FHA and Electronic Signature

In April 2010, Ken Moyle shared his thoughts immediately after the FHA clarified its acceptance of electronic signature, clarified in the Mortgagee Letter 2010-14. The last time Federal Housing Administration released any formal guidance on electronic signatures was way back in 1996. Since 2008, DocuSign’s real estate and mortgage origination customers have made it clear that FHA urgently needed to update and clarify its position on electronic signatures. And we heard you.

E-signed third-party documents, including real estate contracts, are now being accepted by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

Utah Supreme Court Provides Narrow Interpretation to Government Agency’s Right to Reject Electronically Signed Documents

After the FHA affirmed its acceptance of electronic signature, the Utah Supreme Court, issued a 15-page, unanimous ruling [Anderson v. Bell, No. 20100237 (Utah June 22, 2010)], as voters went to the polls for primary elections. Justices stated:

A signature under (Utah law) does not require a signor to physically handle a piece of paper and sign her name with a pen. An electronic signature is sufficient to satisfy the election code.

Ken provided perspective regarding the way the court eloquently and brutally exposed the weakness of the common argument about fraud and electronic signature use, noting that it reads well into the interpretation of UETA in 46 other states:

The Lt. Governor … contends that electronic signatures attached to a certificate of nomination lack ‘apparent authority’ as genuine signatures. This position is based on a theory that a holographic signature is self-authenticating because the reviewing party may merely look at the signature and see that someone put pen to paper to sign their name. In contrast, an electronic signature lacks apparent authority, because it appears as a typed list of names…. We are unpersuaded that an electronic signature presents special concerns regarding candidate fraud; a candidate could as easily handwrite or type fraudulent names onto a certificate of nomination.

Moreover, electronic signatures may be a better deterrent to candidate fraud because an electronic signature incorporates readily verifiable personal, but non-public, information. For instance, the signors of Mr. Anderson’s petition apparently had to enter a security code that corresponds to the last four digits of their drivers license number before their signature would be counted.

Congress Passes Resolution Declaring June 30th National ESIGN Day
U.S. House and Senate Acknowledge the Importance of eSignatures in Today’s Dynamic Business World on the 10th Anniversary of Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN)

In support of the measure, McDermott stated,

ESIGN has greatly improved the ability of companies in my district to be more effective and competitive in the global marketplace. I would especially like to acknowledge Seattle-based electronic signature platform provider, DocuSign, for being a leader in the electronic signatures and records industry, and for helping spearhead the coalition to recognize June 30 as National ESIGN Day. DocuSign recognizes that the benefits of e-commerce extend beyond the dollar values that are placed on business activity; with over 30,000 current customers, and having served over 4.5 million people to date, DocuSign provides its customers with confidence in the integrity and credibility of emerging electronic capabilities. They have been a leader in removing obstacles and barriers to business transactions online, allowing their customers to work faster, more reliably, and more securely.

In honor of the 10th Anniversary of ESIGN, we hosted the 2010 ESIGN Summit in San Francisco on June 30, 2010, with a live keynote address by President Bill Clinton (via satellite) and presentations from industry visionaries from salesforce.com, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), Box.net and DocuSign.

Interesting Facts About DocuSign and Electronic Signature

• Surpassed 4 million electronic signature users and exceeded 78 million eSignature events to date.
• Supports more than 30,000 customers from large enterprise organizations to individual professionals by consistently delivering 99.993% uptime.
• Recognizes and serves specialized customer needs with exclusive tailored editions—DocuSign REALTOR® Edition and DocuSign for Salesforce, DocuSign for Salesforce Real-Time Quotes and DocuSign for Salesforce Chatter Enabled.
• Dominates the SaaS-based eSignature market with an estimated 70 percent market share.
• 66% of U.S. adults wish they could complete and e-sign certain forms and business agreements online

To commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the ESIGN Act and National ESIGN Day, we’ve set a goal of collecting 1,000,000 electronic signatures – we need your help to reach this goal.

Click to eSign the “ESIGN Support Pledge.” You’ll be able to download the document after signing to share via scribd or slideshare – be a part of this historical event and ESIGN today!

Did you know that this month has been a busy one for electronic signature in the news? Going paperless and using DocuSign was named the number one way to use technology to save time and money in Inman News.

