The facilities management department at one of the top, private U.S. universities has selected eOriginal, Inc., a leader in electronic signature, vaulted repository, and electronic transaction management solutions, for an electronic signature and repository solution to be integrated with their budget approval and workflow system.
eOriginal was selected by the university after a competitive review that focused on security, compliance, deployment, configurability, and extensibility criteria. The integrated solution spans all sections of the university and is expected to dramatically streamline budget workflow processes and ensuring compliance while also improving recordkeeping with eOriginal’s comprehensive audit trail.
The previous paper-based process was subject to frequent delays and errors slowing construction and maintenance projects. The flexibility to add, manage, and track contracts at different stages within each contract and project lifecycle significantly shortens the time between approval and project completion.
“Universities are becoming extremely aware of the benefits of electronic signatures to streamline processes,” said Mark Schneider, Vice President of Sales for eOriginal. “They are also increasingly aware of the value of using a vaulted repository for material documents to ensure legal compliance and reduce their audit exposure.”
About eOriginal. eOriginal SmartSign® enables compliance with the eSignature requirements of the ESIGN Act, UETA and the UCC. eOriginal has provided secure, verifiable, and legally enforceable electronically signed documents and transactions for financial services, insurance, government, healthcare, and education for over a decade with out a system failure or legal challenge while processing millions of transactions representing billions of dollars.
eOriginal SmartSign® has the most comprehensive digital signing process on the market however there is a great deal more to securing your digitally signed business agreements.
A digital signature can be legally binding but that is only the first component of creating a digital asset whose value must be protected in accordance with business practices and compliance with legal and regulatory statutes appropriate to the industry in which the asset will reside.
The total digital asset consists of the digital signature, the digital document to which it is associated, and how they are bound in combination to certify them as a “unique” electronic original document. Life cycle management processes that dictate their access permission, transfer rights, and a legally admissible audit trail that tracks these processes are all also included in creating a digital asset.
These “back-end” processes have important legal, business continuity and regulatory implications that become critical if the digital asset is to retain its commercial value as an electronic transaction. This is of even greater importance when it will serve as chattel or likely to be transferred on a rights basis or by location.
This is why lightweight offerings, particularly pure-play signing tools, don’t provide the full set of features such as a unique authoritative copy or the back-end functionality for life cycle management and audit trails needed to create a true digital asset. So, the obligations for development, integration, compliance and liability are placed on the client.
This is why eOriginal has placed equal emphasis on perfecting and integrating both the front-end signature process and the back-end life cycle management process. The architectural requirements to seamlessly execute these components, while meeting every regulatory statute that governs these processes, is significant and the basis for many of our patents in this field.
So by its nature, eOriginal’s SmartSign has to be more robust than even comprehensive electronic content management or document management offerings while playing nicely with them by complementing their functionality and compliance to provide a better overall system for digital assets.
eOriginal is the only esignature provider that has been certified by top ratings agencies for securitization. And, while this securitization capability is not necessary for every electronic transaction, the underlying functionality that earned such a rating is very relevant to serious businesses.
I am moving a little away from our usual format to ask a few questions and hopefully spur a little thought. I was sitting at my desk early this morning thinking about where am I going to spend New Years Eve, at one of the parties I was invited to or at home with just a few close friends waiting for the ball to drop. Then I got to thinking about all the thought and planning that goes into this one night. Many people will making plans to visits multiple parties, planning out their entire night trying to visit as many people and parties as possible and to as have much fun as possible.
This got me thinking if so many people put so much thought into one night, what if they took the same approach to improving their business processes, optimizing their sales, human resources, procurement processes, etc. What tools would you like to use or adopt, and what are you already doing that you would like to improve?
If the processes you would like to improve require approvals or authentication, electronic signatures will be a key part of the solution. Electronic signatures can help speed up many business processes, cutting costs, and time. For some, already using electronic signatures, it may mean expanding the use of esignatures by incorporating the process in other areas of their business.
So what are going to be doing in the coming year to improve your business processes? I know there are a few things we haven’t thought of, so we’d like to know what you are thinking.
Accompanying the recent feature updates we have made to SmartSign we have also added a few really great improvements to eCore. The eOriginal eCore® platform is already the most complete and secure document repository in the industry. eCore is the hub of our electronic signing solution. It allows our customers to control and track access, status, and retention policies of eSigned documents providing the most protection and complying with most strict regulatory standards.
Along with the recent enhancements we made to SmartSign our electronic signature solution, the updates we have made to eCore are all part of continued effort to provide our customers the most complete end to end eSigning solution. So to provide you with a better picture of how we are doing this, we wanted to provide you with a list of a few new changes.
