We’ve shared the story of how Colin Crawford, CEO and Founder of Media7, and his wife Sue closed on their home using electronic signature from DocuSign – from 30,000 feet, while on a flight from Boston to San Francisco. Now, the mainstream media has picked up this story as well, with the San Francisco Chronicle recently published a story, “Sign on the Digital Line.”

The Crawfords used the Gogo Inflight High Speed WiFi Internet service to stay connected throughout the flight, and using DocuSign’s secure e-Signature service, the Crawfords were able to eSign the purchase agreement and return the documents to Patricia Navone, who works for Morgan Lane, part of McLaughlin Ventures.

The ability to sign and return their offer via DocuSign reduced the Crawfords’ stress, made the process seamless, and allowed them to enjoy their vacation – they didn’t have to spend vacation time dealing with physical documents. By the time they landed in San Francisco, Patricia had already presented their offer to the listing agent, and that they would be opening escrow.

The San Francisco Chronicle shared how DocuSign’s eSignature services enabled the Crawfords to finalize their offer and close on the property. With technologies like electronic signature and transaction document managers, real estate professionals can streamline the dealmaking process.

For example, DocuSign and TransactionPoint have partnered to enable the customers of both services to select an envelope from their member console and upload one or more envelope documents to target TransactionPoint transactions without having to leave DocuSign.

For more information, read the San Francisco Chronicle article and take a look at DocuSign’s real estate eSignature solutions.

Next week, we’ll be in Austin, Texas, home of the Texas Longhorns, and Texas BBQ! DocuSign will be on hand in booth #630 to discuss eSignature with those attending the Prudential Real Estate Sales Convention from Sunday, March 7th to Tuesday March 9th!

We can’t wait to connect with many of our current DocuSign customers and meeting with others who want to learn how they can use electronic signature to:

Save Time: On average, DocuSign users save more than six hours a week – that’s time they can spend building their business, working with more clients, or spending time with their families.

Add convenience: DocuSign Electronic Signature Service eliminates the hassle of fax, overnight mail, or personal delivery of documents. Not only do real estate professionals find DocuSign easy to use, so do their customers!

Increase Customer Satisfaction: Real estate professionals who use DocuSign provide an extra level of service to their clients. These days, everyone’s so busy! DocuSign’s “Designed for Mobile” functionality means that they can e-sign from the convenience of their Apple iPhones, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, or Google Android phones and no longer have to wait to get in front of a computer before they can eSign documents.

DocuSign saves time, adds additional convenience and increases your customers’ satisfaction because it’s literally as easy as opening an email, clicking a link, reading disclosures and adding the necessary clicks of a mouse.

We’ll have information about the newest release of DocuSign Version 10.1, so be sure to stop by Booth #630 to learn about electronic signature and how it can help you stop chasing paper and get your life back!

Want to hear about a new, special product we’ve created as a proud partner and the exclusive and official provider of ESIGN services in the NAR Member Benefits® Program? Stop by booth #630 to learn more!

We look forward to seeing you at the Prudential Real Estate Sales Convention and answering any questions you have about DocuSign and electronic signature!

While the familiar yellow stick-e-tabs indicate to where your signers should place their electronic signature, you may also send a document for e-signature without placing any stick-e-tabs. For example, DocuSign Lite, DocuSign’s free electronic signature service, enables you to send a document for signature without a stick-e-tab. DocuSign’s free form signing feature enables your recipients to eSign and return documents – quickly, easily and securely!

This video will show you how to use DocuSign’s free form signing feature to drag signatures, initials, and form fields to any location in the document to complete the signing.

• Open the email sent to you from the DocuSign eSignature Service.
• Click the “Review” button to open your envelope.
• Click the “I Agree” box for the consumer disclosure statement.
• Click the “I Adopt” box to adopt or to modify your signature, click the “Modify your Signature” link.
• Click “Continue”

Your document appears in the window. Use the palette on the left of the document to click and drag signatures, initials and form fields to any location in the document.

The example in the video shows the selection and dragging of the signature and date signed form fields to the document.

You can reposition or remove any form fields you had previously added before you complete your signing. You can stay and review your document. Click the “Complete Signing” button when you’re done.

