EDGAR Online: Reducing Risk with Electronic Signatures and DocuSign for Salesforce

Since the mid-1990s, EDGAR® Online has provided analysts and investors US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulatory documents at an affordable price. As the first company in the US to distribute real-time SEC filings via the internet, EDGAR Online provides one of the most detailed US fundamental data sets in the world and is the leader in eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) analysis and compliance tools.

EDGAR Online’s Business Challenge

Contracting for these unique online services involved mailing paper contracts, a process which often took days to complete as well as required EDGAR Online’s sales representatives to spend an inordinate amount of time following up regarding the paperwork. According to Tressa Morgan, sales operations database and client support manager:

We would mail a contract out, and there was no way to know if the customer actually got it, opened it and signed it.

The Solution? DocuSign for Salesforce

With an easy to use customer interface and seamless integration capabilities with Salesforce, DocuSign was the natural choice for EDGAR Online’s e-signature solution.

DocuSign Provides:

• Same protections as a traditional handwritten signature
• Unique signature for each user, only accessible after correctly answering a series of authentication questions
• Encryption capabilities so only approved users can sign and read the documents
• Audit trail of any actions taken within the document process
• Real-time tracking of documents within the sales process

The Results for EDGAR Online

By reducing EDGAR Online’s time to close from one to two weeks to fewer than 48 hours, DocuSign has allowed EDGAR Online to:

• Reduce signing process of contracts from weeks to fewer than 48 hours
• Deploy electronic signature with no additional IT investment
• Integrate with Salesforce to streamline contract workflows and provide real-time tracking and visibility into the signing process
• Realize greater efficiencies for sales staff with custom DocuSign templates

EDGAR Online’s Tessa Morgan said:

I’ve sampled some of the other services, and looking at the contract, the signature is just not as official. We wanted something that, if you had to go to court over the contract, it would stand up as an official signature.

Electronic signature enables EDGAR Online to close contracts faster and only DocuSign for Salesforce offers granular administrative controls to customize contract templates with access and privilege rights to determine who can view them without leaving Salesforce to send out a contract.