Inman News: 5 Ways to Use Tech To Save Time and Money by Katie Lance

1. Go paperless. One of the biggest trends I am seeing are agents using DocuSign. DocuSign is an amazing product that really helps agents be more efficient and save more time and money. Clients love it, and as a bonus, it helps you to go “green.”

My biggest piece of advice for agents is to embrace technology. It’s not always easy, but we are living in an amazing age. Think of the world before we had the Internet, compared to now — isn’t it amazing?!  Don’t be afraid of technology; embrace it and it will save you more time and money in the long haul.

DocuSign has partnered with many other real estate technology providers to enable you to keep your processes paperless. Click to learn more about our real estate partners.

Recently, Adobe announced an e-Signature SaaS offering, which prompted commentary from our own Tom Gonser. TechFlash published Tom’s response, following their reporting on Adobe’s new electronic signature service.

TechFlash: DocuSign to Adobe: Thanks for validating the e-signature market by John Cook

Last Friday, we reported on Adobe’s new offering in the electronic signatures arena, a move that we suggested could strike some fear into the hearts of the folks behind DocuSign. But the Seattle electronic signature startup is hardly running scared. In fact, founder and vice president of product strategy Tom Gonser said in a follow-up statement that his initial reaction to Adobe’s new offering was: “What took them so long?”

“Seeing Adobe enter the market validates what we’ve known for years—this is a huge market, and our SaaS-based product delivers tremendous value very quickly. Seeing Adobe abandon software-based electronic signature software in favor of this new service-based approach illustrates the rapid decline of software-based PKI digital signature solutions, which are too complex and costly to administer and manage. As the trusted leader in SaaS-based electronic signatures with over four million users, and the established standard in important markets like Financial Services and Real Estate (where the National Association for Realtors (NAR) has named DocuSign as the exclusive provider to the entire REALTOR market), we have a sizeable market lead over Adobe.

If you compare our service to the new Adobe service, it is immediately obvious that we have a sizable product lead also. DocuSign provides much more than just a signature. We also provide authentication, workflow, data collection and collaboration—all critical components of a business-class e-signature platform. The Adobe service has none of this. So we see this announcement as the best of both worlds. A large company just validated the market we created more than six years ago is huge, and it offers a solution that is not competitive. The awareness created by Adobe will accelerate DocuSign’s business even more.”

If you want to try DocuSign’s free electronic signature service, DocuSign Lite, go to DocuSign.com and use the widget on the right hand side of your screen. You can also use DocuSign Lite as a Firefox plug in or as an iGoogle gadget.

Mortgage Technology Magazine mentioned DocuSign’s “Designed for Mobile” functionality, as it enables users to eSign from their mobile devices, including iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and Windows Mobile phones.

Mortgage Technology Magazine: Mobile Technology Boom by Anthony Garritano

DocuSign has taken it a step further by allowing users to e-sign on their iPhone. With the recent release of DocuSign Version 9 and the newly deployed ‘Designed for Mobile’ functionality, DocuSign users can now view and e-sign documents on Android-based handhelds, such as Google Nexus One, T-Mobile G1 and more than two dozen devices, and access a new status console optimized for mobile browsers. This expanded functionality ensures business transactions are completed faster and easier—from anywhere, anytime.

Today busy professionals are demanding services that offer the convenience to conduct business while on the move. These services must be cost effective and flexible, with the ability to adapt to any environment, including quickly-evolving mobile platforms. Analysts predict that Android will become the world’s most popular smartphone platform by 2012, with estimates of more than 31.8 million Android phones and 126 million Android-based portable products to ship in 2013. DocuSign’s interoperability with Android technology offers users the ultimate in global on-the-go signing flexibility.

Learn more about DocuSign’s mobile eSigning capabilities and see specific “Designed for Mobile” content on the DocuSign blog.

DocuSign also enables loan lenders, such as credit unions, to close loans paperlessly and stay ahead of Regulation Z. eDOC Innovations chose DocuSign to add eSignature to its ProDOC solution.

Credit Union Times: eDoc Adds Online Signatures, Hosts User Meeting by Marc Rapport

eDOC Innovations said it has added online electronic signature capabilities to its lending documentation platform and that a group of customer credit unions have just held their first user meeting.

The Utah-based company said it partnered with DocuSign to add the signature capability to its ProDOC solution and that $838 million, 85,000-member Idaho Central Credit Union is a first user.

The digital signature capability allows for a paperless loan closing, the document management company said.