The completed window appears. Here, you can download or print a PDF of your signed documents. Click “Done” when you’re finished. That’s it!

For more information on how to use DocuSign Electronic Signature Services, take a look at our other helpful “How-To’s”, sign up for a weekly training, or see other how-to ESIGN videos on DocuSign’s YouTube Channel!

As the leading provider of on-demand electronic signature solutions to the real estate industry, we’re excited to announce a partnership with ActiveRain, the world’s largest social network for real estate professionals. ActiveRain will drive awareness of DocuSign’s e-signature technology through exclusive advertising, sponsorships, blogging and other online media vehicles to more than 175,000 ActiveRain members, extending our outreach to real estate professionals.

Lauren Bernstein, VP of Operations, ActiveRain

It’s the perfect partnership—ActiveRain gives real estate professionals the tools to use the Internet to extend reach and capture business opportunities. DocuSign’s e-signature service uses the Internet to accelerate business and close deals faster. Adding DocuSign as a sponsor offers our real estate community another tool to increase success in a highly competitive environment. – Lauren Bernstein, vice president of operations at ActiveRain

To kick-off the partnership, DocuSign will be a sponsor of ActiveRain’s Denver RainCamp to be held at the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center in Englewood on Tuesday, March 9. The fifth in the U.S. tour, the Denver RainCamp is a full day conference offering valuable content, presentations and innovations that help real estate professionals with social networking, blogging and business planning. RainCamp was developed for real estate professionals seeking successful methods and tools to maximize and grow their online business in today’s modern day real estate market. DocuSign is the exclusive eSignature service sponsor of the event. More information can be found at the RainCamp Web site.

In this economic environment, employing technology is the most cost-effective method to grow a business. We are looking forward to extending our reach through ActiveRain and partnering to help real estate professionals learn how to effectively leverage technology like DocuSign’s electronic signature service to close deals faster, safer and more efficiently. – Dave Thorpe, business development director at DocuSign

More than 20,000 real estate professionals have used DocuSign to accelerate their business, with thousands more subscribing each month. 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, eliminating the antiquated process of printing, faxing and waiting for the return fax. As more than 95 percent of home buyers have Internet access, but fewer than 10 percent have fax service at their home, DocuSign saves agents time and money while providing client convenience. Real estate forms are signed in minutes, not days, from a PC, Mac or even a mobile phone. DocuSign real estate professional subscribers achieve higher sales, increase client satisfaction and maintain a competitive edge.

Safe and secure, the DocuSign e-signature process is also easy to use and legally compliant.

We’re back for another exciting e-Signature developer workshop – thank you to everyone who attended the first two ESIGN Developer Workshops!

Mike Borozdin, Manager of Professional Services, will take you through a free electronic signature developer workshop so you can learn how to use templates in conjunction with API web service calls.

We will walk through a Java sample that shows how templates can be used via the API.

In one hour, you’ll learn how to leverage templates to automate the sending of documents through the DocuSign electronic signature system.

If you’re evaluating the DocuSign API to integrate electronic signature with your existing processes or technologies or you’ve heard about the DocuSign API but aren’t sure how to get started, you won’t want to miss this FREE eSignature workshop!

So when can you learn how to automate the sending of documents through DocuSign esignature?

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PDT

Please register for this free eSignature developer workshop, get your free DocuSign Developer account and download the DocuSign SDK prior to the workshop.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

While we enjoy providing safe, secure eSign services, we’ve also included a “Sign on Paper” feature for our customers who have recipients who prefer sign on paper. The Sign on Paper feature can help you sign documents on paper while still allowing you to take advantage of DocuSign’s ability to store and manage your signed paper documents electronically.

The following steps enable you to review, sign deliver, store and manage a document on paper using the DocuSign service:

• Open the email invitation from the DocuSign Service
• Accept the Consumer Disclosure Statement, if asked
• Review the document
• Sign the document
• Fax or upload the document to the DocuSign Electronic Signature Service

DocuSign gives you the option to sign a document on paper instead of electronically and asks you to review and accept the Consumer Disclosure agreement. To sign on paper:

• Click the “I would prefer to sign on paper” link
• Click the “I Agree” box in the Consumer Disclosure section
• Click the “Continue” button

The Sign on Paper window appears, allowing you to review, print and sign the document on paper. You can still eSign, if you change your mind and decide not to sign on paper!

