He discusses how electronic signature and electronic contract execution can help you run your business more efficiently, saving you time. You can improve the time to close, lower your costs and reduce data errors using electronic signature and online contract execution.

Learn how to do business at the speed of light, not at the speed of trucks.

Earlier this year,

DocuSign and Ariba have partnered to set a new standard for contract execution. Ariba now embeds DocuSign’s electronic signature capabilities within its market-leading contract management offering to provide customers with a complete on-demand solution for automating the entire contract lifecycle. Ariba’s Senior Product Marketing Manager, Ken Miklos, shares his thoughts on electronic contract execution in Supply Chain Management:

How has automation changed the entire contract lifecycle?

Contract management automation provides value in three core areas. The first is improved visibility into contract terms and processes. The second is standardized contracting processes, and third, you get better performance management capabilities. This includes compliance with trading partner contact terms and pricing, compliance and audit capabilities of the processes, and regulatory compliance with regulatory and other external statutes and codes.

What benefits has Ariba seen for its customers?

Contract management serves as the linchpin of all our customer’s spend management objectives. Effective contract management is critical to ensuring that the savings that have been identified and negotiated in Ariba Spend Visibility and Ariba Sourcing are realized through transactional purchasing and invoicing. Contract management automation also benefits procurement contracting processes by driving more strategic supplier relationships and greater efficiency throughout the contract lifecycle.

In addition, the driving objective of all sales organizations is to maximize revenues and profit. Ariba Contract Management helps sales, legal and finance achieve this through faster and more efficient contracting cycle times as well a better renewal management. We continue to see more organizations viewing contract management holistically to understand how automation will benefit their entire business, not just a single functional area.

What is the most unique story you can share about Ariba’s positive impact on a customer?

There are many, but one that comes to mind is a situation with a leading global retailer who came to Ariba due to an INS Consent Decree that they immediately implement a process to incorporate Consent Decree requirements into all of their supplier agreements. With less six months to comply and over 30,000 suppliers, this was no small task. But through implementing Ariba Contract Management, they were compliant well in advance of the imposed deadline. Today, compliance data is tracked and reported in the solution for audit purposes.

What comments/feedback have you received from customers since the Ariba and DocuSign Partnership was announced?

Although our customers derive significant value from implementing Ariba Contract Management, the reality is that there continued to be a gap in the contract lifecycle. After the contract had been authored, negotiated and approved, many customers were forced to print out the contract and deliver it down the hall, across town, or even across the country or globe for a wet ink signature. This process was inefficient and costly and added risk that the contract would not be appropriately updated afterwards. With our DocuSign partnership this has all changed.

Today, our seamless partnership permits our customers to manage their contracts in a 100% paperless fashion which speeds cycle times, reduces shipping costs, improves execution visibility and security while complying with green initiatives. On all counts, this strengthens our customer’s value proposition and the reason they implemented a contract management automation solution in the first place.

Then Sam heard that Ariba, a company that offers spending and contract management services, and DocuSign had partnered. Sam could see the power behind the Ariba and DocuSign offering, noting that:  

 The Ariba-Docusign technology allows the sender to highlight the areas that need signatures and blocks the document from being sent back if there are signature lines that were accidentally overlooked. It allows the sender to track where the document is at any given moment, including who’s signed it and who hasn’t.  

DocuSign’s electronic signature and online contract execution has various levels of authentication:  

• Supported authentication methods: email, Access Code (PIN), ID Verify (KBA), OFAC, Age Verification, STAN PIN for student lenders
• 3rd party authentication tools that can be called in the signing instructions so that a recipient must pass one or several authentication steps before they sign.

All of which provide senders with the flexibility to automate DocuSign’s electronic signature and electronic contract execution services as needed. With document storage in the cloud and document signing happening in the Web browser, there’s no software to buy and the electronic signature and online contract execution services can scale with customer needs. The Ariba and DocuSign partnership created a system designed for “a very strict enterprise class rigor.” In a business environment when documents need to be signed before checks can be cut, turning around documents makes a big difference. Documents can turn around in a day, not days. Business can move faster.   

