We’re excited to announce that our electronic signature service is now available within Real Estate Industry Solutions’ Form Simplicity web-based real estate forms service! With the DocuSign integration, Form Simplicity now provides end-to-end online real estate forms to expedite real estate transactions while eliminating the need for paper processes.

Developed by Real Estate Industry Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Florida REALTORS® and the largest trade organization in Florida with more than 115,000 members, Form Simplicity offers real estate professionals the ability to quickly create and organize forms for residential or commercial transactions. DocuSign’s advanced electronic signature functionality provides Form Simplicity users the ability to accelerate the real estate document signing process online and ensure deals close faster, while leveraging complete visibility into the document workflow.

In a competitive market, minutes can literally make the difference when closing a deal. With Form Simplicity, real estate professionals can more quickly prepare documents for client electronic signature anytime from anywhere. With a simple click of the mouse, real estate professionals can access DocuSign from within Form Simplicity. It takes just minutes for the user to tag any document with DocuSign’s familiar yellow Stick-eTabs®. Once the document tagging process is completed, the client receives an email notification, is authenticated and is quickly navigated through the electronic signature process. By extending the integration of DocuSign within Form Simplicity, real estate agents can further simplify the real estate contract signing process, save hours of time each week, eliminate signing errors and accelerate deal close rates.

Joe Ballarino, president and chief operating officer of Real Estate Industry Solutions, shares:

“Form Simplicity maximizes agent productivity and now with the addition of DocuSign, the standard in electronic signature, we anticipate the adoption rate will continue to increase rapidly. Now Form Simplicity users will have unparalleled convenience and ease of use to quickly send forms to clients for electronic signature with DocuSign.

Form Simplicity users can now join more than 30,000 real estate professionals eliminating paper and expediting real estate transactions with DocuSign. Rather than driving across town to get a signature or forcing clients to find a fax machine, real estate professionals use DocuSign to execute agreements with buyers and sellers electronically. With real estate forms signed in minutes, not days, DocuSign real estate professionals achieve higher sales, increase client satisfaction and maintain a competitive edge. Safe and secure, the DocuSign electronic signature process is also easy to use and legally compliant.

Dave Thorpe, market director at DocuSign,

Real Estate Industry Solutions and DocuSign provides real estate professionals with state of the art technology to better manage workflows, and close real estate transactions faster and easier. Real estate professionals can now leverage the power of DocuSign electronic signature services directly from within Form Simplicity anytime, anywhere for a rich, complete and convenient end-to-end forms management process. This partnership is another example of DocuSign’s leadership as the standard in electronic signature solutions for real estate professionals.

Take a look for more information about DocuSign and Real Estate Industry Solutions!

Doug Glagola, vice president at MeridianLink, explains how DocuSign extends MeridianLink’s platform, enabling the entire process to be conducted in the cloud:

With the success financial institutions are experiencing with their investment in online lending and account opening capabilities and the millions of loans and accounts now being originated online, it seemed only natural to also finalize and close the transaction online. With DocuSign, the entire process can be conducted seamlessly in the cloud—eliminating paper, hassles and wasted time. DocuSign is the final mile in completing the loan process.

MeridianLink’s platform, an online application, instantly generates pre-qualified loan decisions for all types of consumer loans and generates new accounts for all types of deposit accounts. Commercial loan origination and deposit accounts are also available. MeridianLink’s platform fully integrates loan origination and account opening, core processing and internal banking software in almost any configuration to produce a fully paperless lending and account opening program for any financial institution. Now with the integration of DocuSign electronic signature services within the MeridianLink platform, online transactions can be originated, approved, signed and funded without interruption. DocuSign finalizes the process by offering financial institutions and borrowers the convenience to electronically sign and complete the final mile of the process all within the MeridianLink workflow.

Just as the MeridianLink platform has transformed how loans and new deposit accounts are originated and processed, electronic signatures are further transforming these transactions so they are conducted entirely in the cloud. By moving loan and deposit account document signing into the cloud, financial institutions can leverage the time and cost efficiencies of cloud computing while gaining real-time insight into the signing process. And, through the integration of the DocuSign electronic signature platform, MeridianLink financial institution customers have complete real-time visibility into the entire process.

Dave Thorpe, market director at DocuSign, explains what integrating the DocuSign electronic signature solution into the MeridianLink platform means for banks and credit unions:

More than 450 banks and credit unions have currently deployed the MeridianLink platform. With the integration of the DocuSign electronic signature service, we anticipate an accelerated adoption of the MeridianLink automated loan and account opening solution. DocuSign is excited to align with MeridianLink and we look forward to collaborating with them to further extend the power of the DocuSign electronic signature platform and the MeridianLink’s platform in streamlining the loan and account opening process, reducing costs and ensuring the continued success of our joint customers.

