by John Webster15 March, 2013
Gartner’s recent survey of IT spending through 2013-2014 (5 March, 2013) predicts increase in IT expenditure that will be overwhelmingly driven by interest in cloud computing and other outsourcing IT solutions. The study findings significantly differentiate between mature regions (North America, Western Europe) that will encounter a modest increase, and emerging regions (Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific) that “will experience the largest budget increases in software spending.”
And both, according to the enclosed information, will not do it in vain! Rackspace, together with the Manchester Business School and Vanson Bourne, conducted a survey of 1,300 US and UK companies that used Cloud technology during December 2012 and January 2013. The results clearly showed distinctive financial benefits with 88 percent of users who experienced costs savings, 60 percent who discovered that by implementing the cloud, their IT teams reduced time spent on infrastructure maintenance and instead concentrated on strategy and innovation, and 62 percent that saved money and put it back into the business (12 March, 2013).
These two studies clearly show that cloud computing is not only increasingly adopted by companies all over the globe, but that companies who shift to use this broad advanced technology are reaping the many benefits it has to offer. In that regard, Secured Signing’s worldwide customers are no different. On a daily basis, from anywhere, anytime, large companies and small businesses that use Secured Signing’s robust PKI Digital Signature cloud service, enjoy a highly sophisticated and comprehensive solution for filling-in forms and online signing of documents that slashes their operational and processing costs, expedites entire business workflow, and frees up budget, staff, and other resources to the core business.
And as Harold S. Geneen once said – “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.”
Till next time,
Cheers, John a5357f51-9d08-4b49-bf63-55638378a296|3|5.0|27604f05-86ad-47ef-9e05-950bb762570c General by John Webster14 February, 2013
Michael Schrage from the Harvard Business Review wrote about ‘Innovation Trends to Watch in 2013’. In his article, he used the words Human ingenuity to describe the “most remarkable renewable resource".
The profitable Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd announced on February 4 that the company intends to become a major global player in the field of technology innovation with investment in the Samsung Strategy” and Innovation Centre (SSIC), in worldwide R & D centres, $1 billion in Samsung Ventures America Fund, and $100 million in the Samsung Catalyst Fund. Young Sohn, President and Chief Strategy Officer of Device Solutions Samsung Electronics, stressed in an interview that the reasoning behind this strategy was the importance of being engaged with individual innovators who could contribute significantly to Samsung’s technology development.
So what happens here? Are we all of a sudden recognising the obvious - the ability of bright individuals to affect the enterprise world? Or maybe it’s the important acknowledgment that although technology seems so advanced and limitless, in order to keep up, we need to go back to basics, to the brilliant mind(s) behind it - and to the team work and infrastructure that supports and enables the execution of their ideas.
In Secured Signing, we recognise and implement these practices on a daily basis! From the development of branding solutions that offer customisation of user-based PKI digital signature technology to the look and feel of clients’ websites, to the advanced API integration to customers’ back office systems, and to the breakthrough of new items like the Smart-Tag.
Not only does this exceptionally efficient feature allow users to prepare a document in Word or PDF formats that automatically includes signatory’s full name, e-mail address, and inserts text that will be used as a placeholder for a signature in online signing process, it now also provides the ability to define the signature type (full or initials), and to choose the sequential order of signers.
As James Russell Lowell once said: “Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found.”
Till next time,
Cheers, John
f7481eeb-f5de-405a-917a-07bd33aacac4|3|5.0|27604f05-86ad-47ef-9e05-950bb762570c General by John Webster31 January, 2013
On the 17th January 2013, the E-Signature Summit for Banking Executives took place in New York with close to 200 top leaders who examined primary digital strategies in the banking industry. Penny Crosman (from the acclaimed publication American Banker) wrote that at the conference, “both bankers and lawyers testified to an emerging legitimacy of e-signatures in the world of banking” with examples like the Royal Bank of Canada that makes extensive use of the technology, and the US Bank that has already extended e-signatures to its 3,000 branches.
In the quest to eliminate the last remaining paper and reduce time and costs for mortgage income verification, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - in a move that sees an entire loan process completely automated - recently allowed for electronic signatures to replace the traditional wet-ink signatures,. “The current process for requesting a borrower’s tax return transcript is labor intensive and time consuming, “ said Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) president and CEO David H. Stevens in a statement on the company’s website. “With this announcement, the IRS is making this process much easier and more efficient...allowing for electronic signatures will save time and reduce the likelihood of errors or loss of documents. This is a win for consumers and lenders alike.”