Sam didn’t address the operational savings that come from automating the contracting process with electronic signatures and supply chain contract processes. With Ariba and DocuSign, you could realize significant operational savings with no more long distance fax (and fax-back) charges and no more overnight document shipping charges.    

Sam writes: 

 Or Sam can just let his agent know about DocuSign and our electronic signature and online contract execution offerings for real estate professionals. Agents using DocuSign cut costs and enhance their customers’ satisfaction.   

A year ago, I might have had some reservations about Web-based documents and digital signatures. But having been through the hassle of trying to sign long legal contracts, I would have welcomed the chance to take this document-signing process online…When it comes time for me to buy a house down the road, I’ll be sure to ask my agent if he or she is using electronic signatures. If not, I might just look for another agent.

In business, contracts are signed everyday – purchase orders, vendor agreements, financial documents. Many of them require multiple signatures – which means that they’re handled by many different people, from mailroom employees to admin assistants to executives and even the Fed-Ex driver. And then, when they get back to original sender, pages might be missing or, even worse, some pages come back missing a signature.

The business ROI of PMS/ECM lies in its ability to speed and control purchasing transactions. Each department relies on the purchasing system so they can purchase what they need from approved vendors. The software pulls up the right purchase orders with the right pricing and also defines the sign-off process for how the company buys from a particular vendor. After completing this sophisticated processing, the system creates a document that is typically printed out. Your sophisticated business process then comes to a grinding halt while you manually chase a contract around for signature. That is, unless you have DocuSign integrated into your system.

One such enterprise software company has integrated DocuSign into its system. Ariba, one of our partners, has integrated DocuSign into its Contract Management module. One of the world’s largest Contract Management providers, Ariba provides many of the Fortune 500 with software for mission-critical functions. In its April release, Ariba is providing integrated electronic signature capabilities to complement its software that allows enterprise-wide management of all contract functions, including buy and sell-side. So rather than sending that purchase order to the printer, you can now send it electronically for e-signature via DocuSign.

DocuSign and Ariba fit perfectly together, finally allowing customers to eliminate the expense of managing paper processes, and streamlining business transactions from beginning to end. Ariba provides enterprise class tools to setup organizational purchasing rules, contract management, and workflow. Integrated right into this, DocuSign’s online electronic contract execution enforces the signing process and keeps the whole transaction moving at the speed of light. No fax, no overnight mail, no need to slow down. Transactions just happen faster and more securely.

Not only do transactions happen faster, but also companies will have greatly improved control over the process. ECE eliminates many common contract mistakes such as missing a signature, forgetting to return a page, or not following a sign-off process. DocuSign provides real-time visibility into the whole contracting process, including exactly who has signed off, viewed, etc.

DocuSign’s integration with Ariba is a perfect example of how ECE fits with important enterprise application suites like ECM and PMS, and enables businesses to accelerate the entire transaction from start to finish.

Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.), House Oversight Post Office Subcommittee chairman, responded to the service reduction plan, saying:
“With the Postal Service facing budget shortfalls the subcommittee will consider a number of options to restore financial stability and examine ways for the Postal Service to continue to operate without cutting services.”

Other than cost cutting, Congress could also appropriate taxpayer dollars to fund the struggling U.S. Postal Service, which currently does not rely on public funding outside of a subsidy for international voting mail and services for the blind.
Officials said the recession has contributed to a mail volume drop of 5.2 billion pieces compared to the same period last year. Without an economic recovery, the U.S.Postal Service projects volume for the year will be down by 12 billion to 15 billion pieces of mail. Last year, high fuel prices also took their toll on post office funds. The post office operates more than 200,000 vehicles and every one-cent increase in the price of fuel costs the post office $8 million.
We’ve discussed the expense of shipping physical documents before, especially once you factor in fuel prices. The post office has done the math – each one-cent increase is an $8 million cost, at scale. Reducing delivery by 1/6 can lead to an estimated $3.5 billion in savings. Post office trucks will only be on the road five, instead of six days each week.
How could this affect your business efforts? ?
If you’re shipping physical items, you’ll have to account for one less day of service – you might have to send things earlier or use other shipping services. Say you needed to send contracts. If you physically mailed them via U.S. Postal Service, you’d have to account for the extra handling time. More time in transit means longer sales cycles. If it were a complex transaction and you discovered a missing signature and had to send the document back… you can imagine the hassle, not to mention the additional needed time.?