Earlier this week, we attended Cloudforce San Jose to discuss electronic signature and how DocuSign for Salesforce fit into the larger Salesforce ecosystem – we were chosen as one of four apps to be on stage to demo from over 100,000 total apps on Force.com. With more than 2,000 people at the event and more than 10,000 people watching live, we were excited to present a paperless solution that can handle complex workflows. However, the main star was Chatter and its capabilities stole the show – in eight months, Salesforce delivered a nontrivial platform application that further extends collaboration within an organization.

Social applications such as Facebook and Twitter enabled consumers to collaborate – to share ideas regarding purchasing decisions or make and share social plans and content. Chatter provides the thread to connect individuals, groups and departments within the greater enterprise in a private, secure and trusted manner.

Beyond enabling connections between key individuals within an organization, Chatter also enables connections between a business and its customers. For example, Chatter enables a company to publish and make searchable its knowledge base. This will enable customers to help themselves if they were to have an issue and look to search engines to find the answer.

Collaborating in the Cloud With Electronic Signatures

With our Spring ‘10 release, we also enabled the power of collaboration. Collaborate to Close enables last minute negotiations – a new closing date, a change in delivery address, or other changes while managing the process to ensure that everyone initials to accept the changes so there are no surprises. Without the fax of a fax of a fax, Collaborate to Close provides speed, cleanliness and security for DocuSign electronic signature customers.

The Real-Time Success Cloud: DocuSign for Salesforce

Of course, we enjoyed talking about how DocuSign for Salesforce provides the smart, secure way to electronically sign, track and store documents. With DocuSign for Salesforce, you’ll get insight into the status of your deals, accelerate revenue by turning an Opportunity into an eSigned Contract, and know exactly when your contract was opened, eSigned and Closed in the Cloud!

DocuSign for Salesforce Chatter Enabled provides you with real time Chatter feeds on your DocuSign deals. Follow Account, Contact, Opportunities or Leads and know the latest status without needing to lookup the record!

We’re glad we got to meet a number of you at the DocuSign booth after the keynote. In case you missed us in San Jose, register to join us for the 2010 ESIGN Summit or register for a DocuSign for Salesforce demo!

DocuSign to Streamline Loan Funding Process for McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union

We’re excited to announce that McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union has selected DocuSign to securely expedite the consumer lending process online. By using DocuSign to automate the loan signing process, McGraw-Hill increases member satisfaction, streamlines workflows and reduces the time to fund member loans. Michael Sullivan, executive vice president and chief operating officer of McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union, shares his thoughts on selecting DocuSign as its trusted electronic signature provider:

We looked at e-signing to increase efficiencies throughout our four branches and to improve loan processes to enhance member convenience. We quickly realized that the DocuSign service would easily fit into our workflows since it is as easy as sending an email. After examining DocuSign’s functionality, reliability, security and the caliber of its clientele, the decision was easy. We’re confident that DocuSign is the best fit to streamline and accelerate our loan signing process.

DocuSign offers McGraw-Hill members anywhere, anytime convenience to safely and securely sign consumer loan documents online. Using a laptop or mobile device, McGraw-Hill members can electronically sign and return loan documents in minutes, thereby significantly reducing the time, environmental impact and cost of traditional paper-based loan processing. The DocuSign service provides McGraw-Hill additional value and will complement the high quality of service its members have come to expect.

Credit unions across the country are quickly adopting the DocuSign eSignature service to streamline the loan signing process and to ensure compliance with Regulation Z or more commonly known as Truth in Lending. This regulation, taking effect July 2010 for credit unions, requires lenders to fully disclose in writing the terms and conditions, including annual percentage rate and other charges for closed-end loans.

Financial leaders such as BECU, Alliant, Idaho Central, TTCU, Bellco, University of Illinois and hundreds of other credit unions are migrating to DocuSign, the most trusted eSignature platform available. DocuSign is proven to increase productivity, reduce costs, enhance member satisfaction and improve business processes. Take a look for more information on how the DocuSign eSignature service can positively impact credit unions. Steve King, DocuSign’s president and CEO, shares his thoughts on working with McGraw-Hill:

We are pleased to be partnering with this outstanding financial institution. We look forward to continuing our work with McGraw-Hill to reduce costs and accelerate the loan signing process, while continuing to provide superior member satisfaction.

We also invite you to learn more about how you can stay ahead of Regulation Z by joining us in an eSign for credit unions webinar on the 17th or the 23rd. Click and register for either webinar!

