SmartSign Web’s enterprise grade electronic signature service has been deployed by many organizations across multiple industries. With the introduction of our new Basic and Advanced signature packages, we have extended our ability to satisfy any organization, from the single-person enterprise and small-medium sized business to a large enterprise deployment. We recognize that a one-size fits all solution isn’t going to accommodate every business processes, so our new Basic and Advanced packages offer customers additional flexibility in selecting the service that best fits their business process.
SmartSign continues to offer the most flexibility and configurability to integrate into your business processes, regardless of size, complexity or budget. Our multiple deployment methods and advanced features are designed to provide our customers a scalable solution that can cuts costs and help businesses grow. If you would like to learn more about creating an individual plan for your company please contact us.
In the upcoming June Aberdeen Research report that surveyed 441 firms, the research looked at the effect of using electronic signatures to shorten sales cycles. Higher performing companies that used electronic signatures in their sales and contracting process saw improvements implementing tools like those provided by eOriginal.
The year-over-year sales performance survey demonstrated that a significant percentage of respondents using electronic signatures to automate their processes had improved their customer renewal rate, reduced errors in the proposal process, and have shortened their sales cycles. The study shows what many of eOriginal’s clients have been experiencing since implementing our electronic signature software. As noted in the report, “sales teams adopting electronic signature technologies recognize this relatively straight-forward premise and as are yielding better business results as a consequence of their investment”.
For more information and reports provided by the Aberdeen Group, please visit their website www.aberdeen.com or call 617.854.5200
Innovative approach dramatically streamlines application origination using voice and electronic signatures.
BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB), April 12, 2010 – eOriginal Inc, a leader in electronic signatures, vaulted repository and electronic transaction solutions, has partnered with Heritage Union, an innovative provider of income protection life insurance plans under the brand name SalaryShield®.
Heritage Union, an early adopter of voice and electronic signature, found itself in a unique position when their vendor decided to pull back to their core business and phase out of the life insurance business. They had more than adequate service in the interim and time to find the best available electronic and voice signature service provider.
They wanted a vendor that had a “bullet-proof” process of binding a voice or electronic signature to the application document on a single platform. And they required a managed repository for their application documents, providing a lifecycle management process that would satisfy both audit and legal scrutiny, as well as provide a means of non-repudiation.
“We looked at a broad range of vendors before determining that eOriginal was the only one that met our criteria of 1) a single vendor to support both voice and electronic signature on a single platform 2) ability to deliver the total process we needed 3) a repository that was very robust and would deliver the highest standard of perpetual care,” said Sean Gorenflo, Heritage Union’s director of infrastructure.
“Heritage Union is a great example of a fast-growing company that has used innovation to craft their offerings, take them to market and manage their operations,” added Jim Tebay, eOriginal’s VP of Business Development. “Our signature processing treats their voiceprints like any other compliant esignature; and it is a natural fit for many call center operations that want to use our technology for straight-through processing.”
About Heritage Union
Founded in 2005 by financial services executives who experienced first-hand the intrusive, overly complex and frustrating nature of obtaining life insurance, the Richmond, Va.-based Heritage Union family of companies designs life insurance products aimed specifically at helping middle class American families protect their income in the face of premature death. Licensed, well-capitalized and staffed by industry professionals who recognize that shopping for life insurance should not require a crystal ball or MBA, Heritage Union is transforming an industry with new, innovative income-protection life products under the SalaryShield brand that are easy to buy, affordable and understandable. For more information about SalaryShield, visit www.salaryshield.com.
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 successful legal challenge.
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.
What makes a successful business in today’s world? I have spent countless nights asking myself this very question. From front-line salespeople to high-level executives, businesses around the world are actively trying to embrace new technology in hopes that they can streamline their processes and become more efficient using fewer resources.