Enhanced document watermark options to allow you to apply blackout settings to text fields, change the color of signature and text obscure blocks, and add custom text/labels to obscure blocks.
Extended document retention policies to allow multiple retention rules based on status.
Extended the document versioning policies to allow you to retain all versions, signature versions, executable and signature versions, executable and last signature version, or only the latest version.
Added new Document Library, which enables you to upload source documents and signature templates to auto-load and prepare documents for signature when adding a document profile to a transaction.
Added new Transaction Types. Enables you to define a template for transactions. All transactions created from this template will inherit the same initial set of documents, status values and permission sets. When combined with our new Document Library feature, Transaction Types enable you to create a transaction, auto-load documents and prepare them for signature in a single step.
These updates only highlight a few of the changes we have made over the last few weeks to make eCore even more robust and user friendly. We are dedicated to continually developing solutions that will easily integrate and complement your existing business processes and systems, so keep an eye out for even more developments in the coming new year and please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask any questions about how we may be able to help your business.
Staying in tune with the latest advances in technology, proactively seeking feedback from our clients, and staying ahead of the curve on industry developments are just a few of the ways in which we develop and enhance our application’s feature set. So in light of some great customer input, our research, and with many thanks to our awesome development team, we are pleased to announce the latest release of eCore and SmartSign 6 electronic signature solution.
I wish I could outline each and every new feature but that would make for a pretty long post and I know most of you are busy with work and getting everything ready this holiday season, so I’ll pick out a few of my favorites to highlight. Plus if you want to learn more you can always reach out and fill out one of our contacts forms or email me personally here. So lets begin:
Extended support for multimedia signatures beyond simple signature pad formats, you may now capture and bind biometric (retina scan, fingerprint) or voice signatures to your PDF documents.
Data merge for document preparation. You can now add text data to PDF forms (think document prep). For example, after you collect data through an HTML form or other internal system, you can utilize the SmartSign LinkTM web services to merge the data into your forms.
Send notifications to the sender/creator of a transaction. SmartSign already had distribution list notifications, but now all senders can be notified when a signer completes the signature and when the signature process is completed.
Enabled signers to receive “final executed copy” distribution email when all signatures have been completed.
Query for signature status through the SmartSign LinkTM web services. Instantly look up where your documents are in the esigning process.
Define routing order of email invitations to multiple signers/reviewers. This feature allows you to define the order in which users are notified to come into the signing room to complete the signature process.
Improved usability of signature Template Designer, to simplify drag and drop addition of form fields into PDF documents.
Apply appearance properties to text fields in the Template Designer (i.e. font, color, size)
Data Collection - enables you to collect data from users within SmartSign and automatically apply the data to documents in the transaction. This allows you to collect data once from the user(s) and have it applied across the document set within the transaction.
Data Validation - SmartSign Web will ensure accurate data is inserted into the text fields within the document during data collection or signature capture.
Now that you see how busy we’ve been working to build the most complete end to end signing solution you can see why we are so excited. And this is only Part 1 of our feature update series. Look for part 2 early next week where we’ll take a look at a few highlighted updates we made to eCore.
An article published in the New York Times, by Floyd Norris “Are Banks Losing Lots of Documents”, was recently brought to my attention. After reading through Norris’ thoughts and the quotes provided by those featured in the article, it got me thinking about how eOriginal’s electronic process could prevent documents from being lost or forgotten.
In Norris’ article, complaints and concerns ranged from the constant need to mail or fax every single document, to some believing documents are being lost on purpose. Norris does point out, however unlikely that it seems, it is still a common belief.
So this brings us to, how can eOriginal help your company to prevent lost or misplaced documents? The answer is in our SmartSign secure electronic signature and eVaulting applications.
After a customer is prepped and ready to sign your documents, whatever they may be, contracts, NDAs, eMortgages, loan docs, etc., our system will keep your documents in order and track and monitor every action taken against your documents, from when your documents are ready to be signed, to when the eSignature is applied, and throughout the entire lifecycle of your documents.
Our SmartSign eSign application is designed to quickly and smoothly integrate into your business process or systems. The “front end” eSigning tool allows your customers to electronically sign your documents online, allowing your team to execute contracts while they still have your customers on the phone or within minutes after they electronically receive your documents. The entire eSigning process is completed online enabling straight-through processing for your company and greater convenience for your customers. One-time or first call resolution eliminates the need to ship your documents and eliminates the chances of documents becoming lost.
After a document is eSigned, we bind your documents in a digital tamper evident seal then directly deposit your documents directly into our eVault, so there is no opportunity for your documents to get lost in transit or misplaced among other paperwork. The digital seal identifies the final executed document as the original, which is the first step we take to help protect your business agreements and ensure legal compliance.