We’re excited to share the latest partner application from @Ware, Inc.—eDottedLine, which seamlessly integrates DocuSign eSignature service within Microsoft Outlook for a complete email document signing solution. eDottedLine extends DocuSign’s functionality within Microsoft Office applications to streamline business processes and increase efficiencies. eDottedLine from @Ware, Inc., RAMP Group’s eProcess for SharePoint succeeds by delivering an end-to-end document signing and management system. James Harvey, president and chief executive officer of @Ware, shares his thoughts on integrating DocuSign’s eSignature service within Microsoft Outlook:

DocuSign has ascended rapidly as the gold standard for online e-signature technology while Outlook has been the gold standard for desktop communication for the past 16 years. The synergistic benefits of bringing these two technologies together are self-evident and compelling.

@Ware eDottedLine With DocuSign At-a-Glance

eDottedLine is an add-in that extends DocuSign’s eSignature technology to Microsoft Outlook. This powerful application increases productivity by marrying the convenience of Outlook into the DocuSign e-signature process. Outlook’s collaborative model is integrated into this workflow, creating an intuitive and precise end-to-end experience. With eDottedLine, e-signatures are transacted as email messages:

• A wizard guides the user through one of three possible DocuSign processes: free form signing, browser-based tagging and full template support. All predefined template settings are back-filled into the Outlook e-mail message to create a complete record of each e-signature transaction.
• Transaction receipts are created as Outlook Tasks with due dates set to the expiration dates of the corresponding DocuSign envelopes.
• By synchronizing these tasks, the completion status of each envelope is updated. For each completed transaction, a final PDF document copy is downloaded and archived automatically. These task receipts provide a dashboard view of the user’s e-signature transactions and allow the user to benefit from Outlook notifications.
• Outlook Contacts can be synchronized with the DocuSign Address Book with just a single mouse-click. Specific Outlook Contact folders and/or Contact items can be included or excluded giving the user complete control and flexibility. Outlook recipients are mapped to DocuSign users and Outlook’s rich address resolution is extended to the DocuSign transaction.

@Ware eDottedLine generates a transaction receipt as an Outlook Task so you can conveniently manage your document.

@Ware’s plug-and-play architecture allows e-signature transactions to be recorded within other third-party Web services. A broadcasting agent allows the same documents to be sent to many recipients with just a single e-mail message, which includes distribution list support. Tom Gonser, founder and vice president of product strategy at DocuSign, provides his view on how eDottedLine will affect the Microsoft Office environment:

The release of @Ware’s eDottedLine further extends the capabilities of DocuSign eSignature service within the Microsoft Office environment. This unique application makes it faster and easier than ever to get documents signed online, and to share data within other core Microsoft Office applications. DocuSign is pleased to partner with innovators like @Ware to make it possible for organizations across all industries to operate more efficiently within the Windows eco-system.

Pricing and Availability

Click for more information on @Ware eDottedLine DocuSign Edition.

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.

Ken Moyle, chief legal officer of DocuSign, responds:

Under the above scenario, there is only one party electing to affix his signature electronically, and his consent is implicit in his act. The other party does not have to consent, because he is not electronically signing. Contract law still applies, and with the help of UETA, the writing requirement is still met as to the e-signing party’s participation in the formation of the contract.

If I send you an offer electronically, under contract law I have made you a bona fide offer and under ESIGN/UETA I cannot duck out of that solely because it was in electronic form. So if you accept it by printing out my offer and signing it with pen and paper, we’ve got a contract. Similarly, if you counter on paper and I accept your counter electronically by using my DocuSign signature, we have a contract.

DocuSign provides functionality that enables signers to sign on paper instead of eSign. Our Fax Back Support allows signers to print documents, wet sign and fax back or upload the signed documents into the DocuSign envelope. This process also enables you to include documents you need to have notarized in your DocuSign envelope.

DocuSign enables you to have the security of the market-leading electronic signature and online signing process with the flexibility to fit your needs – for more information, take a look at DocuSign’s electronic signature features and functionality.

ACORD Carrier Session and AUGIE (ACORD User Groups Information Exchange) Meeting: We’re discussing the power of our eSignature platform and its impact to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and streamline workflows in the insurance industry.

Steve Woodworth, Market Director, Insurance and Wealth Management at DocuSign will be speaking at the ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum, Mandalay Bay Resort, Exhibit Hall, Las Vegas on Monday, May 24, 2010 at 8am-8:30am and at 11:15am – 11:45am.