• Click the “View/Print All Pages” button to launch a PDF of the document you are about to sign on paper
• Print, review, fill out and sign the document
• Optionally, click the “Sign Online” button if you change your mind and want to sign the document electronically
• After you have printed, reviewed, and signed the document, click the “Next” button

The “Submit Documents” window appears, allowing you to upload your scanned document you signed on paper to the DocuSign Electronic Signature Service, fax your signed document to the DocuSign eSignature Service, and eSign the document by selecting the “Sign Online” button.

To Upload Your Scanned Document

1. From the Submit Documents window, select the “File Upload” radio button
2. Click the “Browse” buttonto navigate and to select a document
3. Click the “Submit” button

The DocuSign Electronic Signature Service Completed window appears, where you have the option to download your document as a PDF or view other download options. Click the “Done” button when finished.

To Fax Your Signed Document

1. From the Submit Documents window, select the “Fax” radio button
2. Click the “Print Cover Page…” button to open a PDF of the fax cover page. A PDF of the fax cover page appears.
3. Print the fax cover page
4. Optionally, you can still eSign the document online by clicking the “Sign Online” button before you fax the document
5. Follow the instructions on the fax cover page and fax your document to the number on the cover page
6. From the Submit Documents window, click the “Fax Submitted” button after you have faxed the document

The DocuSign Electronic Signature Service Completed window appears. Whether you upload or fax the signed documents, the completed DocuSign envelope consists of a set of documents that are eSigned and a set of documents for each signer who signed on paper. Contract documents executed in this manner are called “counterparts.”

For more information on how to use DocuSign Electronic Signature Services, take a look at our other helpful “How-To’s”, sign up for a weekly training, or see other how-to ESIGN videos on DocuSign’s YouTube Channel!

February brought us many updates regarding electronic signature. From the launch of DocuSign Version 10.1 SaaS esignature service to participation at multiple conferences to discuss eSign as a speaker or expo participant, DocuSign continues its leadership role in helping you save time and safely send, sign, and manage your documents with confidence.

Ken Moyle to Discuss eSignature at 10th CSO Council Bay Area Event on Electronic and Digital Signatures

We’re pleased to announce Ken Moyle’s selection to a panel at the 10th CSO Council Bay Area event on Electronic and Digital Signatures, March 1st (full day) at Adobe in San Francisco. Ken will be discussing eSigning in the cloud, legal issues of chain of custody, evidence preservation and other related topics.

Announcing the Launch of DocuSign Version 10.1 SaaS eSignature Service

New Customer-Driven Capabilities and Exclusive ESIGN Service Offerings for Adobe PDF, Salesforce CRM and Apple iPhone
Today, we announced our latest innovations in on-demand electronic signature solutions, with the release of the DocuSign version 10.1. This version of our award-winning e-signature service offers unique features and functionality designed to support workflow and productivity.

Don’t Miss Electronic Signature at the National Real Estate CyberConvention and Expo

We’re excited to let you know that Tom Gonser, Founder and VP of Product Strategy for DocuSign, will be a featured speaker with a presentation for Accelerating Real Estate Business With E-Signatures at the upcoming National Real Estate CyberConvention & Expo, February 21-27, 2010.
This online convention means that you may attend all events — without leaving the comfort of your home or office!

Talking eSign at Next Week’s Keller Williams Family Reunion!

New Orleans – What a happening place! Last weekend, The Saints won the Super Bowl. This weekend is Mardi Gras. Next week, DocuSign will be on hand in booth #456 to discuss eSignature with those attending the Keller Williams Family Reunion! We look forward to connecting with many of our current DocuSign customers and meeting with anyone interested in learning more about electronic signature from DocuSign!