Click for more information about how DocuSign speeds up the loan closing process and helps credit unions stay ahead of Regulation Z. Learn more about credit unions that have integrated DocuSign eSignature by clicking here.

Companies that blogged about the FHA’s acceptance of DocuSign include Broker IPtv, PowerSites by AgencyLogic, and Real-A-Save.

• FHA to Accept DocuSign for Real Estate Contracts
• Federal Housing Administration to Accept DocuSign for Real Estate Contracts Nationwide
• HUD to Permit eDocs in Transactions, REALTORS® are Ready
• Digital Signatures on FHA Contracts

Real estate agencies, brokerages and realtors have also spread the word, since FHA acceptance of eSignature, such as DocuSign, will enable them to adopt electronic signature to help their clients get offers on the table more quickly and with less headache than the old print-scan-fax process.

• Federal Housing Administration to Accept DocuSign for Real Estate Contracts Nationwide
• HUD to Allow Electronic Signatures on Third Party Documents for FHA Mortgage Insurance
• Top 10 Real Estate Posts of the Day for 4/12/2010
• Federal Housing Administration to Accept DocuSign for Real Estate Contracts Nationwide
• HUD to Permit eDocs in Transactions
• The FHA Approves Using DocuSign
• Working with FHA Programs Just Got Easier
• Electronic Signatures and FHA
• FHA Moves into the 21st Century!

They also spread the word on the ActiveRain, Trulia and Facebook social networks:

• Digital Signatures: Gary McNinch Team Uses DocuSign, Do You?
• The FHA Approves Using DocuSign
• FHA Will Now be Accepting Electronic Signatures, This Should Save a Ton of Wasted Paper Every Year
• FHA Accepts DocuSign
• Federal Housing Administration to Accept DocuSign for Real Estate Contracts Nationwide

Facebook Pages that have spread the news include Wolkia, IRES LLC, Metropolitan Mortgage Group, Star Real Estate, Birmingham Association of Realtors, Keller Williams Realty Cary, Vid Lopez Realty at HS Realty, Inc. and Taos New Mexico Green Homes.

With the REALTOR® Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches spreading the word as well as Mortgage Technology Magazine and National Mortgage Professional Magazine, we hope that everyone knows that the FHA does accept DocuSign! For more information, take a look at the Mortgagee Letter and read the thoughts of DocuSign’s Chief Legal Officer, Ken Moyle, regarding the acceptance of eSignature by the FHA.

Did you know… Nancy Alert and Associates uses DocuSign’s eSign services to accelerate the signing process for real estate documents? DocuSign expedites the average turnaround of real estate documents from days to minutes—even for clients travelling overseas. Metro D.C.‐based, Nancy Alert also leverages DocuSign’s speed and security as a competitive differentiator in a quickly changing real estate market.

Alert first discovered DocuSign while attending a National Association of REALTORS® e‐PRO® course. Alert was increasingly frustrated with faxing real estate documents overseas to her nomadic business clientele. She also had concerns regarding identity theft when faxing sensitive client financial information to and from unknown fax machines in foreign lands. Alert researched eSign providers and chose DocuSign.

Using DocuSign Electronic Signature Gets Alert and Her Clients First to the Finish

After DocuSigning for the first time, Alert was hooked. Working with a buyer on business in Egypt, Alert was able to electronically send the documents for e‐signature. Her client received a DocuSign email notification, quickly adopted an electronic signature and signed the documents online in minutes, not days. The offer was the first received and accepted immediately by the seller. Using DocuSign to be the “first to the finish line” has proven successful for Alert and her clients—both locally and abroad, giving her the competitive advantage of speed—even with overseas clients.

DocuSign is fast and easy for my clients to use—eliminating faxing headaches and no more worries
about safeguarding client information. I tell my clients not to worry. Within minutes, the documents are signed and returned. It’s not unusual for me to close a great deal in hours with DocuSign—even on a Saturday night! DocuSign has it all—there’s no turning back. – Nancy Alert, Nancy Alert and Associates

The DocuSign Advantage

After reviewing other e‐signature solutions providers, Nancy Alert and Associates continues using
DocuSign REALTOR® Edition based on the following key criteria:

• Ease of Use—DocuSign makes it easy for Alert to send documents for client e‐signature, and just as simple for clients to sign electronically from anywhere in the world. This intuitive service closely replicates the traditional signing experience, creating a positive client experience.
• Compliance and Security—With DocuSign, Nancy Alert and Associates is assured of security as
  documents are an encrypted PDF. Signers are authenticated and contracts can only be returned
  only if fully completed, ensuring 100 percent compliance.
• Real‐Time Visibility—DocuSign reveals the signing status of every agreement in real‐time: when it was opened, when it was signed, the time the transaction has taken, and which contracts remain to be signed. Alert knows immediately when a real estate document is completed so deals can be transacted faster in a highly competitive market.
• Workflow Management—DocuSign automates Nancy Alert and Associates business processes. Alert can automatically route documents for approval in the designated order and provide signed copies to others such as office coordinators, title and lenders. DocuSigned documents are returned only when complete, thereby reducing turnaround time from days to minutes.
• Cost‐Effective—DocuSign reduces administrative costs associated with the traditional signing process, eliminating the need to print, fax or drive to meet clients for in‐person signings.

For more information about the business benefits DocuSign provides Nancy Alert and Associates, read the detailed case study. In addition to serving the real estate industry, DocuSign also provides electronic signature services to other industries as well, including financial services, insurance, travel, energy services, and technology and internet services. For more information about how eSignature from DocuSign has provided business benefits take a look at our testimonials page.

Reasons To Choose DocuSign
Among the top reasons to choose DocuSign for your Real Estate ESIGN provider is that NAR has named DocuSign the official and exclusive provider of eSign services through the NAR Member Benefits® Program!  This recognizes DocuSign as the best service for the complexities of Real Estate transactions.  What’s more, if you sign up for the DocuSign REALTOR® Edition, you’ll get the option to adopt an exclusive REALTOR® branded e-Signature, an intuitive, secure REALTOR® branded dashboard, with real-time document status updates, REALTOR® branded email communications templates, and a 20% savings over standard DocuSign rates on both editions – DocuSign REALTOR® Basic and DocuSign REALTOR® Standard.

In addition to DocuSign’s relationship with NAR, we also enable you to get your life back – you’ll no longer have to chase faxes, missed initials or signatures!

Personal Touch
Electronic signature from DocuSign doesn’t mean that you’re giving up the personal touch.  For busy buyers and sellers, using DocuSign’s electronic signature services demonstrates that you’re sensitive to their schedules. DocuSign also has an in-person signing feature, so that you can meet up with your clients, get their signatures and keep it in the DocuSign system. This eliminates the need to scan and upload!

DocuSign lets you focus on your most important value to your clients – the expert in Real Estate. Your knowledge of your area, the tools for the job, and the personal attention you provide are FAR MORE IMPORTANT than your role as a paper clerk!  Cut out the paper and focus on what you do best – you as the expert.

DocuSign Brings eSignature to your Mobile
DocuSign has “Designed for Mobile” functionality to allow anyone to sign on their phone in an interface specifically designed for smaller screens. There is no app to download, it runs in your mobile browser, and it works with Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile, Google Android and RIM Blackberry. It also enables your signers to eSign from the kids’ soccer game, in line at the grocery store, while pumping gas… anywhere they have access to their mobile email!

For those who DO have an iPhone, there is a really nifty application out there that allows you to do even more – review status, and even send from templates.  Yup, there’s an app for that.

DocuSign vs Tablet Screen
DocuSign can work on a PC, laptop or Tablet PC on both Windows and Mac. Did you know that if you want your handwritten signature to be your DocuSign signature, you can upload your custom signature?

With DocuSign, you don’t have to be face to face as you would need to be when capturing a digital signature via a tablet screen. This feature is very convenient when your signers are busy, traveling, or simply across town from each other!

Scan and Email vs DocuSign
It is possible to scan and email a document, but this process lacks the audit trail, encryption, and ESIGN compliant features that keeps your transactions safe and secure. Scanning a signature and emailing it takes more time and technology (scanners, etc) and has less legal evidence of who signed, etc.

With DocuSign, you’ll get an eSignature service that is ESIGN compliant as well as a Certificate of Completion and complete audit trail for each document, ESIGN Consumer Consent Manager, and integrated signer authentication. DocuSign is browser-based for Mac, PC & mobile devices and the only requirement is Internet connectivity.

DocuSign also provides reporting, custom storage folder structures, search and sort envelopes, and automated reminders/expirations, providing you with the utmost visibility into your transactions and saving you time from not having to print and scan!