DocuSign’s electronic signature and online contract execution processes takes contracts and other paperwork from the physical realm to the digital one. ESIGN and UETA legislation support the validity of electronic and digital signatures and electronic contracts. Using electronic signature and electronic contract execution services like DocuSign means that you can send and receive documents as long as you have email access. No need to worry about operating hours, how many documents or shipping logistics when sending electronic contracts and other documents via DocuSign.  It’s fast, cost effective, reliable and secure – And we deliver 24 hours a day – 7 days a week!

Image courtesy of flickr user yeowatzup under creative commons

State of Green Business Report

In February, Joel Makower released the second annual State of Green Business report, State of Green Business 2009, which assesses how and how well companies are doing from an environmental perspective. From reporting on the 10 trends of the past year as well as providing insight via 20 indicators that, in aggregate, provide a picture of U.S. companies’ environmental achievements.

Some of the news was encouraging and some was discouraging: Absolute greenhouse gas emissions grew 1.4 percent in 2007 over 2006, but shrank 0.6 percent per unit of GDP, the smallest annual decrease since 2002. Regarding electronic waste (“e-waste”), we recycled only a tiny fraction more e-waste in 2007 than the year before, even though the amount of e-waste entering the waste stream increased.

The encouraging side of things includes Makower’s findings that green building is on the rise – new technologies that save energy and money while creating more healthful workplaces. The automobile industry’s major players plan to introduce electric vehicles and the leading consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers are starting to rigorously assess their products’ environmental impacts, which has implications to the supply chain that tomorrow’s products will be held to higher levels of environmental responsibility.

I also found some interesting green statistics:

• The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.
• Using recycled paper for one print run of the Sunday edition of the New York Times would save 75,000 trees.
• If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25 million trees a year.

According to Xerox research:

• 15.2 trillion pages were printed in 2006
• 10 trillion pages were printed in 2007 – 2010 in the US alone
• 53 trillion pages will be printed worldwide by 2010
  

To say we use a lot of paper is an understatement. In business, contracts, paperwork and other documents mean constant paper usage and document creation.

Unless…

There’s a better way. There’s a greener way. DocuSign’s electronic contract execution (ECE) process integrates with your workflow so that all of the physical (paper) documents you used to send can now be sent electronically, minimizing your physical document creation. As a matter of fact, if you dig around your business you will find that you spend a HUGE amount to manage the movement of paper.. It is not just lower postage and the cost of paper. It is also people – people who have to re-key data, scanners, printers, toner, physical storage space – it all adds up.

Say you hire someone – he or she has to sign a two page offer letter, a four page non-compete & non-disclosure agreement, a three page declaration of intellectual property, and a one page statement of company policy. That’s 10 pages for an employee, when he or she first walks in the door. Times two because you probably made a copy. Now, multiply that by the number of employees you hire a year. For a 50 person company, that’s 500 pages – with copies, that’s 1,000 pages – that now need storage.

That’s just for hiring – what about the other associated paperwork? What about contracts with your vendors and suppliers? What about contracts with your customers?

By providing secure storage of digital documents, DocuSign also addresses your storage needs. In addition to realizing operational savings from sending documents electronically instead of via overnight shipping and accelerating your business by allowing you to close more deals more quickly, DocuSign also allows you to go green. Our electronic signature and online contract execution services can greatly reduce the paper your business creates. Operational savings and increased business capacity while creating an environmentally friendly business impact can help your business succeed in this economic climate.

