We are proud to finish 2022 strong by sharing our completely redesigned user experience for ZorroSign’s data security platform built on blockchain!
On the back-end, we’ve updated to an elaborate microservices and containers architecture—allowing our platform to scale 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 user interface—delivering what we believe to be the best user experience for digital signatures!
For a quick introduction to our new look, new features, and new benefits, watch this short overview from our U.S. operations team:
What’s New with ZorroSign’s Data Security Platform Built on Blockchain
And for an expanding overview of key functionality, visit our YouTube channel to watch helpful videos on creating an account, creating E-Sign documents, using platform tools, digitally signing documents, and so much more!
ZorroSign’s YouTube Channel: New User Experience Playlist
We are thrilled to share our updated platform with you . . .
Remember: When your data privacy and security are on the line, Block It Down!
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.
“We are thrilled to share offices with the ethical, visionary leaders tackling the world’s greatest challenges,” said Hadi, “ZorroSign has always been a global company, and now aligning with the entrepreneurs shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution brings fresh perspectives and new opportunities to our staff, partners and customers.”
Shamsh Hadi, CEO and Co-Founder
Thunderbird School of Global Management is a unit of the Arizona State University. For more than 75 years, Thunderbird has been the vanguard of global management and leadership education, creating inclusive and sustainable prosperity worldwide by educating global leaders capable of tackling the world’s greatest challenges. Thunderbird’s Master of Global Management was ranked No. 1 in the world for 2019 by the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education. ASU is ranked No. 1 “Most Innovative School” in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for eight years in succession.
“The people, the building, the campus, and the vibe here are truly electric,” added Hadi. “We look forward to tapping into that energy as we build new relationships and expand ZorroSign’s technology, innovation and sustainability efforts.”
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!
With new technologies constantly coming to market, companies must make an effort to be innovate in order to stay relevant and not get left behind.
ZorroSign is committed to continuous technology innovation and our achievements have been recognized with the following awards over the past year:
ZorroSign was awarded a gold Stevie in the Blockchain Solution category at the 18th Annual International Business Awards at the end of 2021. We were also recognized with two bronze Stevie® Awards for Company of The Year – Computer Software and Most Innovative Tech Company of The Year.
According to the judges, ZorroSign “pushes the needle on innovation,” demonstrates “great use of blockchain and Hyperledger to solve signature issues,” is “one of the few companies that are able to use blockchain technology to solve a real business problem,” and declares, “blockchain is the future of digital signature.”
We could not be more proud of this recognition and the Stevie judges’ comments!
APAC Business Headlines
APAC Business Headlines praised ZorroSign’s commitment to delivering superior privacy and security, as well as the company’s ability to make a difference through sustainable practices. You can read the magazine article at https://www.apacbusinessheadlines.com/Blockchain-2-web-version/ZorroSign/
Insights Success
And in July 2022, ZorroSign announced our appearance on Insights Success cover as one of the “Ten Most Innovative FinTech Solution Providers in 2022.”
Insights Success celebrated ZorroSign’s multi-chain blockchain platform as a groundbreaking solution in financial technologies and driving force for blockchain and web3.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by Insights Success and counted amongst the most innovative fintech solutions providers today,” said Shamsh Hadi, co-founder and CEO of ZorroSign, Inc. “As most financial service providers currently deploy legacy technologies, the opportunity for early adopters to leap ahead with blockchain solutions—such as ZorroSign—becomes an asset and key competitive advantage.”
ZorroSign continues to create and use new technologies, driving both industry innovation and greater sustainability. On August 15th we will be launching our completely redesigned next generation platform—including upgrades to our user experience, user interface, new features, security, compliance and system updates.
Contact us to learn more . . . or start your free trial to put our innovative digital signature software 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!
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!
Our CEO and co-founder, Shamsh Hadi, was recently interviewed by two technology news outlets—Tech Channel News and TahawulTech.com.
Tech Channel News helps C-level executives in India and Gulf identify technologies and strategies to empower and streamline business processes. Their portal at techchannel.news informs leaders of what’s new in tech and why it matters.
TahawulTech.com, published by CPI Media Group, is the definitive platform in the Middle East for IT content. Covering stories across enterprise technology, cybersecurity and the region’s IT channel industry, TahawulTech.com brings business leaders and technology decision makers together to share their stories of transformation.
Here are short summaries of those interviews and links to read the original pieces!
ZorroSign Making Waves in Digital Signature Space Using Blockchain Technology
In April 2022, Tech Channel News’ Naushad K. Cherrayil interviewed Mr. Hadi on how ZorroSign safeguards the privacy and security of digital documents, and provides an immutable chain of custody for digital transactions, for governments and organizations in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries.
The article notes that there are “huge players in the digital signature space, but none of them have figured out how to cost-effectively map their legacy software in technologies and evolve it into Web 3.0 and blockchain solutions today.”
“We have solved all these problems,” said Hadi. “Successfully bringing blockchain to digital signatures—unlike other competitors, big and small, who simply tried to add blockchain onto their legacy software.”
The article explores ZorroSign’s roots in Dubai with development in Sri Lanka, moving the company’s global headquarters to Phoenix, and standing out from the crowd in a competitive eSignature space.
“Our platform was invented to move documentation, digital transactions from a relationship built on trust to a relationship built on truth, providing customers the ability to positively impact the environment with sustainable practices and securely transform their paper-based workloads to digital in a bid to remove errors and increase productivity,” Hadi added.
Tech Channel News uncovers how ZorroSign leverages blockchain’s zero-trust environment to support governments in the Gulf who are looking specifically for blockchain solutions, noting “two countries that are pushing forward are the UAE and Saudi Arabia.”