Using electronic signatures and eOriginal’s Smartsign solutions; businesses are able to simplify, speed up and streamline their entire business process enabling straight-through processing that saves time and money. Simplicity is the key to quickly implementing electronic signing into your current process enabling your organization to see the benefits and savings right away. This is how it works;
Step 2: Your Customers eSign (electronically signing your documents is a simple, fast and EASY process for your client/signer)
Step 3: Receive a signed, legally enforceable document within minutes (that’s right-it’s DONE!)
eOriginal Smartsign® Web simplifies electronic signatures, providing a fast and easy way to decrease closing time and increase revenue. Many businesses are already taking advantage of this unique, competitive advantage by completing processes in minutes that would normally take days or even weeks. If that’s not convincing enough for you, by the time you have finished reading this article, eOriginal could have already assisted you in having dozens of documents signed, sealed and delivered. For more information please contact us.
With Labor Day here and schools across the country opening their doors to students, many people have once again begun to concern themselves with what steps they can take to reduce their exposure to the swine flu, or H1N1 virus. So many young people gathered in such cramped quarters for extended periods of time makes school officials understandably nervous about the potential spreading of this virus. Parents too are concerned that their children may be exposed to H1N1 at the same time that the usual flu season is upon us. However, the potential effects of H1N1 are not limited to schools and universities. The office workplace shares many of the same characteristics; people who spend several hours in close proximity to one another who then return home to further close interaction and extended time with their families. In fact, the potential for disruptions in the workplace is actually greater because workers who have school-age children may be forced to stay at home with children who are infected. One report from the state of Florida suggested that businesses would have to find ways to cope with a rise in absenteeism among workers who have children that become infected. Some of the ideas floated were an increased reliance on tele-commuting for those whose primary work is done on a PC, more organized flex-time arrangements to accommodate those whose physical presence is required at their workplace, and the adoption and implementation of paperless business processes wherever possible.
There are two primary reasons for the electronic or paperless initiative. The first dovetails with the increased reliance on tele-commuting; simply stated, that documents that can be securely sent, reviewed and signed regardless of the geographical location of the other entities involved makes it possible for those who are infected with swine flu or have family members that are infected to stay home and still remain productive .It may also serve to keep that worker, who is now at a higher risk of contracting H1N1 themselves, away from the office and to possibly avoid passing the virus on to other co-workers. The second reason is less understood but far more important.
The length of time that the flu can usually survive outside the body on an environmental surface, such as a doorknob or automobile latch can vary widely, but the widely accepted range is from a few minutes to perhaps two full days – depending on the specific strain of virus and the type of surface. Flu viruses tend to live longer on surfaces than standard cold viruses do, and it is generally believed that the H1N1 may mutate, allowing it to live even longer than previously thought. One study suggests that in laboratory conditions, flu virus can survive for up to two weeks or more on paper. Quoting from that article, Dr. Yves Thomas and other colleagues at the Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland dripped multiple strains of flu virus – including some that were circulating during winter 2007 – onto Swiss banknotes and left them at room temperature for varying amounts of time previously testing for live virus. Some strains of flu lasted only two hours, but some lasted up to 72 hours. However, all the strains lasted longer when they were dripped onto the notes along with human nasal mucus. Some lasted as long as 17 days. One strain that lasted only two hours on its own lasted 24 hours in mucus. “I’m surprised the virus persisted so long,” says Graeme Laver, an expert in the spread of bird flu, formerly of the Australian National University in Canberra. But the flu virus likes wet environments – and mucus is ideal because it is designed to retain water.
eOriginal offers improved workflow and security and can eliminate the need for paper processes. The electronic process is completely secure and will help to streamline your business processes. As long as a signer has internet access, your documents can be signed, secured, and managed online allowing you to execute your business transactions from anywhere, anytime. We can also assist in eliminating missing signatures and incomplete documents. Your internal or external customers cannot complete the signing process without documents being properly signed. This can also reduce or eliminate the need to ship or re-ship documents and reduces the need for multiple employees, couriers, and signers to physically handle documents.
eOrignal’s electronic signature solutions can reduce the amount of paper that travels through your office that needs to be physically handled throughout your business process and, as added benefit with the reduction of paper, your employees may remain healthier throughout the flu season. As President Obama said about H1N1 in a recent speech to the National Institutes of Health, “We want to make sure we are not promoting panic. but we are promoting vigilance and preparation.” Good preparation and a willingness to act before a problem strikes are hallmarks of great companies and institutions. Please feel free to contact us to ask how eOriginal can help you with your electronic business initiative.