Once a document is deposited into the “back end” eVault, its processes secure your documents, so that they retain their commercial value by adhering to important legal and regulatory standards. One component of that process that makes our eVault extremely valuable is the exceptional audit trail that follows your documents throughout their entire lifecycle. The audit trail tracks every single action that has been taken against your documents. You’ll have the ability to view and track your document’s progression, status, and complete history. Our eVault also allows you to control access to your documents. Adding another level of security, only those employees or persons with the proper credentials will be able to view and manage your documents. So. in combination with the audit trail and rights access, you’ll always know where your documents are or have been and who has had access to them, eliminating questions like, “Where are my documents?” and “Who say them last?”
Finally your documents can be easily referenced within our secure eVault. Reference identifiers that you define allow you to more quickly query and find the documents you need. No longer will you have to thumb through file after file looking for a document that may have been misplaced; a quick search in our system will be all you need to complete your search.
Rio Queen Citrus, Inc. Selects eOriginal SmartSign® for Employee Onboarding
BALTIMORE, MD (Vocus/PRWEB), December 9, 2009 - eOriginal Inc., a leader in electronic signature, evaulting and electronic transaction solutions, was instrumental in the Rio Queen Citrus streamlined hiring process that can cover up to 1,700 annual hires.
The integrated multilingual onboarding solution uses straight-through processing enabled by eOriginal SmartSign® Web which auto-populates four human resource workflows for electronic signatures on employment documents including I-9 and W-4, and company policy forms, then vaults a digitally-sealed, tamper-proof record that maintains the integrity, confidentiality and life cycle management of Rio Queen Citrus HR records.
“Processing hire documents through eOriginal SmartSign® has definitely streamlined the workflow. Our human resources and payroll departments across various locations now have instant hire information,” said Sandy Silva, Director of Human Resources for Rio Queen Citrus. “Our endless stacks of employee hire documents have disappeared and not only have we eliminated paper, we can now easily and instantaneously retrieve employee documents within our electronic vault.”
“SmartSign Web was designed for easy integration into our customers’ workflow so they can realize the full benefits of automation,” said Bryan Caporlette, eOriginal’s Chief Technology Officer. “The ultimate goal is not just to speed up the process, but to complete it in a single step that complies with business and regulatory requirements.”
About Rio Queen Citrus, Inc.
For over 39 years, Rio Queen Citrus, Inc. has been growing, packing and marketing citrus. This third generation, family-owned business has expanded from a 20-acre citrus grove in Mission, Texas to the present-day management of over 5,000 acres of citrus and 1,150 acres of onions across the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. For additional information about Rio Queen Citrus, go to www.rioqueencitrus.com, email sales@rioqueencitrus.com or call 956-205-7300.
About eOriginal
eOriginal provides advanced electronic signature, vaulting and electronic transaction solutions which are tamper-sealed, auditable and legally enforceable. eOriginal SmartSign® enables compliance with the eSignature requirements of the ESIGN Act, UETA and the UCC. eOriginal has provided secure, verifiable execution, delivery and management of commercial loans, leases and other financial industry documentation for over a decade. eOriginal customers, including top-tier financial institutions, have processed millions of electronic signatures on millions of documents without a single system error or legal challenge.
To learn how eOriginal can streamline your business processes, visit www.eoriginal.com or call 410 895-7699. Subscribe to the eOriginal blog at blog.eoriginal.com. Follow eOriginal on Twitter at @eOriginal.
Empire National Bank Selects eOriginal SmartSign® Web
BALTIMORE, MD (Vocus/PRWEB), December 2, 2009 - As part of it’s drive to deliver next generation banking services, an innovative Long Island bank is eliminating the need for attorneys to go to their branches to open and close escrow accounts by delivering the process, including electronic signatures, over a secure website.
Empire National Bank (OTC Bulletin Board: EMPK) is using eOriginal SmartSign®Web to enable authorized law firm representatives to execute W9, Power of Attorney, Master Agreements and other documents directly from their offices.
“The current paper based processes are inconvenient and time consuming, requiring excessive travel by lawyers to the branches,” said John Pinna, Chief Information Officer. “This inefficient process has often extended the time to complete a transaction or establish a client escrow account and does not provide the type of high-touch personal customer service our customers have come to expect from us.”
