eSignature solutions go beyond signing: expect more from today’s technology

“In the current economic environment, everyone is being asked to do more. You should expect your eSignature technology to do more for you, as well”

When you hear the words “electronic signature,” do you simply imagine a more efficient way to sign documents? Just a better version of a ballpoint pen, as it were? Think again.

Today’s electronic signature solutions do much more than capture legally-binding eSignatures: you can present targeted marketing messages, capture additional customer information, and conduct surveys.

In fact, modern eSignature technology may share only one key characteristic with your old ballpoint pens: It’s just as easy to use.
   
Cut Cost. Increase Revenue. Go Green.

With Interlink’s ePad LS, you can present full-colour marketing messages that help your staff
cross-sell more effectively.

In many parts of the world, eSignatures have been legally binding for a decade.  Over these last 10 years, eSignature solutions, like Interlink’s ePad LS, available in Europe through their UK-based  distribution partner Steadlands, have become multifunctional devices, enabling you to fully leverage your investment, cut cost, and even increase revenue. Not to mention that eliminating paper contributes to your organization’s Green Initiatives. 
   
Instead of printing and mailing new marketing slicks to your branches or remote offices, for example, simply download the images to the ePad LS.  The large LCD screen can present full-color, targeted marketing slicks.  By including the presentation of additional products and services in your eSignature workflow, your customer-facing representatives can cross-sell more effectively and your corporate office can be sure that the right message is presented to the customer at the right time.

Interlink’s ePad LS has an on-screen keyboard and PIN-Pad enabling you to capture additional customer data, such as email and phone numbers.

The large LCD screen can also provide two-way communication. Conduct customer surveys and present multiple choice options along with check boxes, and response buttons for easy opt-in.  Consequently, even when not in use, eSignature capture devices can provide an intimate way to talk with your customers, maximizing every precious moment you have with them – and making better use of your desktop real estate.

You can also capture additional customer information ― such as phone numbers, and e-mail addresses ― with the ePad LS on-screen PIN-pad and keyboard, avoiding data entry errors caused by having to re-key information previously captured with wet-ink on paper.

Start eSigning Today 
Electronic signatures are being applied to everything from financial forms to human resource documents to credit card applications because of the growing realization that having people handle paper forms is costly, inefficient, and incompatible with today’s business environment.  In an era when everything moves at Internet speed, no one wants to waste time. And that principle should extend to how you’re able to use the eSignature technology itself.

The new generation of eSignature technology is designed to work right out-of-the-box with plug-ins for the applications you use most often – Microsoft Word, Excel, and Adobe PDFs.   This means that once the device is installed, you’re ready to eSign.

Safer Than Paper

eSignatures are a safe and legally-binding way to sign documents, but here’s something many people don’t realize: Electronic signatures are actually more secure than ink-on-paper signing.  Interlink’s IntegriSign eSignature software, for example, permanently binds the signature to the document, so the signature is visibly invalidated if a change has been made. A paper document doesn’t have that kind of safeguard.

Looking Toward the Future
When you look at eSignature technology, consider your immediate needs while keeping an eye on your future requirements. Today, you might want to capture a handwritten electronic signature in customer-facing processes; tomorrow you might want to capture web-based signatures. Make sure you choose a vendor with a full range of solutions that can easily scale up to accommodate your needs.

With all these new advances, eSignatures aren’t just about signing anymore – the technology is about expanding and improving your workflow and business processes.  In the current economic environment, everyone is being asked to do more. You should expect your eSignature technology to do more for you, as well.

Key Features / Benefits
Capturing legally-binding electronic signatures is just the beginning. You can…

• Market Effectively: Display special offers, branded messages, and rotating marketing slicks before, during or after the signing process.
• Get Closer to Customers: Conduct surveys and capture additional customer information such as email addresses and phone numbers with the ePad LS on-screen keyboard and PIN-pad.
• Ensure Signing Context: Enable customers to scroll through on-screen instructions, disclaimers, affirmation text, and more to ensure they make informed decisions before accepting or eSigning.
• Support Your Green Initiatives: Eliminating the need to print, route and store paper makes an immediate and positive impact on your Green Initiatives.

The Many Uses of eSignatures
Financial institutions across the globe are extending eSignatures to wide-ranging processes in order to cut cost, improve operational efficiencies, and capture additional revenue. 

Account changes
Account openings
Consumer lending
Credit card applications
Cross-sell additional services
eContracting
eMortgages
eNotarization
Loan Origination
HR forms and other internal transactions
Teller-based transactions (like change-of-address forms)

Test Your eSignature IQ
1. An electronic signature can be a symbol (signing your name on a tablet); a process (clicking to signify yes); or ___________?
2. What marketing costs can eSignature technology reduce or eliminate?
3. Why are eSignatures more secure than ink-on-paper signings?
4. What legal weight do eSignatures carry compared to ink-on-paper?
5. When did the European Union adopt a community framework for electronic signatures?

Answers:
1. an electronic sound (saying “yes” on the phone);
2. printing and mailing slicks;
3. electronic signatures are visibly invalidated if a change is made post signing;
4. identical.
5. 1999