Cash in on the Demand for eSignature Services With the DocuSign Affiliate Program

Today’s a big day – we’re announcing the launch of the DocuSign Affiliate Program to enable online businesses to share the benefits of the DocuSign Electronic Signature Services with their online clients and visitors. We’ve extended our reach and shattered expectations with more than 500 affiliate partners joining in the first week of launch.

As Demand for eSignature Services Accelerates, DocuSign Partner Program Expands

Today, we’re announcing the launch of the DocuSign Partner Program, a comprehensive initiative to effectively extend DocuSign’s reach through strategic, referral and affiliate partners. Rapid adoption of DocuSign Electronic Signature Services sparked this new lead referral program to spur partner success. The program is designed to further accelerate the adoption of DocuSign eSignature services.

Network Products Guide Names DocuSign 2010 Hot Companies Finalist

Winners Will Be Honored at Technosium 2010 Hot Companies and Technology Award Presentations and Dinner – Today, we announced our selection as a 2010 Hot Companies finalist by Network Products Guide. DocuSign is the only electronic signature services provider selected as a 2010 Hot Companies finalist.

DocuSign Receives Red Herring 100 Global Award Nomination

Red Herring Reveals the Top Finalists for the Red Herring 100 and Includes DocuSign, the Leader in Electronic Signature Services – Today, we’ve announced our selection as a finalist for Red Herring’s Global 100 award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from around the world.

Stay tuned to see what we have coming up for you in March – Ken Moyle’s panel at the 10th CSO Council Bay Area event on Electronic and Digital Signatures, March 1st at Adobe in San Francisco is only the beginning of the developments we have regarding DocuSign and electronic signature!

We’re pleased to announce Ken Moyle’s selection to a panel at the 10^th CSO Council Bay Area event on Electronic and Digital Signatures, March 1^st (full day) at Adobe in San Francisco. Ken will be discussing eSigning in the cloud, legal issues of chain of custody, evidence preservation and other related topics.

About Ken Moyle, Chief Legal Officer, DocuSign and Public Policy Chair, Electronic Signatures and Records Association (ESRA)

Ken Moyle joined DocuSign® in July 2006 with more than 15 years of high-tech industry experience. He is responsible for planning and directing finance, operations, legal and corporate affairs for DocuSign.

Mr. Moyle was previously general counsel and secretary at Insightful Corporation, a publicly traded software and services company specializing in predictive analytics. As top legal and compliance officer, Moyle was responsible for all corporate legal matters, including IP licensing, mergers and acquisitions, distributor contracts, copyright and trademark issues, patents, SEC reporting, corporate governance, risk management, litigation, and investor relations. He also oversaw human resources and facilities. Ken was also instrumental in converting a remote operating division of Insightful into the corporate headquarters of a public company. He oversaw numerous strategic acquisitions and established all of the company’s foreign subsidiaries.

Moyle represents DocuSign on the board of directors of the Washington D.C. based Electronic Signatures and Records Association (ESRA) and is chairman of ESRA’s Public Policy Committee. He is also a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s MISMO eMortgage Legal Issues workgroup. He has lectured on legal topics including ESIGN/UETA, electronic signatures in academic lending, open source software licensing and application service provider (ASP) business models and has spoken on a variety of public interest topics to audiences around the country.

Mr. Moyle holds a J.D. from the University of Washington. He is a member of the Washington Bar Association and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State of Washington.

Attendees of the 10^th CSO Council Bay Area event on Electronic and Digital Signatures will learn the pros and cons of electronic versus digital signatures from the identity, evidence, and operational perspectives.

This year’s special guests are two federal magistrate judges. Magistrate Facciola (S.D.N.Y.) recently digitally signed the first judicial order in US history, which he will discuss in his keynote. Attendees can also witness a mock trial and ask questions of a judicial panel.

This event is on the first day of the RSA conference, which is mostly an open and free day.

If you are interested in attending, please register by clicking the graphic below:

New Customer-Driven Capabilities and Exclusive ESIGN Service Offerings for Adobe PDF, Salesforce CRM and Apple iPhone

Today, we announced our latest innovations in on-demand electronic signature solutions, with the release of the DocuSign version 10.1. This version of our award-winning e-signature service offers unique features and functionality designed to support workflow and productivity including automation of form fields and other workflow enhancements to simplify the user experience.