“Accelerating electronic business services with straight through processing is a time and money saving win for the attorneys and the bank who can now provide a faster turnaround for their customers, said Bryan Caporlette, eOriginal’s Chief Technology Officer.” We designed SmartSign so that they can deliver a seamless integration and customer experience while ensuring legal compliance with both E-SIGN and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA)
About Empire National Bank
Empire National Bank is a full-service community business bank dedicated to serving the privately owned small to mid-sized businesses, professional practices, not-for-profit organizations as well as Long Island’s local residents. The Bank serves businesses and consumers with a full complement of deposit, loan and cash management products.
As Long Island’s “Next Generation Bank”, we pride ourselves on providing personal customer service that will exceed our customers’ expectations, while using technology at the highest level available to us. All of our products and services are delivered with a sense of urgency in the local communities that we serve, while offering all of the products and services necessary to conduct banking competitively, efficiently, safely, and securely in today’s fast-paced business environment said Douglas C Manditch, Empire National Banks Chairman and CEO. The Bank presently has branches in Islandia, Shirley and Port Jefferson Station and plans to open a fourth location in Garden City in 2010.
About eOriginal Inc.
eOriginal provides advanced electronic signature, vaulting and electronic transaction solutions which are tamper-sealed, auditable and legally enforceable. eOriginal SmartSign® enables compliance with the eSignature requirements of the ESIGN Act, UETA and the UCC. eOriginal has provided secure, verifiable execution, delivery and management of commercial loans, leases and other financial industry documentation for over a decade. eOriginal customers, including top-tier financial institutions, have processed millions electronic signatures on millions of documents without a single system error or legal challenge.
To learn how eOriginal can streamline your business processes, visit www.eoriginal.com or call (410) 895-7699. Follow eOriginal on Twitter @eOriginal.
As the holiday season is quickly approaching, the American business community is waiting to see how much consumer spending will happen to spur the economy. While the amount of consumer spending is in question, one outcome is generally considered gospel-consumers are shopping around for the best deals more than ever and their primary tool is the web, shopping online comparing prices between stores, delivery options and looking for the right gift, deal, or idea. When they do find what they want they move directly to payment and arranging shipping.
And, because business people are consumers too, they get frustrated when they can’t have the same experience in their business life. While many of their business processes have been highly automated, the final steps of executing a contract or gaining formal approval degenerates into time consuming, expensive starts and stops as they have to revert to mailing, faxing or express shipping paper to get signoffs.
So, while I was thinking what to get all my family and friends this holiday, looking at what they do, need, or what would just make things a little easier, all this personal shopping led me to ask myself the question, “What are businesses doing this holiday season to give themselves and their customers the same convenience they get in their personal life?
Adding electronic signatures into a company’s business process will be “the gift that keeps on giving”. As over-used as that statement may be, electronic signatures will keep giving back to your company throughout the year by improving efficiencies, saving money, and allowing your team to close more deals faster. Your sales team will be able to get documents delivered, signed, and returned in hours or minutes, instead of days or weeks.
eOriginal’s SmartSign solutions will greatly reduce or eliminate shipping and storage costs since the entire process is completed online and documents automatically stored in our secure eVault. Plus, as an added bonus, all documents can be easily referenced for a quick find. I’m sure those responsible will love not having to flip through file after file, a gift within itself for anyone whoever has ever had to flip through hundreds of documents.
Not only will electronic signatures be a great gift for your company to implement, but an equally great present for your customers. Because your customers will be able to electronically sign your documents almost immediately, they’ll be able to quickly take advantage or your products and services, improving on customer service and satisfaction.
So all you Project Managers, Business Analysts, CEOs, CIOs, IT managers, and every other person looking to give your business that extra edge, you may want to ask how eOriginal® can bring some holiday cheer to your business by talking with us about our SmartSign products and services.
As more mortgage and real estate brokerages, lenders, title and real estate agents migrate to electronic mortgages, it is extremely valuable for them to understand and be articulate about the legal compliance requirements and the protections afforded the participants in an electronic mortgage process. eOriginal, already fully compliant, has addressed the issues within the mortgage industry including recent amendments to the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) known as the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act of 2008 (MDIA) and the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) for the creation, execution, transfer and storage of electronic mortgages.
To provide our readers and those in the mortgage industry with more resources and a better understanding of the legal framework regarding eMortgages, we wanted to pass along this excellent presentation by Margo Tank Esq., a Partner at BuckleySandler, LLP . Ms Tank is an expert in compliance within the mortgage industry and the regulations governing electronic financial services transactions. The presentation outlines the legal requirements for electronic signatures and records specifically within the mortgage industry, including establishing control of Transferable Records for securitization and sale on the secondary market.
eOriginal would like to thank Margo Tank for allowing the use of her presentation. Note: An eMortgage is an electronic mortgage where the loan documentation is created, executed, transferred and stored electronically.
