Archive for August, 2010

Poll: Have you joined the digital signatures trend?

Monday, August 30th, 2010

If you’ve been following this blog, then you’ve hopefully gained a good understanding of the types of benefits your business can experience from digital signatures. Among them are expedited business processes, reduced organizational costs, and improved collaboration and efficiency. Perhaps you’re at the stage of learning about digital signatures and considering whether your organization should implement them. Or, maybe you’re already using digital signatures and you’re discovering more ways to put this time- and cost-saving technology to use.

In this post, I’m interested in hearing from you. Has your organization implemented electronic or digital signatures? Make your vote in the poll below and let me know!

Digitally Sign Away Your Printer Problems and Paper Jams

Friday, August 20th, 2010

In a previous post entitled “Are you in on the digital signature 4-1-1?” I shared a first-of-its-kind research called Digital Signatures for Document Workflow and SharePoint. The study, conducted by AIIM (a leading authority in the field of document management and workflow automation), revolves around the uses and benefits of digital signatures as perceived by non-users and as experienced by actual digital signature users. One of the areas AIIM explored was: of all the documents you print out, how many are printed solely for the purpose of obtaining signature approvals?

Considering the documents that are printed out as part of your formal approval processes, what proportion would you say are printed for the purpose of adding one or more signatures? (N=290 non-users)

As you can see from the results above, in 42% of organizations without digital signature solutions, three-quarters or more of printed documents are printed only for adding signatures. Imagine what not needing to print these documents could mean for these and similar organizations and their business processes – considering the price of paper and of routing documents to the appropriate signers, and adding that to the amount of time it takes employees to fulfill this process – that’s a heavy handful that digital signatures can completely eliminate. Download the AIIM study for free and find out how organizations use digital signatures to avoid this type of problem, and enjoy added benefits along the way.

Digital Signatures Enhance Organizational Web Portals

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

These days, there are endless ways to take advantage of the vast capabilities the internet offers. One of the more interesting uses that organizations are adopting is external-facing web portals, which provide a secured area over the internet where internal employees and external partners, collaborators, clients, etc. can connect and manage documentation and other information.

A case study on Duke Realty’s use of digital signatures highlights how one of the largest owners, managers and developers of commercial real estate in the United States enhanced their web portal with digital signatures to increase collaboration and employee satisfaction. By doing so, they eliminated the need to print and route documents solely for the purpose of obtaining approvals (as well as the delays this process typically incurs), and enabled internal and external employees and collaborators to quickly, easily and securely sign off on documents online. Can you imagine how thrilled external collaborators were with the new capability to submit forms like payment applications so easily?

Check out the Duke Realty case study to learn more about how digital signatures can enhance organizational web portals.

Digital Signatures – Designing a New Kind of Engineering

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

What happens when engineering documentation and drawings are submitted and approved more quickly than ever? Clients are happier, houses and buildings go up faster, and new places to live, work and play are available sooner. With digital signatures, this reality is within reach.

A recent press release entitled Digital Signatures Raise the Bar in Engineering Service Quality explores the ways that engineering firm Star Building Systems’ commitment to innovation drove their adoption of digital signatures, which generated measurable organizational improvements including greater efficiency and improved customer service. A leading manufacturer of custom designed metal building systems, Star’s use of digital signatures enables their engineers to provide approved drawings within minutes instead of days. Digital signatures also make it possible for Star Building Systems to embrace electronic submissions, which are gaining popularity in the engineering industry. Read more about how digital signatures bring innovation to engineering at Star Building Systems.