Recent congressional amendments to Truth in Lending Act (TILA) known as the Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act of 2008 (MDIA) have been included in a final rule amending Federal Reserve Regulation Z. Known as the “3/7/3 Rule”, these amendments went into effect July 30, 2009 and have a significant compliance impact on the operations of home loan lenders, mortgage and real estate brokerages, title and real estate agents, and others in the loan process. The new 3/7/3 Rule provides consumers defined time periods to review disclosures from their lenders. While the amendments provide additional protections to the consumer, they may postpone their closing date and the ability to receive funding for their mortgage on the day they originally planned for closing.
3 Days – Delivery of the initial TILA disclosure.
The initial Truth in Lending Statement must be delivered to the consumer/borrower within 3 business days of the receipt of the loan application by the lender. The TILA statement is presumed to be delivered to the consumer 3 business days after it is mailed to the consumer.
Faster Delivery. The Rule allows for delivery of the TILA statement by electronic communication or e-mail under the requirements of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (”E-Sign Act”), 15U.S.C. 7001 et seq., provided that the lender can provide “evidence of receipt” of the mortgage loan disclosure by the consumer. eOriginal SmartSign® Web electronic signature and vaulting solution enables lenders to reduce the delivery time from 3 days to the same day by electronically delivering the mortgage loan disclosures in real time and capturing evidence of receipt by the consumer.
Quicker Fee Collection. For the lender, the Rule prohibits collection of any fee, including those for applications or appraisals, other than a bona fide credit report fee reasonable in amount, until the initial TILA disclosure is delivered to the consumer. However, lenders “may impose such fees anytime after the consumer actuallyreceives the early mortgage loan disclosure”. By enabling lenders to deliver the initial TILA disclosure as soon as it is available, eOriginal SmartSign® Web digital signature and valuting accelerates the ability of lenders to collect the fees necessary to actually begin the loan approval and closing process. e.g., appraisals, surveys, reports, etc. even to the same day as the application.
7 days from Initial Disclosure – Mortgage Closing Waiting Period.
The Rule prohibits the lender and consumer from closing or settling on the mortgage loan transaction until 7 business days after the delivery or mailing of the TILA disclosures, including the Good Faith Estimate and disclosure of the final Annual Percentage Rate (APR), even when all parties are prepared and desire to do so.
Quicker Closing. Surpassing the presumption of delivery of the disclosures 3 days after mailing, eOriginal SmartSign® Web again accelerates the ability to close by enabling lenders to deliver the initial TILA disclosure as soon as it is available,
3 Days prior to Mortgage Closing – APR Waiting Period.
The Rule also requires the lender to provide the consumer with an accurate APR at least 3 business days before closing. This applies when the APR changes more than .125% from the APR previously disclosed. If the APR changes again in the 3 day period more than the .125%, another delivery of disclosure and 3 day waiting period begins.
Quicker APR Cure. Again surpassing the presumption of delivery of the redisclosures 3 days after mailing, eOriginal SmartSign® Web accelerates the ability to close by enabling lenders to deliver the TILA redisclosure as soon as it is available,
Mortgage Closing Costs Savings Beyond Just Quick.
Shortening the distance from application to closing, electronic transmission and delivery of disclosures streamlines the workflow process, assuring both the consumer and the lender of the timeliest closing. Of course, there are dramatic benefits to electronic delivery of the disclosure documents in addition to the ability to reduce the time lines. There are cost and expense reductions from the preparing and copying the disclosures, the mailing or overnight courier fees, the cost of staff for tracking and follow up of the delivery and possible fines that may accrue for delayed closings.
