Templates: The ability to create pre-defined documents with all ‘sign-here’ electronic signature and initial tabs for users who often send the same contract or agreement to different signers provides a dramatic time savings by automating the repetitive task of placing electronic signature and initial tabs. Once you’ve created and saved a template, you never have to place the tabs when sending that same type of document.

Intelligent Document Recognition™  (IDR): This proprietary feature analyzes documents loaded into the DocuSign system and automatically applies all ‘sign-here’ and other data tabs based on pre-defined customer templates. This innovation provides a dramatic time savings for power users who often send the same contract or agreement for signature multiple times a day, or for complex contracts.

Electronic Signature Personalization: In 2009, DocuSign delivered the only online electronic signature experience that offers signers the ability to create and save their own unique electronic signature. Signers now have the ability to load an exact image of their handwritten signature for use as part of their DocuSign e-signature, creating an even more personalized electronic signing process.

Support for Additional Document Formats: For even more time savings, DocuSign saved its customers an extra step every time they upload documents because they do not have to convert documents to PDF. DocuSign automatically provides real-time conversion of a broad range of document formats to secure PDFs on the fly.

Improved In-person Signing Experience: Electronic contract execution is becoming more common during in-person signings with multiple signers – especially for real estate, insurance and financial services customers. Using the new in-person signing process, DocuSign introduces a ‘Signing Host’ who acts much like a notary, authenticating the signers and administering the process.

I know I said I’d share the Top 10 ESIGN features of 2009 and for those of you who are counting along, we’ve only covered five. Come back tomorrow for the final five ESIGN features of 2009… **Update** Click Here for the final five ESIGN features of 2009

1. What does DocuSign Electronic Signature do?

DocuSign enables you to electronically send, sign, and manage your real estate and broker forms with confidence. You can use your current form creation process with DocuSign’s ability to mark up the document with yellow stick-e-tabs so you’ll never miss another signature or initial again.

DocuSign also notifies your clients that they have documents to sign and will walk them through the process of adopting an electronic signature and signing the document. You can also set up DocuSign to copy the other agent in the transaction so that once your clients have all signed, the process moves forward automatically! You’ll also receive a notification when your signers have all signed.

Using DocuSign’s electronic signature process with your real estate forms makes it easy and convenient for both you and your customers, giving you the competitive advantage buyers are talking about.

Find out how-to integrate DocuSign with your current forms creation software.

2. How does the e-signature get into the DocuSign system?

First, the sender creates an envelope and uploads the documents for signature. The sender addresses the envelope with the signer’s name and email address.

Then DocuSign sends the signer an email notifying them they have documents to be signed.

The signer clicks on the secure link, authenticates himself or herself into the system and goes through a process to adopt an electronic signature unique to the signer.

3. Won’t using electronic signature hurt my ability to develop relationships with my clients?

We understand that as real estate professionals, relationships and relationship building are important to your bottom line.

For example, if you and your client are in the offer process, you may also end up counter-offering as well. What if your client doesn’t have time to meet you every time new documents need to be signed? What if they’re out of town on business?

With DocuSign, the signing process can happen remotely if that’s what the client needs. DocuSign also offers in-person signing capabilities that enable you to leverage the power of electronic signature, document management and provide the in-person interaction as well.

4. Do I need any special equipment?

No – you can access DocuSign’s electronic signature services anywhere you have internet access, email and a web browser. This means you can access the DocuSign system from your home, office, or local coffee shop with wifi.

You can DocuSign from your desktop PC, Mac, Windows laptop, tablet – whatever computer you currently have, as long as you can get email, internet and browse the web!

This fall, DocuSign also launched ‘Designed for Mobile’ signing support for Apple iPhone and BlackBerry devices to make it faster and easier for customers to complete transactions while on the go.

5. Can I get more information about the legality of electronic signatures?
Absolutely – take a look at the legal section of the DocuSign blog, where Ken Moyle, DocuSign’s Chief Legal Officer and the Public Policy Chair of ESRA, shares his thoughts and writings about electronic signatures, electronic signature acceptance, authentication and evidentiary considerations.

What you need:

• Laptop (no tablet needed! Any laptop will do.)
• DocuSign Account (Advanced)
• Internet Access (Wire / WiFi / Cellular or Mobile Broadband)

Scenario

Say you need to get your buyers’ signatures on an offer, and then you want to get this signed offer to the other agent ASAP. You know your customers will be visiting you in your office or you will be visiting them at their home.

Steps to set-up the In-Person signing ahead of time:

1. Create your documents using your forms software, such as zipForms or WINForms.
2. Print or load your documents into DocuSign.
3. Enter the recipients and select ‘In-Person’ as the way you want them to sign. Enter YUR email as the host for the signing for your customers then enter in the names of your customers for each. Their email is not required in-person. When you enter the other agent, list them as “Carbon Copy”.