Streamline and Accelerate Workflows with DocuSign’s Trusted eSignature Platform

Learn why insurance industry leaders such as Banner Life, iPipeline, QuickQuote, Lincoln Financial Group, LifeInsure.com and others are adopting DocuSign, the most trusted eSignature platform available. See how the DocuSign electronic signature platform is transforming the industry and helping users close business faster by providing valuable insight and real-time visibility into the document signing process. Learn how DocuSign can cost-effectively increase productivity, enhance client satisfaction, accelerate the return of documents error-free and generate revenue in less time. Click for more information on how the DocuSign eSignature platform positively impacts the insurance industry.

Visit DocuSign at booth #705 for a demonstration of its eSignature services at the Opening Night Reception in the Exhibit Hall on Monday, May 24 from 4pm – 7pm or during regular Exhibit Hall hours:

• Tuesday, May 25 from 11:30am – 1:30pm and 5pm – 7pm
• Wednesday, May 26 from Noon – 2pm and 4:45pm – 6:15pm

Unable to attend? Register online for the DocuSign Insurance Webinar: Five Reasons to use eSignatures in your Transaction.

To learn more about this speaking engagement or to register for the event, visit the DocuSign Web site.

Staffing companies such as Alliance Staffing and LG Consulting are rapidly adopting DocuSign eSignature service to expedite their contracting and onboarding processes, enabling these consulting firms to better service their clients and quickly sign talent.

Learn how electronic signatures can help you reduce costs, increase efficiencies and enhance customer and client service.

J.T. Monahan, Executive Vice President at LG Consulting will also share best practices, so you can learn firsthand how electronic signature from DocuSign can help you slash operational costs, create more efficient processes and improve customer and client service.

When: Wed, May 26, 2010 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT

Click here to register for this informational eSign webinar about expediting contracting and talent onboarding processes and best practices for using electronic signature in staffing companies!

Alliance Staffing Solutions, one of the fastest growing companies in Northeast Ohio, has selected eSignature from DocuSign to complete its candidate application process. Alliance uses DocuSign to quickly and easily send candidates employment application packages to complete and electronically sign—thereby avoiding the hassle of printing, signing and faxing or mailing bulky, multi-page applications. Alliance anticipates hundreds of candidate application packages will be e-signed each month using the DocuSign electronic signature service. Kate Masin, director of operations at Alliance Staffing Solutions, shares her thoughts about using electronic signature from DocuSign:

As one of the largest staffing companies in our region, we process a large volume of applications and need the very latest technology to support and even accelerate our processes. In addition, with seven business units serving different industry sectors, we needed a more mature eSignature solution that could accommodate the unique needs of each business unit. DocuSign was the perfect fit. We are excited about utilizing DocuSign’s templates and automatic signing reminders as it will significantly reduce the time it takes Alliance to administer new candidate application packages. In addition, it is much more user friendly for our applicants.

According to Masin, Alliance Staffing Solutions needed an eSignature solution that was fast, flexible and easy for internal staff as well as external applicants. Masin registered for a free, no obligation electronic signature trial of DocuSign, which proved easy to use and offered the speed and document customization necessary to better brand and support each business unit. DocuSign would also streamline operations with productivity enhancing functionality including easy to create templates and the automatic conversion of Adobe® PDF form fields. Plus, the faster the application package is returned completed and e-signed by the job seeker, the faster Alliance can begin placing the applicant.

Alliance manages hundreds of job seekers applying online through the Alliance website to each business unit. Alliance recruiters review each application and prepare the necessary employment application forms using DocuSign’s easy to create templates and familiar yellow drag and drop Stick-eTabs® and then electronically send the documents from the DocuSign Console. The applicant immediately receives an email notification that the application packet is ready for e-signing. The documents can be quickly accessed through a computer or any Web-enabled mobile device, including Apple® iPhone® or iPad®, RIM® BlackBerry®, Google® AndroidTM and Windows Mobile®. The applicant adopts an e-signature and is guided through the e-signing process. Once completed, an email notification is sent to both parties with a link to the final executed document. The result is a legally binding, fully ESIGN-compliant employment application supported by a comprehensive audit trail. Based on this success, Alliance intends to use DocuSign’s Application Programming Interface (API) to integrate DocuSign with its customer relationship management system and may embed DocuSign within its website. Steve King, president and CEO of DocuSign, explains how Alliance Staffing Solutions utilizes electronic signature:

Alliance Staffing Solutions leverages technology to successfully connect employers and job seekers in a highly competitive environment. DocuSign is pleased to be working with Alliance to further streamline their business processes, increase efficiencies and enhance their customer service with both clients and candidates.

For more information on how DocuSign can accelerate your recruiting processes, visit the DocuSign Web site.