged onto another document.
Conclusion
The ZorroSign 4n6 (forensics) Token provides complete trust and confidence for each transaction. It enables enforceability, authentication & verification, and a full audit trail of documents digitally signed using ZorroSign. Using proprietary technology, documents signed using ZorroSign are legally binding and enforceable where Electronic and Digital Signatures are allowed by law. If a document signed using ZorroSign is challenged or investigated, our 4n6 (forensics) technology can be used as evidence without repudiation in the court of law. The 4n6 Token can alert if the document has been revised, amended, revoked or cancelled, highlighting the latest version. Using the ZorroSign mobile app, a third party, like a judge can validate and authenticate documents and signatures in seconds.
In the current COVID-19 climate small businesses are facing many new challenges. Even as some businesses slowly begin to ramp up operations, many small businesses have been forced to close their doors or abruptly navigate a remote workforce. All companies have had to adjust to the restrictions placed by the global pandemic, which has sent them in search of new tools and resources to keep their businesses functioning with limited face-to-face contact yet still executing their product offerings or services.
How ZorroSign Helps Small Businesses
To help small businesses when they need it most, ZorroSign is offering its digital signature solution free for three-months. This free license is available to all small businesses who need to execute documents.
ZorroSign electronic and digital signature solution free three-month trial delivers unlimited document sets to eSign, all while enabling users to validate and authenticate eSigned documents with ZorroSign’s patent-pending 4n6 (forensics) blockchain token tamper seal technology.
Small businesses and larger businesses share process requirements, security, and privacy concerns and ZorroSign helps all businesses meet these security and privacy concerns when executing documents.
Highlights of the ZorroSign platform for small businesses include:
Real (patented) Electronic Signature technology vs just an image of signature super-imposed on a document which only captures the “intent to sign.” With ZorroSign, users actually sign the document electronically.
Digital Security Certificates that never expire, therefore documents signed never expire.
Using blockchain tokenization technology, tamper-seal your documents, chain of custody and audit trail to authenticate and verify documents.
Workflow automation, templates, approvals, Bulk-send, document management system, and intelligent forms. ZorroSign helps to decrease cycle time when executing business critical documents.
Free trial offer and quick start guide can have your business up and running on ZorroSign today.
Sign anywhere, any time and on any device.
Why is ZorroSign Helping Small Businesses?
The COVID-19 crisis has everyone uncertain of what the future holds. Consumer confidence is very important to help build trust that businesses will continue operations. ZorroSign can be a vital component of the stabilization and resiliency of businesses, and provide customers state-of-the-art electronic signature, digital signature and Digital Transaction Management (DTM) services—services that can increase efficiency and productivity for small businesses.
What Small Businesses Use ZorroSign
ZorroSign solutions can help small business from many industries including Accounting, Early Childhood Education, Healthcare, Financial Services, Insurance, Real Estate, Home Inspection, Marketing, Photography, Event Management, Floral, Restaurants, Consultants, and Legal Services.
ZorroSign can be used for many different transaction types: benefits administration programs and processes, architecture and engineering document processing, logistics and procurement processes, facilities management forms, agent, broker, and customer agreements, closing of real estate purchase and loans, property inspection and appraisal processes, rental and lease agreements, tuition payment agreements, invoices, rental car agreements, etc.
If you have been impacted by COVID-19, let us help. Whether you have requested assistance from the Small Business Administration via the Paycheck Protection Program, COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program or are navigating everything on your own, ZorroSign is here to help. Sign up today for your free three-month trial: www.zorrosign.com/covid19promotion/. Free trial is subject to terms and conditions and users must register no later than Tuesday, June 30, 2020 to receive three-months of free service.
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.
Collaboration Platform
Meeting Software
Scheduling Software
Digital Signature & Digital Transaction Management Software
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!
The ZorroSign Development Team is always hard at work developing the latest privacy, security and product enhancements that compliment ZorroSign services. New features help make everyday document signing more secure, convenient, safer, and efficient.
Below are new features that have recently been released:
Improved Workflow Builder
With feedback from our Customer Advisory Board, ZorroSign’s new workflow builder was redesigned to allow users to navigate their documents page by page instead of user by user.
Customize ZorroSign automated emails and include a personalized message. Who opens or enjoys reading generic emails? Now send personalized emails to ensure your additional comments are read immediately and get those documents approved quickly.
Have you read about all those solutions out there with security flaws? We take security seriously. Now add an additonal layer of security by adding password protection to your files sent using ZorroSign.
ZorroSign Digital Certificate
E-Signatures only capture the ‘intent to sign’ and is not equivalent to your wet signature. E-Signatures are not always upheld in court because we can’t prove the person actually signed the document. That’s why ZorroSign uses Digital Signatures with PKI which confirms the person and actually captures their ‘digital signature’. To further enhance the validity and provide a certified confirmation of each transaction, download the ZorroSign Digital Certificate.
Additional Features
Biometric Authentication for Login We’ve been regularly upgrading our security features to incorporate advanced mobile biometrics. This ensures we continue to deliver the latest, most secure security protocols available while confirming it is you who is digitally signing those documents. Use biometrics to log in to ZorroSign and sign documents. ZorroSign was the first to allow Users to upgrade to the next generation of passwordless authentication, allowing ultimate user privacy and data in document security.
vCard Want to help save trees like ZorroSign does? Introducing the Digital Business Card. By using a digital business card, we are able to maintain our commitment to save trees, water and decrease our carbon footprint.
Send Back We all want to save time! Now Users can Send Back a document that requires edits or updates prior to the completion of the document workflow.
Tool Resize Don’t we all love those forms with tiny boxes which you can’t type in? User can now resize document tool to fit the tiniest boxes.
ZorroFill Make your smart forms smarter! Users can now auto fill eForms using Artificial Intelligence. ZorroFill is currently in beta testing.
OTP We can’t get enough of security. Using Two-Factor Authentication, secure and safeguard your log in and documents with One Time Passwords (OTP). Users can activate OTP for log in and Approval Process.
KBA Need to double check if the User behind an email address is really the person they claim to be or want additional verification when sending a document to sign? Now use ZorroSign’s premium, pay per use, Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) service for U.S. based subscribers. Contact your Sales Rep for more details or email [email protected] This feature allows users to utilize our KBA integration to electronically sign documents, ensuring your intended party is the one actually signing a document.
E-Sign on the go Check out our regularly updated apps to quickly and securely digitally sign documents using the ZorroSign iOS and Android Mobile apps.
Visit our website to try these features and implement them in your daily work. Questions? Send an email to [email protected]