There are different twists in the application of the MDIA depending on the type of financing being considered, e.g., closed end home mortgages or home equity lines of credit, and there are many compliance aspects to consider in addition to the delivery of disclosures. eOriginal provides solutions to assist in compliance with the delivery thresholds so as to enable the commencement of the mortgage loan process as soon possible and to assure that delivery requirements will not delay mortgage closing any longer than possible under the Rule. eOriginal SmartSign® Web enables compliance with the eSignature requirements of the E-SIGN Act and provides the “evidence of receipt” of the mortgage loan disclosure by the consumer required by MDIA. eOriginal has enabled the secure, verifiable delivery of mortgage and other financial industry documentation for over a decade.
Baltimore, MD (Vocus/PRWEB) – August 6, 2009 -eOriginal, Inc., a leader in enabling end-to-end paperless transactions, announced today that Pioneer Services, the Military Banking Division of MidCountry Bank, has joined eOriginal’s high-level financial institution client list and is using the electronic signature and vaulting solution of SmartSign® Web and eCore® On Demand. Transactions for Pioneer Services will now be executed electronically and managed throughout their lifecycle within the eCore® electronic vault.
“eOriginal’s electronic signature solutions go beyond document generation and basic electronic signatures” said, Samantha Moritz, eOriginal’s director of sales and marketing. “In addition to electronically signing each loan transaction, eOriginal ensures that each signed document is authenticated and protected using digital signatures to create tamper-evident seals around all documents placed under the control of the electronic vault. Important documents may be maintained in an authenticated electronic format for their full legal life.”
Once the contracts are electronically signed, eOriginal’s vaulting technology creates a digitally sealed audit trail for the complete lifecycle of each deposited document. This secure audit trail provides the highest level of non-repudiation of the evidentiary record for events such as access, signing, reuse, print, or view requests by any user or external system. Actions affecting admissibility or enforceability including new versions, additional electronic signatures, assignment, and custody transfers – are tracked and permanently recorded in the audit trail.
The resulting document is a legal, tamper-proof eContract that eliminates the need for any physical paper processing. The eContracts are true electronic finance documents that are tamper-evident, auditable, legally enforceable, admissible, and negotiable. eOriginal electronic signature and vaulting solutions are also compliant with ESIGN, UETA and UCC Revised Article 9-105.
For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release (or for a demonstration), contact John Jacobs at 410-625-5149, or visit www.eoriginal.com.
About eOriginal
eOriginal, Inc. provides advanced electronic signature and vaulting solutions which enable organizations to eliminate paper while legally protecting their assets as Electronic Original® documents are managed and transitioned throughout their lifecycle. eOriginal technology and processes create legally binding electronic signatures and electronic documents that are tamper-evident, auditable and legally enforceable. eOriginal technology provides compliance for managing electronic signatures and transferable records under E-Sign, UETA and the UCC. eOriginal customers, including top-tier financial institutions, have processed more than 5 million electronic signatures on documents without a single system error or legal challenge.
About Pioneer Services
Pioneer Services, the Military Banking Division of MidCountry Bank, provides financial services and award-winning education to members of the Armed Forces. For more than 20 years, Pioneer Services has been a leader in military lending, offering military loans and award-winning financial education programs through a network of offices and on the Internet. Pioneer Services is proud to support military families and communities through a variety of partnerships, programs, and sponsorships. For more information, visit PioneerServices.com.
If you are reading this article, you are probably looking to improve workflow, increase productivity and cut costs. Most likely, you are evaluating electronic signature products as one means to achieve this goal. With the plethora of electronic signing vendors available, how do you know which one is right for you? Most importantly, how do you know when you need more than just an eSignature?
Let’s start with a simple definition of an eSignatures. An electronic signature, by definition of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), is any “electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.” That’s a broad definition, leading to a wide variety of electronic signature solutions ranging from clicking an ‘I Agree’ button, embedding an image or text that describes the signer, to embedding a digitized version of a hand-written signature (often referred to as a biometric signature) and anything in between.