Signer’s Learning Curve
DocuSign is incredibly easy for signers. All they have to do is log into their email, read the message, and click the link. Once they’re in the system, they simply have to check the ESIGN Consumer Consent, adopt a signature, and click the yellow stick-e-tabs to eSign or initial, placing their signature and initials wherever you instruct them in the document.

Once all the stick-e-tabs are clicked, they simply have to click the complete signing button.

Templates
Templates are available to new and recent subscribers with DocuSign Standard. You also have access to templates if you’re on the older DocuSign Professional Advanced plan. If you’re using DocuSign Basic or DocuSign Professional, you can always upgrade to DocuSign Standard if you want template functionality.

Templates allow you to place ALL the signature, initials, and other tabs for ALL your signers with ONLY ONE CLICK!  Yes, once you use templates you will never go back!  DocuSign is the ONLY service available that can automatically place tabs on all your documents automatically, no matter what documents you load.  (Probably one of the reasons NAR chose this service as the standard)

Banks, FHA and DocuSign

DocuSign has been working with the banks and FHA to get written documentation in place to enable the acceptance of electronic signature in real estate transactions.

Ken Moyle, DocuSign’s Chief Legal Officer, has written a blog post about the FHA and Electronic Signature Acceptance – the bottom line is that FHA does accept eSignature!

Identity theft, Security
How do you know who signed?  DocuSign provides a robust system with several tiers of security.  First, our data centers are hardened and comply with the strictest standards.  We actually run two separate data centers – one in Seattle and one in Chicago, hosted by Savvis, a worldwide infrastructure provider. In terms of signer authentication, DocuSign supports the following authentication methods:

1. Email – validate and record the signer had access to a known email address
2. Access code – A PIN or Password that is provided to each signer to access the document in order to sign
3. ID Check – a Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) process provided through DocuSign from RSA.  This presents a set of questions only the signer could know.

In addition, we offer many other tools – OFAC, Age Verification, and STAN PIN for student lenders.   It is not required that you add additional layers of signer authentication to your process, but if you need it, it is there.

Each document deposited into the DocuSign system is individually encrypted with government standard encryption algorithms (AES 256 bit), and a digital fingerprint is created.   Every time the document is accessed, it is analyzed to be certain it has not been tampered or modified.  We also capture all aspects of signing in the audit trail, including email, IP address used, and exact time of signing. Any authentication methods requested are also captured.

All of this goes on behind the scenes, so you get the benefit of the most secure processing and handling, with the easiest and most familiar signing interface available. You get nothing like this from any other service or process on the market.

Other Questions about Using DocuSign’s eSignature Services
Can the other agent’s clients also sign or is just on your side?  If not, how does the other party sign and return?
This is a great question, and it has a few answers, all in the positive.  Yes, both sides can sign using DocuSign.  It depends on the situation:

A)   The other agent has DocuSign, and you don’t know the other agent’s signers.  – Simply tag up the document for your signers, add the other agent as a ‘CC’, and they will get a copy as soon as your signers complete signing.  The other agent can then also use the ‘Forward’ tool, and place tabs for their signers, and complete the transaction, adding you as the final ‘CC’.

B)   The other agent has DocuSign and you DO know the other agent’s signers – Simply tag up the document for all signers.  Put the other agent in sequenced AFTER your signers, and BEFORE the other signers so they can review it. Everyone gets a copy when the transaction is complete.

C)   The other agent does not use DocuSign – Simply tag up the document, get your signers to sign, and when done email (or forward) the signed document to the other agent. They can print it out and sign on paper.  Combined ESIGN and hand signed documents are fine.

I’m assuming the buyers/sellers sign then fax it to the system which puts it into the system in the sky making it available for you to obtain then resend via email?
No faxes required. Save your time and save a tree with DocuSign. Once you’ve set up a document for signature in the DocuSign system, DocuSign will send an email notification to your buyer / seller, notifying them that you have requested their signature via DocuSign.

They click the link which pops open a secure browser. They click on a consent notification, agreeing to do business electronically as well as adopt an electronic signature. Once they’ve signed and initialed where you’ve indicated with DocuSign’s stick-e-tabs and clicked the complete signing button, DocuSign will notify you that your signer has completed the signing process.

You can log into DocuSign and download a copy for your records. If you have DocuSign standard, you can set up DocuSign to automatically forward completed documents to the other agent on the transaction!