In May 2022, TahawulTech.com’s Anita Joseph interviewed Mr. Hadi on how ZorroSign not only provides digital signatures built on a blockchain architecture, but also integrates identity-as-a-service (IDaaS), biometrics, KBAs, and patented Z-Forensics token to prevent fraud and address identity theft risks.
Ms. Joseph also starts with ZorroSign’s founding in Dubai and how HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Digital City Vision for Smart Dubai has been a guiding principle for ZorroSign—including his goal of a paperless life in the UAE by 2030.
The article then talks of identity theft and how ZorroSign technologies confront the issue: “Not only does our web3 platform leverage the cryptographic security capabilities of blockchain,” said Hadi. “But it also integrates Identity-as-a-Service technologies into our solution set to combat fraud, identity theft, and cyber-attacks.”
Security trends, cybercrime, and various cyber-attacks are discussed, as well as how distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain can help defend and/or recover from such attack vectors. The article ends with ZorroSign’s plans for 2022 and early verticals benefitting from blockchain-based digital signatures.
Learn more about how ZorroSign helps governments, companies, and individuals around the world with digital signatures and maintaining privacy and security with their digital transactions: Contact us today or start your Free Trial.
Block it down! Now, you can count on regulatory compliance and the immutability of your signed documents within your stored data and workflow records on ZorroSign’s blockchain.
Z-Vault enables ZorroSign platform users to store, structure, organize and search documents in folders and subfolders natively, with the peace of mind that comes from superior privacy and security.
Digital Signatures on Blockchain
Since 2000, several technologies have come to market to deliver digital signatures, but when a distributed ledger technology—or DLT, such as blockchain—is used for digital signatures, signers gain the unique advantages of:
Privacy — with a private blockchain, only participants to the transaction can see details of the transaction, and those participants share equal access to such details
Immutability — all records and changes are tracked and cannot be changed, providing important chain-of-custody audit capabilities for courts
Security — all records are individually encrypted and distributed for better protection from phishing and ransomware attacks
ZorroSign was built from the ground up on Hyperledger Fabric to deliver digital signatures with the superior privacy and security of blockchain. And we recently announced a partnership with Provence Blockchain to add their DLT to our architecture as well, effectively becoming a multi-chain blockchain platform.
Z-Vault for Better Contract Lifecycle Management
Contract lifecycle management, or CLM, spans the entire process of generating contracts, the workflows of approving and negotiating changes to contracts, the signing (or executing) of the contracts, storing and archiving the executed contracts, plus tracking and audit trails to retrieve contracts and review their lifecycle of approvals, iterations, and signatures.
If contracts are critical to your business or organization, then a secure, reliable solution for managing the contract life cycle is imperative.
Key functionality to look for when assessing CLM solutions include visibility (a dashboard or overview of where individual contracts are in the life cycle), integration with communications and storage systems, automation (as few contracts start from scratch—most are iterations of previously created agreements), and of course change tracking to readily see how contracts changed during negotiations and what final version was executed by all parties.
ZorroSign’s platform unites and uniquely delivers:
Digital signatures via Z-Sign to quickly execute legally binding contracts
Patented Z-Forensics token to prevent fraud and tampering
Z-Flow workflow automation to quickly build templates and approval chains
Z-Verify to know exactly who signed what and when, with full validation of every document’s authenticity and immutability
Z-Vault to securely store contract and transaction records immutably on blockchain
ZorroSign’s platform can be accessed via PCs and mobile devices, allowing your legal department, operations and procurement teams, and sales teams to efficiently generate, negotiate, communicate, and sign agreements. And with our Z-Vault, contracts reside on an immutable DMS where they can be saved, searched for, and managed easily from a single, intuitive user interface.
Z-Vault Benefits
Superior privacy and security to PKI-based solutions using a centralized database
The latest privacy and security technologies, delivering powerful encryption safeguards
Ability to share and review eSign and architectural drawings, adding your own comments
Time savings with access to specific folders and documents in seconds, no loss of records
ZorroSign Privacy & Security Compliance
Our combination of security architecture and data privacy functionality ensure your compliance across many international standards for privacy and security, including:
Canada: The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
Canada: The Uniform Electronic Commerce Act (UECA)
EU: Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy and security
EU: The electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) regulation
India: The Information Technology Act 2000 (IT Act of India)
International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) No. 3402, Type II audited
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 certified
PDF Advanced Electronic Signatures (PAdES) is a set of restrictions and extensions to PDF and ISO 32000-1
UAE: Federal Law No. 1 of 2006 regarding Electronic Transactions and E-Commerce granting electronic signatures legal force and effect
USA: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) SOC 2 Type I audit
USA: California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
USA: Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) encryption standards
USA: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
USA: The Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act)
USA: FDA Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations; Electronic Records; Electronic Signatures
USA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
USA: The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
To learn more about Z-Vault and how ZorroSign can help you securely store contracts, data, and documents on blockchain, contact us today or start your 14-day Free Trial subscription!
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!
Allyson and Kristen also attended a panel showcasing the importance of digital security, with a focus on encrypted data and how easily information can be obtained from unwanted parties if you’re not keeping up with the latest security and technology. They were grateful to the enthusiastic crowd of Phoenix area business leaders who were ready to learn about ZorroSign and the other businesses exhibiting.
“It was so refreshing to attend an in-person event,” said Allyson. “The ZorroSign team looks forward to attending many more events here in Arizona in the future.”
“It was also great to meet and connect with some amazing business leaders around the valley,” added Kristen.
We thank the Phoenix Metro Chamber for hosting this fun event, and especially Jack DuChene and Phil Guinouard for their help in promoting ZorroSign to the Phoenix community!
