As Executive Vice-President of Marketing for PrivaSign, I thought I would share with you some of the early internal discussions we had when designing our electronic signature service. A perspective of what we felt the market wanted and needed, especially now that we are one week from public release.

First off, PrivaSign was built to be used by a wide variety of businesses, and for a wide variety of purposes.  In order to accomplish this wide use and wide functionality PrivaSign researched some of the most common methods used by businesses today.  We looked at the fax machine, e-mail, intranets, extranets, third-party service providers and much more.  The singular purpose for researching existing technologies was to make certain any new service PrivaSign released would be easily understood and utilized by the public in general.

After the research was completed one technology stood out over all others – e-mail. Not only was it the most widely used method of communication, e-mail serves a wide variety of business purposes, and virtually all business people have had some exposure to it.  There is however, according to our research, several sever draw backs to traditional e-mail:

E-mail is not always Secure 

• E-mail does not provide the security most users are looking for when they are discussing sensitive topics. 
• E-mail does not assure that only the intended recipient will see the message, as e-mails are often screened by large companies or forwarded indiscriminately.
• E-mail can mask recipients, which hides information from some parties, and opens up a potential security vulnerability.

E-mail is not Actionable

• E-mail does not allow recipients or senders to take action on the files attached to the message.  In other words recipients and senders where not able to actually do anything with the file other than print it and fax it back if it required a signature, approval or any other form of authorization response.
• E-mail based ‘approval’ (short of an actual signature) can be forged and therefore lacks credibility. This leads us into the next issue…

E-mail does not have Accountability

• E-mail is difficult to track and audit.
• Business e-mail is not always accessible when away from the office.
• E-mail gets flagged as spam when it is not junk mail or spam.

So the mission was clear.  Develop a service that functions similar to e-mail, but offers the functions and security end users need in both the virtual and physical environments.

Getting It Just Right
Just what is it about e-mail that makes it so prevalent? Flexibility. People use e-mail, because e-mail can be used for everything. This delivery system works regardless of content, file type or business model. PrivaSign, from the very beginning felt the exact same way. The business, not the service, should determine how electronic signatures fit their needs.

PrivaSign made Flexibility integral to the entire system – Sign any file with any browser on any operating system at any time.

When a company buys a fax machine they should not have to worry about what type of paper it uses. Likewise, PrivaSign lets you sign any type of electronic file. It does not matter if it is an audio file from a deposition, architectural drawing, or even a video clip of a client’s commercial. PrivaSign gives you the flexibility to decide.

When a business mails a document all they have to do is write the address and mail the package. PrivaSign handles your documents with the same simplicity and ease of mind. Your client can use PrivaSign with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and any other internet capable operating system and basic web browser. This gives users the flexibility of using devices that are convenient for them, whether it is a laptop, desktop or a handheld PDA. Because PrivaSign is web-based, businesses can use it at any time without the technical support issues of locally installed programs that may only be available on one computer.

Flexibility gives businesses the power to use a system today that can adapt to all of their future business needs. With Flexibility built-in the next step was implementing Security, Actionability and Accountability. 

Putting It All Together
Security of an electronic signature capturing service is something that everyone wants to be certain. PrivaSign uses SSL certificates to manage the security of transmissions over both public and private networks. Any files you send to a recipient remain encrypted and available on the PrivaSign system. The Subject/Body information in the message will NOT be encrypted, and will be sent to your recipients in plain text. The message will arrive as a traditional e-mail. The Subject/Body is a good area to explain to the recipient why you are sending them a PrivaSign message, and to provide them with any relevant information before they logon or view the file.

PrivaSign was built as an Actionable service, allowing people to Sign/Authorize/Accept any message or file. The goal here was to make the “action” of signing an electronic file just as intuitive as signing a physical piece of paper. People electronically sign far more often than they realize do to good design and time in the market. Everyday people ‘sign’ agreements at the ATM, grocery checkout, gas pump and ever time software in installed. In all of these cases either a PIN, token or other user identification is used as the signature (legally speaking even faxes are electronic signatures). PrivaSign bundled the signature capturing into an email process that the public has already accepted and learned to use.

Accountability is another term that plays loudly in the ears of many businesses and individuals. Building accountability into a file delivery and signature capturing service means providing the tools necessary to conduct business. PrivaSign sought to bring the same features people associate with paper to the electronic signature:

• Independent Validity – Users want to be able to verify the signature and file independently and through 3rd parties.
• Tangible Proof – Some people want a physical piece of paper in their hands
• Confirmation of when it was delivered, when it was opened and when it was signed

PrivaSign sought to incorporate these features with the Signature Confirmation Receipt. Through unique design this document captures all of the relevant information regarding the signatories and can itself be confirmed in either electronic or even physical form. This means that a non-signing party can receive the Signature Confirmation Receipt and independently verify even the paper copy. This also provides business process flexibility to offices that print and store all documents, as a tangible Signature Confirmation Receipt can be attached with the contract.

This next week PrivaSign is finishing its last round of internal testing and we are all very excited about receiving public feed-back on our service. I would like to encourage you to visit us and sign-up for a free account - PrivaSign Signup