Each of these eSignature approaches are valid methods of electronic signing. Which approach is right for you depends on a variety of factors:
How closely do you need or want to mirror the paper signing process (very often a comfort factor for your signers)?
Do you need to capture signatures on specific areas within your documents?
Will your signers be signing at a point of presence facility or will they need to sign remotely anywhere, anytime?
Once you have identified the eSigning approach that meets your needs, you need to ask yourself one more question – is eSigning enough?
Sometimes an esignature alone is ample; however, very often, it is not. An eSignature process alone will not protect against scenarios in which signers may execute multiple versions of the same document or generate multiple, indistinguishable copies creating confusion as to which one is the original opening the door for possible fraud. An eSignature process does not address the management and control of the electronically signed document throughout its lifecycle nor will it address the ability to electronically securitize or assign the document if necessary…but an Electronic Original® process will.
An Electronic Original process not only offers full electronic signing capabilities, but it also manages the electronically signed document in a secure repository, or electronic vault, establishing control and uniqueness of the electronically signed document. To further secure the document, it is digitally sealed, making content and signature revisions readily identifiable. Access to the vaulted document is controlled and all activities are recorded in a sealed audit trail. Furthermore, Electronic Original documents may represent electronic chattel and are rated the same as paper chattel and may be electronically securitized or assigned.
To learn more about the Electronic Original process and whether it is right for you, check out The Electronic Original Company®, our knowledgeable staff can help you determine if you need more than eSigning.
We are excited to announce the release of our latest version of the eCore product suite, which includes a completely redesigned user interface (Command Center) to interact with your signed Electronic Original documents. Also included in this release is a new version of our SmartSign electronic signature software.
Some of the highlights of the release include:
Sophisticated transaction and document searching. Command Center now allows users to locate information faster through new search screens. These screens allow users to locate their transactions or documents by name, creation date, status, or the customers own unique identifier. Users are also provided with customized search parameters that can be mapped to their internal systems. Users also have access to a directed search function to upload lists for rapidly finding items within the secure repository.
Batch system processing. Command Center has been enhanced to enable batch processing of any collection of transactions and documents managed within eCore. Users can now easily perform actions such as transfer, edit, update status, print, export, and destruction of collections of transactions or documents. All pending batch actions are easily identified within the user interface, and the role-based permission system enables organizations to easily delegate responsibilities across user groups within their company.
Enhanced Control of Transferable Records Transactions. eOriginal has enhanced the eCore contract lifecycle management and transferable records automation functionality. Customers may now define complex business rules to be used during a transfer of ownership. eCore offers unparalleled flexibility to controllers of documents during the transfer process. Users can select individual documents, or sets of documents, within a transaction and assign individual retention policies on each document to be transferred. Assignment of documents has been greatly simplified, whether using the Command Center user interface or through embedding eCore in the user’s application using our published web services interfaces.
Integrated Electronic Signatures. The eOriginal SmartSign® electronic signature component of eCore has been enhanced to enable rapid integration and deployment within web applications. SmartSign™ signature templates automatically create executable, “ready for signature” documents. The system enables users to upload documents from a local or networked file system, set or change document sort orders, sent email invitations and track progress throughout the process.
SmartSign captures the entire signature process from document generation through the capture of all signatures. The solution complies with the rules of state and federal statues for consent and signature capture, logging each step in a detailed audit trail. Our server-side signing process ensures a trusted “closed system” that has been approved by customer internal and third-party legal counsel. Signed documents are automatically tamper-sealed by eCore in the integrated document compliance repository. Signers are able to save or print a copy of their signed documents, and customers can receive a notification email with a watermarked electronic copy of the signed document – which can be also be routed for inclusion in existing imaging, back-office archival or servicing systems.
Pioneer Financial Services, the military banking division of MidCountry Bank, has provided over 1.3 million personal... Read Our Featured Success Stories ›
Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation (NMAC), including its Infiniti Financial Services (IFS) division, is the automotive... Read Our Featured Success Stories ›
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