Thanks again for the questions and comments – if you have any further questions, please let me know!

We at DocuSign listen to our customers when they talk about their electronic signature needs. This weekend, we stumbled across some comments about DocuSign and our free eSignature customer support. They were just too good not to share! Without further ado:

DocuSign’s Electronic Signature Customers Comment on Customer Support

The first story shares the experience of signing up for DocuSign’s eSignature service:

The reason I joined DocuSign was because of their AMAZING customer support. I joined on a Saturday night around 6pm and by 9pm I was having issues and needed to get a contract done that night. I asked if anyone knew the answer on twitter and within 5 minutes I had both their twitter account and the owner of the company talking to me on twitter and walking me through it. Then An, who is behind the twitter account, called me to make sure everything was ok. THAT IS SERVICE.

OK so they don’t offer free phone support. I have NEVER had a problem getting an immediate answer with them on chat or twitter. The support is some of the best I have ever seen. If you had a problem with any product in the world and put something out there on Twitter what do you think the chances of anyone, never mind the Founder and Vice President of Product Strategy of the company, offering help at 9pm on a Saturday night?

You have free email support and also free support via chat, the product is amazing, the support is amazing.

- Dean Ouellette, Tempe Real Estate

The second story details the robust support options DocuSign offers to its eSign customers:

I’ve used DocuSign for over two years and never needed to call them. Not once. Twice I had a question about how to do something (that if I’d taken a few minutes on my own to find the answer, I could have. It was on their site) and was immediately answered via email and Twitter. I also have agents that have been using DocuSign for two years — never needed to make a phone call for support for two reasons: 1) The product is robust and easy to use; and 2) there are many other ways to get support beside the telephone.

Lots of companies charge for extended (read phone) customer support. DocuSign isn’t the only one, not by a long shot. I’d rather them charge for extended support than raise my rates so they can handle all the “I forgot my password” and “It’s broken” (when it’s not) phone calls.

Have you tried the [free] chat, email, twitter, forums, webinars, blog, and/or FAQs for support? They work, and work well.

- Jay Thompson, Phoenix Real Estate Broker

The third comment explains a customer’s experience with how easy and intuitive DocuSign’s electronic signature service is for his clients:

I have used the DocuSign service hundreds of times over the past couple of years and I love it. More importantly, my clients LOVE it. The recent enhancements to their system helped an already great product become even more beneficial to my business.

My experience has been that anyone that can log on to the internet and do even the most basic of tasks have great success with the DocuSign service. From young to old, computer savvy to “old school,” I have never had a complaint.

- Nick Bastian, Tempe Real Estate Agent

The fourth comment discusses how one DocuSign user has worked with DocuSign on eSign policy issues and product feedback while turning to online help and web content:

I’ve been a Docusign user for several years now and have been really pleased with the technology. I enjoy being able to sign ANYTHING. I’m pretty technically inclined and have only had to contact customer service a couple times with help on policy issues, like FHA not recognizing e-signatures.

I’ve spoken with their Chief Legal Counsel and they’re now working with FHA and lenders to gainer wider acceptance of electronic signatures. I consider that responsive.

When I call in about product limitations or ideas, my requests are acknowledged and supposedly added to the feature request for future releases. I hope they don’t charge for these types of call. [ed. note: We don't charge for feedback-type calls, but as a best practice, email or chat works better discuss product limitations or ideas - we can log and track these communications and share them more effectively with the Product team!]

On the other hand, their online help has always been responsive and there’s a lot of material published on the website that’s gotten me through most issues.

- Derec Shuler, Denver Real Estate Broker

Do you have a story similar to Dean, Jay, Nick, or Derec’s? Do you have your own story about how DocuSign’s eSign service you want to share? Leave a comment to share your thoughts – we welcome them!

Virgin America Photo Credit: Tara Hunt

This week, we’ve seen a story on ExecutiveTravel.com from Niels Steenstrup, Vice President-Sales and Marketing for the in-flight Internet provider Aircell and two million mile flyer. Mr. Steestrup shares his perspective on George Clooney’s “Up In The Air” and the frequent traveler lifestyle.

From “A Million-Mile Flyer’s Point of View”:

How do you stay connected during business travel?

Gogo® Inflight Internet obviously plays a huge role and viewers probably noticed the Gogo kiosk at the Alphatech conference in the movie.

