http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB118341662407555908.html
The Wall Street Journal
Signing Up for E-Signatures
More Companies Are Using New Technology to Cut Costs -- and Fraud
By REBECCA BUCKMAN
July 3, 2007; Page A9
Seven years ago, after Congress validated "electronic signatures" in a new
law, John Crowley tested the technology with an eye toward using it at his
mortgage- and banking-services company. He quickly decided it wouldn't work.
The software for computerizing pen-and-ink signatures on contracts,
mortgages and other important documents was too complicated for most people
to use, said Mr. Crowley, now chief information officer of Fidelity
National Financial Inc., a Jacksonville, Fla., surety and title-insurance
company. The software involved multiple steps and high-tech "digital
certificate" software that people had to download to their computers for
extra security, he said.
A lot has changed. Today, small companies such as Seattle's DocuSign Inc.,
Sertifi Inc. of Chicago and EchoSign Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., have
launched Internet-based technology that makes signing contracts on a
computer simpler and more user-friendly, often involving fewer clicks than
buying a book or a pair of pants online. E-signature products also have
gained legitimacy as they have withstood legal challenges, giving
executives more confidence that contracts signed online are just as binding
as pen-and-ink ones, said executives at companies that are using the
technology now.
It all convinced Mr. Crowley to give e-signatures another try. In a few
weeks, Fidelity National will start using e-signatures in a pilot with a
major mortgage lender. The lender will let people refinancing their
mortgages sign a power-of-attorney document online with DocuSign, speeding
up the process and possibly cutting paper and postage costs. Mr. Crowley
also hopes the effort will help his company to reduce mortgage fraud, since
people who use it have to answer multiple security questions before they
are allowed to view and sign the documents online.
"To the extent [these] technologies can help us take [fraud] out of the
mix, we are all over it," he said. Other DocuSign customers include
Microsoft Corp., which said it is using e-signatures to complete thousands
of contracts a month online, and mortgage company First Magnus Financial
Corp. in Tucson, Ariz.
The main draw of the new e-signature services is cost savings and
convenience. Instead of sending one contract back and forth between parties
via fax or overnight mail so that everyone can physically sign one original
document, e-signatures allow the whole process to be done online. At First
Magnus's lender-services arm, for instance, the company is using DocuSign
to streamline insurance-policy processing and has cut transaction costs by
58% in the last year, resulting in tens of thousands in dollars of savings
a year, said Jeff Arnold, the president of First Magnus Lender Services.
The new, Web-based e-signature services aren't as complicated to use
because they don't require people to download special "digital
certificates" from companies such as VeriSign Inc., which help authenticate
Internet transactions and continue to be used in many industries. Some
doubters want more proof that the new hosted Internet services are as
secure as the older technology. Technology researcher Gartner Inc.
estimates that through 2010, 75% of organizations required to use
electronic signatures will choose "low cost, low technology" solutions
instead of more complicated technology.
Companies considering e-signatures face a dizzying array of product choices
in a fragmented and sometimes confusing market. With the hosted service
sites, companies such as DocuSign allow customers to post documents on a
secure Web site and send parties there to "sign" them electronically.
(After answering several questions to receive a password, people use a
computer mouse to click on a signature line, flagged with computerized
yellow sticky notes. A cursive-style imprint of their name appears on the
line.) Users can even select their favorite font for the lettering.
Other more established companies, such as Montreal's Silanis Technology
Inc. sell e-signing software that companies can download directly onto
their computers, although it also offers Web-based products. Interlink
Electronics Inc., of Camarillo, Calif., makes software as well as
electronic signature pads, such as those many big retailers use for
credit-card purchase.
EOriginal Inc., of Baltimore, touts itself as an "e-vaulting" vendor: It
works with companies such as DocuSign, Sertifi and Interlink to digitally
archive signed documents and create document audit trails. That is
important should contracts ever be challenged.
Concerns linger about the security and long-term storage of electronic
documents, said Kristen Noakes-Fry, an analyst with Gartner. But, she adds,
"I'm very optimistic about the market myself."
With DocuSign's e-signature product, the process starts when one party to a
contract or other agreement gets an email saying they have documents to be
signed. To sign, the user needs to register for DocuSign's service, a
process that involves going to the Web site and getting a password. The
company asks several security questions, such as listing recent addresses,
which it can check against available data, such as motor-vehicle records.
Once the registered user clicks on a link in their email, they are taken to
a DocuSign Web site to view the documents they need to sign. They click in
the right places and then send the documents -- in Adobe Systems Inc.'s PDF
format -- back to DocuSign for storage and archiving. DocuSign charges
customers based on the volume of signatures they process. The service is
priced per "envelope," usually $3 to $5 an envelope for big companies, a
price that is far cheaper than an overnight package, DocuSign said.
DocuSign said it has processed more than three million online signatures
since it was founded four years ago and is on track for transactions to
increase 400% this year.
Some companies are using the technology for outbound sales and marketing
calls: First Magnus Lender Services said it uses DocuSign to "freeze"
customers when it gets them on the telephone to discuss insurance. If a
person tells the First Magnus phone marketer that they are interested in an
insurance policy, the marketer can ask them to go online as they are
talking on the phone and walk them through the sign-up process within
minutes. First Magnus's Mr. Arnold said his company has increased the
number of policies sold by 24% since it started using DocuSign in this
manner.
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R. A. Hettinga