ESIGNControl, a custom DocuSign application specifically designed for Apple® iPhone users by Smart Mobile Solutions, further extends this rich feature set. DocuSign, combined with ESIGNControl, supercharges sales teams, real estate professionals, mortgage brokers, and business development and operational professionals who rely on the DocuSign e-signature service to close deals online in minutes.

Gartner predicts that worldwide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) revenue will exceed $14 billion for the enterprise application markets by 2013, up from $7.5 billion in 2009.* Organizations of all sizes are deploying affordable, on-demand solutions like DocuSign to automate core business functions, reduce costs and increase employee productivity. Whether it’s a simple NDA or a complex global sales agreement requiring multi-party signatures, DocuSign helps companies operate greener, faster and more profitably by removing the hurdles associated with the signing process and by offering more ways for users to access and complete their transactions online.

This release of DocuSign version 10.1 adds more sophisticated capabilities that make it faster and easier than ever to get documents signed online, and to share data with other core business applications. DocuSign is creating an e-signature ecosystem that makes it possible for organizations across all industries to close deals in the cloud and operate more efficiently. – Tom Gonser, founder and vice president of product strategy at DocuSign

DocuSign Version 10.1 At-a-Glance

Automatic Conversion of Adobe® PDF Form Fields. Now, when uploading Adobe PDF forms into the DocuSign system, the service automatically recognizes and converts all PDF form fields—including text boxes, radio button groups, drop downs and check boxes—along with their attributes, directly into secure DocuSign fields that can be assigned to specific recipients. These fields can be manipulated without any additional software, and the forms can be saved as templates in the DocuSign online forms library and shared with all account users.

DocuSign for Salesforce New Enhancements. Salesforce users now have access to all functionality DocuSign offers from inside Salesforce. Salesforce users can use DocuSign to send any document for signature as easily as sending email from Salesforce. Unique to DocuSign is the ability to drag and drop form fields associated with Salesforce data directly into documents, enabling these documents to collect data during the signing process and automatically update Salesforce in real time. This new capability eliminates rekeying of information and dramatically streamlines the sales process.

In addition, users can set up DocuSign for Salesforce accounts and manage users within the Salesforce application through the new DocuSign Admin Tab. Users can be up and running in a matter of minutes with no new user interface to learn. These new capabilities are expected to be released through the Salesforce Spring Update on March 6, 2010. DocuSign for Salesforce customers include Acteva, Community Energy, Drawloop, EDGAR® Online, LinkedIn, Yamaha and others.

Expanded Capabilities with ESIGNControl for the Apple iPhone. ESIGNControl enables DocuSign clients to use their Apple iPhone to access, send, sign and manage electronic documents. It is a powerful tool for managers to track their sales through robust reporting functionality. ESIGNControl is available today for download from iTunes® and a variety of other Web sites.

The iPhone is quickly becoming a must-have business productivity tool and ESIGNControl makes it easy for DocuSign clients to maximize efficiencies when away from the office. ESIGNControl was developed for the iPhone and thoroughly tested for performance. This new application offers a fast, convenient and mobile method to use DocuSign from any iPhone. -Tony Tonchev, founder of Smart Mobile Solutions and creator of the ESIGNControl application

ESIGNControl is a DocuSign transaction remote control that lets users manage documents sent for e-signature from any iPhone. ESIGNControl offers a rich feature set that makes it fast and easy for DocuSign users to:

• Send a document for signature straight from your iPhone
• Conveniently view, track and access sent documents
• Easily send, revise and resend documents for eSignature
• Quickly access document signing status, envelope details, archived documents and history
• Share easy-to-read graphical reports that even shows transaction times
• Electronically sign a document from anywhere, anytime
• Remotely log in to the DocuSign Console

These powerful new features within the DocuSign eSignature Service, further demonstrate DocuSign’s leadership in the ESIGN market. DocuSign currently commands more than 70 percent of the SaaS-based electronic signature services market and recently surpassed 58 million signature events. The company has experienced accelerated growth of more than 300 percent over the previous year and serves more than 20,000 customers ranging across all markets. In 2009, DocuSign delivered more than 480 customer-driven features while maintaining 99.993 percent system availability over the past 28 months.**

Pricing and Availability of DocuSign Electronic Signature Solutions

DocuSign for Salesforce is scheduled to be available March 6 with additional product information available online. Salesforce users will be able to download the DocuSign for Salesforce application at no charge at the Appexchange.