The IRS recently published (22 January, 2013) Announcement 2013-8, seeking recommendations to formally identify an e-signature set of standards for the tax industry. In its release, the IRS suggests five essential signing requirements that relate to the type of electronic signature: signer’s intent, association of signature to electronic record, ways to recognise and authenticate the signer, and the intention to keep the integrity of the signed document.
Secured Signing service, market leader for advanced electronic signatures, provides all the above, and much more! On a daily basis, our worldwide customers experience the compliant and most secure user-based PKI digital signature technology for filling-in forms and online signing of documents - complete with individual digital certificate for user’s authentication, proof of ownership and intent, and exclusive verification tools.
And, as Greg Anderson once said: “The Law of Win/Win says, let’s not do it your way or my way; let’s do it the best way”.
Till next time,
Cheers, John 6d039ba0-399b-48f4-b36c-e2d2e895f0e4|3|5.0|27604f05-86ad-47ef-9e05-950bb762570c General by John Webster12 October, 2012,
Ronald Reagan once said: “Trust, but verify.”
How true and applicable to so many areas in our lives today! Obviously, I am not going to examine this theme in connection to the relationships between people or social groups, but rather to showcase some latest cases that explore trust between people and technology and more specifically, in relation to electronic and digital signatures.
In the first case, a dispute between a professional couple and a real estate agent over the validity of their contract was brought up in the Court of Appeals in Arizona. This argument raised the question of what qualifies as an electronic signature, and whether an e-mail could be legally equivalent to a signature on a contract.
The second one involves Macmahon Holdings, a construction and mining contract company in Australia. Macmahon management called in its lawyers to investigate internal e-mails that were supposedly written by their chief executive and board of directors about an alleged takeover offer at a generous premium by a Chinese company, which resulted in a trading halt (5 October, 2012).
The above is relevant to our discussion as it again questions the trust we can/should have in online written professional or official information, and what can be done about it. Peter Moon, a Melbourne lawyer who writes a weekly technology column for the Australian Financial Review, referred to the latter and questioned whether Macmahon “directors, or their lawyers, or the regulator they complained to, are digitally signing their mail” (9 October, 2012).
Moon follows it with a clear message on how to avoid these situations, and why digital signatures (not simple electronic signatures) provide the best possible solution: “A true digital signature, on the other hand, is the product of the same complex bit of mathematics that underlies data encryption. In fact, it’s just the other side of the encryption coin. It calculates a virtually unique string of text for any document, including an e-mail, that can validate both who authored or authorised it, and that it hasn’t been tampered with. Change as much as a space in the text and it won’t validate.”
Couldn’t agree with him more! These are well known, irrefutable facts that are implemented daily by the worldwide online signing users of the Secured Signing PKI digital signature service that authenticates each user with digital certificate, provides ownership approval, and grants this much-needed assurance and verification.
Till next time,
Cheers, John
915f822e-a212-47d3-8dc5-e0bc2c200117|4|5.0|27604f05-86ad-47ef-9e05-950bb762570c General by John Webster21 September, 2012
Let’s open with a trivial question and a most anticipated answer – do you prefer to be asked how you like your coffee? Or steak? And what about your business card design? Or your website’s functionalities? These simple questions have quite obvious answers that reflect human psychology with business practicalities: we like to be asked, we want to feel appreciated, and we are thrilled when our point of view counts, and is acted upon. Ask any successful service provider.
The Customer-centric approach has been explored and discussed in the business and commercial context for a while now. It relates to a process that starts with understanding your customers’ needs, building a related customer-centric strategy, and successfully executing it. The latter can be satisfyingly achieved only when it fits into the company’s culture and values, and communicates effectively on all levels.
Secured Signing, the worldwide service provider of PKI digital signature in the Cloud, consistently fosters personalised relationships with its customers, and proactively addresses their varied needs and requests with flexible service delivery. Practising an open channel of communication enhances a professional and precisely tailored response for the online signing and electronic fill-in of forms and documents. Furthermore, the Secured Signing’s team takes that information, anticipates future requirements, and continually works on the development of new features.
Its current comprehensive customised solutions include:
- Fill-in and eSign your company’s forms online
- Branding – E-mail invitation, signing, and filling pages
- API – integrate your application and service
And, as Thomas Herrington once said: “In today’s economic climate, those companies that thrive will be those that are customer centric and those that remember that customers are the ultimate judges and the world’s leading authorities on whether we impressed them or not with our efforts.”
For more info please contact us!
Till next time,
Cheers, John
803acb6f-c55a-4370-9b35-8b07071a0115|3|5.0|27604f05-86ad-47ef-9e05-950bb762570c General
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