In fact, our system is now processing over 1.5 million electronic signature events per month. We’ve processed about 23 million to date. This means our customers collectively are saving the following:

• Estimating a savings of 5 days per contract, or in the aggregate about 315,000 years of waiting has been avoided
• At an average of 10 pages per envelope and 1.7 signers, this is 391M pages of paper that did not have to be used or moved saving 5,000 trees.
• If these pages had been printed, it would take roughly 78,000 toner cartridges (5,000 page duty cycle). That is a line of toner cartridges over 22 miles long!

So here’s to a happy St. Patrick’s day! Go Green!

Image courtesy of flickr user pburghsteverunder creative commons.

What news do you want first? I’ll start with the other news, so we can end on a positive
note. 
Did you know…
DHL has discontinued U.S. domestic services. DHL, the overnight shipping service provider, no longer provides domestic-only air and ground services. Other overnight document shipping services have recently increased their rates, and there’s a rumor that USPS may reduce the number of service days. The average cost for overnight shipping, after surcharges, is roughly $54.00 based on sending from New York to Chicago depending on what carrier you use. What does this mean to you? You have fewer options when it comes to getting your contracts and agreements delivered. Yes, you can use the other shippers, who have increased their rates earlier this year. If you’re still shipping the same number of documents you’ve generally shipped, either your operational costs have likely increased or you’ve cut costs by using slower shipping services. Keeping operational costs needlessly high or slowing down your business processes which probably don’t align with your current business goals.

So now the good news

With DocuSign we’ve saved approximately 80% in overnight and express shipments.

–Ric Kimbell of Everest University Online

You have options. DocuSign’s electronic contract execution service, including tracking and electronic signature, takes your paper contract and agreement process online. By eliminating your need for costly courier services and depending on the size of your business, DocuSign could save you millions. We’ll make the savings easy and offer our electronic signature and online contract execution services at 20% of your 2008 express shipping charges.* If you take into account all of your costs associated with sending and managing contracts, your cost savings can be much greater than 80% of your shipping charges.

DocuSign allows you to address the 3 key factors to success in today’s business environment:

• Reduction of operational costs
• Closing more deals, faster
• Improvement in customer satisfaction and retention

DocuSign’s services also allow for integration with Salesforce along with greater control and tracking of your documents. With a free trial, you can try our services first. So while overnight parcel services are providing you with fewer, more expensive options, DocuSign is offering you another option that cuts your operational costs and accelerates your business. Doesn’t that sound like great news?

* Offer eligible for new DocuSign customers only
* 2008 shipping charges must be greater than $4000 to qualify
* Proof of 2008 shipping charges may be required

Finally, I have to admit we have not figured out how to send OBJECTS in a DocuSign envelope… but we do have this secret project underway that they won’t let me tell you about…

Photo courtesy of flickr user The Master Shake Signal under Creative Commons

• April 21, 1931: Friedrich Schmiedl launched the first rocket mail (V-7 rocket) with 102 pieces of mail, between Sch?ckl and St. Radegund, Austria. 

• July 31, 1934: Gerhard Zucker launched a rocket over a 1600-meter flight path between the Hebridean islands of Harris and Scarp in Scotland. Around 1.07 m long with a diameter of 18 cm, the fuselage was packed with 1,200 envelopes. Unfortunately for Zucker, the rocket exploded and destroyed most of its cargo. Fail. 

• February 23, 1936: The first successful delivery of mail by a rocket in the United States was made when two rockets that were launched from the New Jersey shore of Greenwood Lake landed on the New York shore, some 300 meters away. Success! 

• June 8,1959: U.S. Navy submarine USS Barbero assisted the Post Office Department, predecessor to the United States Postal Service (USPS) in its search for faster mail transportation with the only delivery of “Missile Mail.” Barbero fired a Regulus cruise missile — its nuclear warhead having earlier been replaced by two Post Office Department mail containers — at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Mayport, Florida. Twenty-two minutes later, the missile struck its target.

