Adobe has completed the purchase of EchoSign. You might wonder what the relevance of this announcement is. Simple. It is all about digital signatures. In an era where paper is being phased out to make way for digital documentation and products, this is a significant move by Adobe.
Being able to ensure that the sender of the document is legitimate and that the document has not been altered since it was sent is a critical part of the digital process. It ensures trust. It also places something other than an email address as a ”trust signature” for the receiver of any digital document.
The EchoSign acquisition ensures that automation of the creation of digital signatures can occur. If you have done it, you will know it is quite a process (creating a digital signature) and takes a lot of time to do. The other benefit of this Adobe acquisition is that potentially digital signatures will become more mainstream than it is at present.
EchoSign’s solution, which currently supports more than three million users worldwide, will be offered as part of Adobe’s online document exchange services platform. The EchoSign solution will be integrated with other Adobe document services including SendNow for managed file transfer, FormsCentral for form creation and CreatePDF for online PDF creation. By reducing the time and costs of having documents signed with traditional methods, such as fax and overnight envelopes, the EchoSign solution can enable customers to significantly accelerate sales cycles, improve tracking and centralize the management of signed agreements through a simple to use cloud service.
“Adobe’s document solutions help organizations turn inefficient, paper-based workflows into streamlined electronic ones,” said Kevin M. Lynch, vice president and general manager of Acrobat® Solutions, Digital Enterprise Solutions, Adobe. “By adding electronic signature capabilities to Adobe’s document exchange services platform, we will be addressing the need to provide better customer experiences by significantly reducing the time, cost and complexity associated with having a document signed.”
With just one click, the EchoSign electronic signature solution automates the entire signature process from the request for signature to the distribution and execution of the form or agreement. The EchoSign solution provides a secure subscription-based service to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprise customers, enabling real-time visibility into the signature process and automatically storing and managing all signed documents.
Time will tell as to how many Adobe products will feature EchoSign technology. So do you feel more secure digitally?