4. Place sign-here tabs or use a template to apply all of them at once.
5. Send the envelope. You will notice you have now a new task in your DocuSign in-box. This task is to witness the signing for the customers you just entered.

Witnessing a Signing
Now, when your customers arrive, or you visit them at home, you will be witnessing the e-signing process like you would in any paper signing process.  To have them sign, follow these steps:

1. Log into your DocuSign Account. This validates you as the ‘witness’ much like in a notary signing.
2. Open the envelope you sent, and it will bring up the first signer to witness.  If that person is present, you continue.
3. Notice the system asks you to collect a driver’s license or other credentials from the signers in order to establish some ID. This can be as detailed as required by your business.  In some cases, customers require a driver’s license and/or other forms of ID. (What credentials are requested can bet set in your admin console if you are the account admin)  Enter this into the record.

4. Once collected, the system will prompt you to turn the keyboard over to the first signer. They go through the standard DocuSign process where they click to e-sign.
5. Upon completion, you as the witness are required to enter in your password to validate you were there at the end of the signing.
6. Repeat this process for the other signer.

Now, as soon as you complete the process for your in-person signers, the contract will AUTOMATICALLY be sent to the other agent through the carbon copy feature! This saves time and makes sure you have the best chance to get your offer in first. The audit trail will show that you witnessed the signers signing, with the ID information collected during the signing process. This is very similar to what a notary does when they witness a signature.

Finally, the ‘mixed mode’ is key. You can sign with a few people in-person, then have the transaction move to remote via email notice. This way ALL your files can be DocuSigned so you keep things consistent and in the same place!

That got me thinking about fundamental assets for those in the professional world, and I’ve identified three important characteristics of real estate professionals.

Relationship Building: The ability to develop and maintain relationships helps you be effective, exchange ideas as well as gain and maintain clients’ and customers’ trust and confidence. For example, sharing ideas with a potential seller who is considering listing his or her property with you may be one way to demonstrate that you listen to the potential client and can help him or her sell the home.

Teamwork: Collaborating with others enables you to undertake projects than you would not otherwise be able to handle. You can also accomplish more when working with others. For example, when you’re selling a home, you might work with other real estate professionals to get the deal done. These might include a home staging stylist, a third party short sales negotiator, and others who have skills you are still developing.

Communication: Sharing ideas and thoughts, forming plans, and executing against them requires the ability to make sure that everyone understands who is involved, what they will be doing, and what the expectations are. For example, communicating to a home seller that his or her home needs to be staged, what that entails, how much it will cost and how it will be paid for, and why staging is important will go a long way to maintaining the relationship you’ve built.

DocuSign Electronic Signature Service is a technology tool that promotes relationship building, teamwork and communication.

With its flexibility for remote signing or in-person signing, DocuSign can capture electronic signatures in a way that makes the most sense for you and your client. Are your clients in separate states? With DocuSign, all they need is internet access, email, and a browser – there’s nothing to download and signers can sign for free, easily providing the communications needed to close a sale.

With carbon copy or “cc” functionality, the other agent can receive access to the documents as soon as you and your clients have esigned the papers. This automation creates a smoother process, is more convenient, and minimizes the potential for miscommunication. Providing all parties with needed copies of the papers provides for good teamwork.

With electronic signature and electronic contract execution, there’s no physical paper to keep track of and the documents stay clear and legible. When compared to papers that have been faxed back and forth due to offers and counter offers, documents from DocuSign are clean and easily read. Building relationships is easy when you streamline your processes with DocuSign.

What other characteristics will lead to professional success?

Do you think much of the value you bring to a professional relationship is in the face-to-face interaction?

In real life interactions are an important part of relationship building and maintenance. However, online tools can enhance our ability to communicate and relationship-build without regard to physical location. 

Tools like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and even DocuSign are additive to relationship building. These tools enable us to connect with those we choose to, without the constraint of geography.

For example, last week, I visited Phoenix, Arizona for a friend’s wedding. When DocuSign subscribers heard I was going to be in town, we set aside an evening for a Tweet, Meet, and Greet that they arranged. I had never met any of these subscribers in real life before. All of our interactions have been over email, instant messenger, Twitter, Facebook, Active Rain, blogs… in other words, all online.

Did I feel I had a relationship with them, on an individual basis? Yes. Did I feel I had a relationship with them as a group? Yes. Do I feel thankful and blessed that they spent an evening with me in Tempe, just talking about real estate, life, upcoming events, whatever we wanted to discuss? Absolutely.

This type of interaction would not have been possible without the relationship building facilitated by online technology and tools.

Frankly, without the online interactions prior to my visit, they would have no reason to care that I was in town. The interactions provided the basis for continuing the relationships in the real world.

What about Face-to-Face interactions? Aren’t they important?