Prior to Inflight Internet access, I would spend hours after a flight catching up on email I received while en route. Being able to correspond with colleagues in real-time is a real benefit for the business traveler. A customer actually just told us that he was able to sign the offer papers for his retirement home while using Gogo (and DocuSign technology). Now that’s pretty neat; he and his wife were worried about traveling for their 25th wedding anniversary during a critical negotiation period and were elated that their flight had Gogo access. That says something about the real immediacy of business these days and the benefits of connectivity at 35,000 feet.

Real time information matters. Saving time matters. Your customers and clients can sign paperwork without the hassle of scanning, printing and faxing or the delay of overnight mail and courier with ESIGN. This enables them to move forward with the deal or offer and in this case, celebrate their anniversary.

DocuSign’s commitment to providing electronic signature services that enable you to securely eSign, send and manage your documents with confidence means that we enable you to sign anywhere you have access to your email, an internet connection and web browser.

Designed for Mobile: Last fall, we released this signing process that enables you to view and e-sign documents on your Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile, Google Android, and BlackBerry smart phones without downloading any apps. The status console is optimized for mobile browsers.

Compatible with Mac and Windows Operating Systems: Whether you’re a Mac or a PC, DocuSign has you covered – as a web application, you can use DocuSign to send or eSign your documents with Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari.

Integrates with your current technology and tools: Do you use Salesforce as your CRM? DocuSign is part of the Salesforce Ecosystem, with DocuSign for Salesforce. DocuSign also provides the esignature technology, Smart eSignatures, for the Salesforce CRM Real Time Quotes solution.

If you use another CRM, DocuSign provides a free software developer kit (SDK) and access to the DocuSign API so you can create custom integrations. The DocuSign Dev Center also provides a forum to discuss your ideas and ask questions, documentation, downloads, live samples and other tools.

For real estate, DocuSign integrates with all of the major forms providers – zipForms, TransactionPoint, DocCentral, flexMLS Forms, TrueForms, and RealFast. These integrations save you even more time when you create documents for your clients to eSign.

Whether you eSign from your home or office computer, from your mobile smart phone or from an airplane with in-flight WiFi service, you can rely on DocuSign to save you time and close deals faster.

• 73% eSign Market Share
• 20,000+ DocuSign Customers
• 54 Million eSignature Events to Date – for the updated number of e-signature events, take a look at the DocuSign home page.

**DocuSign’s estimate based on market share data collected using compete.com and comparing the usage at the leading SaaS vendors’ applications in 2009 calendar year. For more information on ESIGN market leader methodology, click here.

Why do so many people who use electronic signature use DocuSign?

We have the customer stories from American Airlines, EDGAR® Online, LinkedIn, Yamaha and many others. DocuSign also has the honor of being the official and exclusive provider of ESIGN Services for the National Association of REALTORS® 1.2 million members under the REALTOR Benefits® Program and offer the special ESIGN Advantage Promotion for REALTORS®.

What Makes DocuSign Electronic Signature the ESIGN Industry Leader?

Delivered more than 480 customer-driven features while concurrently deploying the eSign industry’s only fully redundant data centers supporting high availability and immediate disaster recovery. We look for user testers via Twitter and have released features such as husband-and-wife signing, uploading one’s own signature, templates and Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR), Designed for Mobile, and many others.

Deployed a 10X upgrade in processing power and storage while consistently maintaining 99.993 percent system availability over the past 24 months. This system availability exceeds our SLA – we enable you to securely send, sign and manage your digital documents with confidence.

Offer live trainings via webinars every Thursday at 10am PST. We strive to provide you with the knowledge and understanding to use DocuSign so you can save time. Other options to learning more about DocuSign’s eSignature capabilities include a DocuSign YouTube Channel with plenty of how-to videos as well as this blog on which we regularly blog tips and tricks. If live webinars, videos, and blog posts aren’t enough, we also have FAQ’s, forums, and product updates and other documentation.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – 2010 is going to be a GREAT year for ESIGN. If you’re a current DocuSign customer, become a fan on Facebook. Leave us a comment. Let us know if you want to test features before the official release. Tell us about your event and let us know how we can help.

If you’re not yet a DocuSign customer, ask yourself if you’d like to save time. Ask yourself if you’d like to provide your clients with even better service. Ask yourself if you’d like to close deals faster and when you’re ready, let us know. If you want to try free electronic signature, try DocuSign Lite and send a document for esignature, FREE!