ESIGNControl is available now from iTunes for $2.99.

* Gartner report “Market Trends: Software as a Service, Worldwide, 2008-2013, Update,” November 4, 2009. http://www.gartner.com/resId=1221513 .
** DocuSign, http://www.docusign.com/news_and_events/press_releases/2010-01-27.php.

Today we hear from Ken Moyle, DocuSign’s Chief Legal Officer and noted electronic signature law expert. In addition to serving as the Public Policy Chair of the Electronic Signature and Records Association (ESRA), Ken also often teaches continuing legal education classes and seminars regarding esignature and ESIGN.

Often, Ken is asked questions about when electronic signatures can be used to create a binding agreement. We all want to know how and when we can use eSignatures to create a binding agreement, so without further ado, Ken’s thoughts:

Consent to do Business With eSignature
Like most popular phenomena, the electronic signature movement is sometimes susceptible to rumor and misinformation. For example, there are still a few folks in the real estate and mortgage industries who insist that a real estate transaction cannot executed electronically unless there is a paper-and-ink contract confirming the parties’ agreement to go paperless.

This myth has been making the rounds for years in the Pacific Northwest and in some other small pockets of the country. I did a lot asking around to find out where this came from. The main source appears to be from an early Multiple Listing Service interpretation of the federal ESIGN Act, which provided an instant 50-state baseline for enforceability of electronic contracts (Washington is one of three states that have not adopted some form of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the state precursor to ESIGN).

The confusion seems to come from this statement, which was forwarded to me recently by a real estate agent in Oregon who received it from a representative of her MLS:

“Electronic signatures can be used to create a binding real property purchase agreement, but only if the parties have a signed, written agreement to that effect in place before they use the electronic signatures.”

On its face, this statement is not inconsistent with the federal ESIGN Act or the state UETAs, since under these laws a “writing” is given the same effect regardless of whether it is on paper or electronic. But in the above case the statement was invoked to convince the agent that the “signed, written agreement” must be on paper.

The federal ESIGN Act requires that parties consent to do business electronically, but there is no requirement that a separate paper contract be in place in order to manifest such consent. In the case of a consumer transaction (such as a residential real estate sale) where a party is required by law to provide information that is otherwise required to be provided in writing and on paper, certain disclosures about engaging in business electronically must be provided to the consumer before the consumer consents to do business electronically. See ESIGN 101(c)(1). In addition, the consumer must “affirmatively” consent, but there is no requirement that the consent be documented in a [separate] “signed, written agreement.” ). In fact, section101(c)(1)(C)(ii) of the federal law requires that the consent be given electronically and not on paper, in order to demonstrate the consumer’s technical capacity to engage in business electronically. In business to business transactions and in transactions where a signature is the only legal requirement (even if a consumer is involved), the consent does not have to be explicit at all. It may be found based on the facts and circumstances surrounding the transaction, and in most cases the fact that both parties used electronic means to execute the contract in the first place is more than enough to demonstrate that the parties consented to engage in business electronically as well as consented to the terms of the agreement.

But what if ESIGN doesn’t apply? Isn’t the state’s law going to vary these requirements? In order to promote e-commerce nationwide, the ESIGN Act takes full advantage of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution in order to preempt state laws that would threaten the 50-state baseline. Any state electronic signature law that would impose burdens or increased costs on the use of electronic records could cause the state law to be preempted by ESIGN. To the extent that a state law requires a paper agreement to get consent to business electronically, such requirement would presumably be preempted.

Fortunately, an association or MLS has no authority to determine the enforceability of a real estate contract. If two parties, after agreeing to transact business electronically, enter into a real estate contract by electronic means, the electronically signed contract will be valid, effective and enforceable.