US Postmaster General Arthur E Summerfield proclaimed the US Navy event to be “of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world,” and predicted that “before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.” 

Fortunately for DocuSign, Summerfield was not correct. If mail could be delivered by rockets raining down on businesses each day, perhaps I wouldn’t have had a reason to start DocuSign… hmm.

Odd thing is that I was into rockets before I was into DocuSign. I’ve been flying rockets since 1993. No really.

Though DocuSign does not use rockets, we can quickly deliver mail, such as documents requiring signatures. Our digital signature service and electronic contract execution (ECE) process can take fewer than 22 minutes, making it faster than “Missile Mail” and allowing you to accelerate your business.* 

The process of creating electronic signatures is highly visible, allowing you to know where you are in the online contract execution process. If DocuSign’s speed and visibility aren’t enough, our electronic signature and online contract execution services are also safe. With over 21 million signature events, not a single smart envelope has exploded like Gerhard Zucker’s project.

Want to know more about shipping mail via rockets?

• See this video of the Lake Greenwood Mail Rocket
• Read more about rocket mail on wikipedia
• Learn how you can send things into outer space. Size limits may apply.
• Check out on online scrapbook of high power rocketry projects, experiments, videos and more.

*Actual response times may vary.

Photo by Jurvetson (flickr)

I discovered an interesting blog post about enterprise contract management automation this morning, discussing how the contract execution process gets overlooked when organizations consider automating contracts.

According to Ken Miklos, some organizations that have implemented contract management solutions still print paper contracts and use wet signatures. I admit I agree with Miklos when he calls this inefficient and costly.

According to Xerox research:

…by 2010, 53 trillion pages will be printed worldwide (including graphic arts applications as well as transactional printing). That’s trillion with a capital T.

Why should you consider electronic signature and online contract execution?

The benefits of an electronic signatures and electronic contract execution process:

1. Reducing costs,
2. Accelerating the contract negotiation cycle,
3. Improving the security of executed contract documents,
4. Improving contract visibility and control,
5. Playing into green initiatives given the paperless nature of the combined electronic signature/online contract execution solution.

The bloggers at Supply Excellence, a supply management and technology blog, show they really get what we’re doing at DocuSign. Ultimately, we want to help our customers realize a high ROI, accelerate their business and address their risk mitigation issues. Not only are we building the tools to do that, we have forums to solicit your feedback and answer your questions.

Effective January 5, 2009 FedEx Express rates increased an average of 6.9% for U.S. and U.S. export services, FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery rates increased an average of 5.9%.

FedEx re-indexed its fuel surcharge on January 1, 2009, which may provide temporary rate relief. However, as the price of fuel rises, the surcharges will continue to increase as well on top of the standard list rate increase.

UPS ground rates have increased an average of 5.9% and air and international services have increased an average net of 4.9% through a combination of a 6.9% increase in rates and a 2% reduction in the Air and International Fuel Surcharge index as published on UPS.com.

What do the 2009 UPS and FedEx rate increases really mean to you and your business? With rates increasing every year and the variable cost of fuel, you know increases in base rates and extra service charges will impact your bottom line.

What if you could bypass FedEx and UPS?

With DocuSign’s on demand electronic signature and online contract execution services, you can safely and securely close business deals more quickly. Why wait for the FedEx or UPS truck to finalize paperwork? Instead of waiting overnight and spending $15-$40 on delivery alone – one way, try DocuSign.

According to Ric Kimbell, VP and GM of Everest University Online:

“As an innovative and leading-edge educational institution, we’re continuously assessing ways to improve the way we operate and because DocuSign is an on-demand business process improvement solution, we’ve realized immediate cost savings. With DocuSign we’ve saved approximately 80% in overnight and express shipments.”

You can know your contract execution costs, save on operational costs and accelerate revenue generation in 2009 by joining those who have realized the benefits of using DocuSign.