In-person and “In Real Life” interactions are absolutely important. At this time, body language and other subtle nonverbals are impossible to interpret via online interactions. This is why online interactions are additive to, not a replacement for, in-person interactions.

DocuSign Electronic Signature Service enables its subscribers to take advantage of online interaction to achieve the goals set forth by the professional relationship.

Take, for example, a real estate transaction. The agent and the client want to make an offer on a property. After the initial offer, they must respond to the seller’s counter offer. If they accept the counter offer, they have to sign documents to move the process along.

With DocuSign, the signing process can happen remotely if that’s what the client needs. However, we realize that some subscribers and their clients value the in-person signing experience. DocuSign’s in-person signing capabilities enable you to leverage the power of electronic signature and provide the in-person interaction as well.

Now you can see how technology tools such as DocuSign can enhance relationships, driving value for all parties who use them.

Because both authentication and signing are important, and different, DocuSign makes an important distinction between the two. In DocuSign, they are tied together into the overall transaction or ceremony of agreement.

DocuSign’s secure authentication model enables you to leverage several different authentication tools for both prior and post authentication modes. DocuSign addresses two general signing scenarios – “remote” signing over the internet and “in-person” signing where the signer is present. DocuSign also provides several layers of authentication that are improvements over typical business practices.

DocuSign’s Authentication Options

DocuSign provides an integrated authentication system that works with the electronic signature process to ensure any level of authentication can be provided and that the authentication provides positive identification of the person signing. 

The DocuSign authentication process is designed and architected with no single point of authentication failure. Authentication can be required each time a signer reviews and signs a document, if requested. One authentication session for a document from company “A” does not mean that company “B” must rely on that authentication, as is the case with PKI digital certificates. 

The DocuSign secure authentication system provides several levels and tools integrated into the system:

1. Email authentication: validates a person’s email address and access to that email address.

2. Access code authentication: validates the person’s ability to provide a shared secret or passphrase.

3. ID check: validates a person’s knowledge based on a knowledge-based authentication process provided by RSA.

4. OFAC checking: validates whether a person’s name is on the Specially Designated Nationals List administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

5. Age verification: validates a person’s age is correct as entered.

6. STAN PIN system: validates the person’s Student Authentication Network as entered.

7. Federated authentication: accepts and records authentication by another system when integrated with DocuSign. This can be any form.

The DocuSign secure authentication system supports a workflow of authentication for integrated customers, enabling decision-making during the authentication process. For example, if a person’s age verification results in an age older than 18 years, then the authentication process will also include knowledge-based authentication or if the age is 18 years or younger then the authentication process will also include the Federal STAN PIN system.

In addition to these prior authentication tools, DocuSign collects IP addresses of all the users and time stamps all activity into the audit trail along with all the authentication results.

In-Person Signing

If your signing process takes place in person, consider what authentication steps you require. Depending on your business, you may do one of the following:

1. No authentication other than accepting a signature. The vast majority of processes happen this way. The signer appears, signs a contract and it is considered good. In this case, you don’t have an electronic authentication process is really nothing. Simply have the signer appear in person and sign. No need to use additional authentication.

2. Identification before signing. In some cases, the signer is required to produce a valid drivers license or other form of picture ID for the person hosting the transaction to identify the signer.

3. Notarization. This is the most stringent form of in-person authentication and it is used in only very sensitive situations.

Using DocuSign, it is possible to sign in person by selecting the recipient type as “In-Person Signer.” Once this is selected for a recipient, the system asks for a signing host and depending on the business process defined will require whatever credential is typically used. One example is using a drivers license for authentication. 

DocuSign’s In-Person Signing process is a witnessed signing with credential collection support. Once the signer is authenticated by the witness, he or she may electronically sign on the local computer. Once done, the witness must re-apply his or her signature to record he or she was present for the whole signing. In addition to the local credential collection, the signer may also be requested to process a knowledge-based authentication or a shared secret for multi-layer authentication. Therefore, this can be either a prior or post authentication mode authentication process. 

Remote Signing

The most common form of electronic signing with DocuSign is remote signing. The signer receives an email that he or she has a document to sign. This remote signing process uses at least email authentication and the sender may elect to use additional layers of authentication for more sensitive transactions. 

In situations where the signing process is embedded into another portal or website, that portal’s authentication can be passed along when signing starts, and used as the only authentication process or supplemented by the authentication tools DocuSign provides.

In all cases, the signer’s authentication is recorded in the DocuSign Audit Log and the DocuSign Certificate of Signing regardless of how the person signed – in-person, remote, or embedded. The Audit Log and Certificate of Signing are encrypted and tamper-proof.

When considering your signer authentication strategy, you should evaluate your current processes and risks. Then establish any increased or decreased risks that might be present by transitioning from a paper process to an electronic one. Once you have this understanding, you can establish the policies and authentication procedures you should use with your electronic signature service.