1. Just Use It! DocuSign can only save you time if you use it. If you’re on the fence about trying it, DocuSign Lite is one way to try electronic signature. It’s free and you can use it from LOOP to PDF, iGoogle gadget, Mozilla Firefox plug-in, or the DocuSign home page. If you’re ready for more features, you can sign up for DocuSign – there’s a 30 day free trial, so you can try the more robust features, receive the DocuSign Certificate of Signing and all the other benefits at no risk to you.

2. Take advantage of workflow. Workflow rules are one of the greatest time saving benefits of DocuSign. For example, if you need to get your clients’ signatures before sending the documents on to the other agent, your process looks like this:

1. Upload documents to DocuSign.
2. Tag the documents for signatures and initials with stick-e-tabs, which ensure that no signatures or initials will be missing.
3. Use Sequential Signing to make sure that your clients eSign in the order you want them to eSign in.
4. CC the other agent on the transaction so that he or she will automatically get the signed and completed documents once your clients have all signed.

If you were using a non-eSign process, your process might look like this:

1. Email the documents to your clients.
2. Your clients have to print and sign the documents.
3. Your clients have to fax the documents back to you.
4. You wait for the documents until they come through the fax machine.
5. You double check to make sure all the signatures and initials are there. If any are missing, you contact your client to get the signatures or initials.
6. You wait for those pages to come back.
7. You scan the signed documents or make copies for your files.
8. You fax the papers to the other agent in the transaction to move the deal along.

With DocuSign’s workflow capabilities, you don’t have to wait near a fax machine. You can set up DocuSign to notify your clients to eSign in the order you want them signed and once your clients have signed, DocuSign will even get the documents to the other agent in the transaction, so you don’t have to!

3. Upgrade from DocuSign Professional Standard to DocuSign Professional Advanced. If you tend to create a lot of the same types of documents for your clients to sign, an upgrade to the advanced version can cut your document creation time down to as little as two minutes.

Why? DocuSign Professional Advanced has additional functionality such as templates and Intelligent Document Recognition (IDR) which enables you to save pretagged documents so you don’t have to place the stick-e-tabs every single time you create a set of documents for your clients.

IDR simplifies it further by learning the documents you use and applying pre-defined custom document workflows, signature and initial locations to your contracts, even if they are complex, multipart contracts. This is based on your document signing workflow and business rules.

If you’re ready to save some serious time, I encourage you to check out DocuSign. If you’ve been using DocuSign, what are some time saving tips you’ve discovered? Please do share them with us in the comments!

Last week, Coachella Valley Escrow’s weekly Tech Tuesday post featured a video discussing DocuSign and electronic signature. Did you know that DocuSign is compatible with zipForms, WINForms, TrueForms, Realfast, DocCentral and Transaction Point? If you want to learn more about using DocuSign with your current forms creation software, take a look at this How-To.

In addition to the video interview conducted at the CAR 2009 Conference & EXPO earlier this month in San Jose, Coachella Valley Escrow also highlighted some of our more popular blog posts, including: “The Legality of Electronic Signatures”, “Why DocuSign Electronic Signature Might be a Realtor’s Best Friend”, and “The DocuSign ESIGNControl App by Smart Mobile Solutions”.

Want to Learn More about DocuSign Electronic Signature?

Other popular posts from the DocuSign blog include:

Want Free Electronic Signature? Try DocuSign Lite: With DocuSign lite, you can get a document eSigned with no paper, no account and no cost. You can also try the Mozilla Firefox plugin, LOOP to PDF tool, or iGoogle Gadget.

FHA and Lender Acceptance: With background information about the federal ESIGN Act, HUD and FHA policy, and frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) about electronic signatures in real estate transactions, this post is a valuable resource for those who have questions about electronic signatures, the FHA and lender acceptance.

How-To ESIGN: In-Person Signing with DocuSign: If you want to leverage the power of DocuSign electronic signature and preserve the face-to-face interaction with your clients, you can use DocuSign’s in-person signing feature. This means you can keep all of your files DocuSigned and consistent! You no longer have to keep track of paper copies, and your clients can download their signed, easy-to-read copy.

If you missed meeting us at CAR EXPO in San Jose, the DocuSign team will be at REBar Camp San Diego November 12, 2009 and NAR EXPO in San Diego November 13-16, 2009. Stop by and say hi!