The Online Digital Signature Way

18 January, 2013

Jo McKendrick describes in Forbes (Sept. 2012) seven predictions for cloud computing in 2013. In his article he relates to recent research analysis by Forester and Gartner saying that “Cloud computing is this year’s hottest topic...already a force to be reckoned with on the business technology scene.”   

Entire Recruitment, an Australian key player in employment solutions, recognised the significant benefits the technology has to offer, and approached the Secured Signing PKI digital signature cloud service. Our team designed and built a comprehensive customised solution that now allows the company and its candidates to digitally fill-in and e-sign forms, accelerating its employment procedures in a secure and compliant environment.       

In today’s competitive business atmosphere, while candidates and employers are looking to work with recruitment companies that meet all legislative and occupational requirements, they expect them to utilize the latest technologies that provide flexibility with certainty, instead of the lengthy old-fashioned methods which may delay or obstruct their crucial employment processes.       

“Secured Signing provides us with a commanding lawful solution that eliminates constraints of location and time zone, supplies a powerful tool to manage and monitor the candidates’ signing process, cut costs, improves work efficiencies, and brings many extremely appreciative customers.” Kevin Amedee, Director, Entire Recruitment.   

And as Alan H. Meyer once said: “The best ad is a good product.”

Till next time,

Cheers, John  

20 December, 2012

The festive season is almost here, and in its spirit, I decided to dedicate the last blog of 2012 not to recent research of advanced electronic signature developments, but rather to the invaluable human element and interactions that are both the outcome and the fundamentals for any company that wishes to achieve success or business growth in the online world.

John Naisbitt once said: “The most exciting breakthrough of the 21^st century will not occur because of technology, but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human.”

Naisbitt’s conscientious phrase can be interpreted in the commercial world in several ways: in association to interactions with our online users, work associates, and employees, or simply in accordance to the understanding that identifies and recognises the considerable importance, change, and challenge presented in the wake of the latest advanced technologies.

A while ago in a radio interview, Noah Arceneaux, Media Studies Professor at San Diego State University, explained that the new electronic communications raise similar questions and trials to those that once arose concerning the telegraph and the telephone. He sees this phenomenon as a positive latest iteration of an ongoing continuum.

So, what the past has taught us? Have we already figured out best practices and acceptable rules to apply when we are working in the electronic environment? Well, I think the correct answer lies in this continuum as well, and is an ongoing process.

While scholars, theoreticians, and business experts are continually working hard to provide us with evolving best solutions, our focus - particularly when communicating and building working relationships is to:                 

• Offer trust, confidence, and fair dealings
• Be truthful with our solutions and answers
• Be open to hear / learn new ideas, and flexible to consider and adapt them
• Acknowledge, accept, and respect diversity
• And above all, treat others the way we would like to be treated.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Festive Season and a Happy New Year,

Till next time,

Cheers, John

16 November, 2012

These days, many of us no longer have to get to the office to do productive work, nor put on our best suit, or even leave the house. It makes no difference where we are, or in which time zone. What matters, however, is what we do and how we do it. The what is widely varied and depends on the profession or industry we are working in. The how, surprisingly crosses these differences. Regardless of the type of work activities we engage in, the smartphone, the tablet, and other mobile devices affect us in similar ways as they transform significant parts of our labour environment into a Mobile Workplace.

According to Gartner’s latest report (Nov, 2012), while there is no assumption that mobile devices will replace PCs in the majority of businesses, their analysis showed that by 2016, 66 percent of mobile workers will have a smartphone. In support of this, Carolina Milanesi, Gartner’s smart device analyst, was quoted as saying: “the ubiquity of smartphones and the increasing popularity of tablets are changing the way businesses look at their device strategies.”

Today, most companies not only provide their key employees with mobile devices, but have already adopted and integrated them into their business environment and processes to improve communication and collaboration with their staff, customers, and vendors. A recent Forbes article by Diego Saez-Gil counts six justifications for investing in mobile technology, including: fast transition of customers to mobile use, all day availability, consumers’ emotional attachment, a global tool that expands a business’s market, competitive advantage if implemented fast, and the rationale of early engagement that pays off.

The team at Secured Signing digital signature service envisage this shift and continually develop multiple mobile functions and comprehensive products that allow its worldwide business partners and users to efficiently (no apps to install) fill-in and sign electronic forms from any browser in a smartphone or other tablet device. The advanced electronic signature solution benefits its clients with many operational and financial advantages, including the ability to approve documents or close deals on-the-go in a compliant and secure environment.

And as Bill Gates once said: “We’re changing the world with technology.” We definitely do!

Till next time.

Cheers, John   

2 November, 2012

In Gartner’s Symposium at Sao Paulo, Brazil (29-31 October, 2012), Donald Feinberg, Vice President and distinguished analyst was quoted as saying that, “the future of computing is social, mobile, information and cloud, and companies are doing pieces of it correctly today. But the real advantages to the vendors’ side and the consumers’ side, or the corporate side will be when they start bringing these forces together.” (Roberta Prescott) 

This growing business trend sees a large number of companies and government agencies shifting into the electronic completion and digital signing of forms. The latter, which clearly reflects this new nexus of forces, as Feinberg described it, offers secure, efficient, automated, and prompt business methods that save associated costs and workforce resources, and is recognised by international administration’s regulators. 

Secured Signing’s interactive Form solution follows this trend and offers to its worldwide business partners and users tailored and branded forms, inclusion of secure, user-based, PKI digital signatures, conversion to web-based pages, accessibility from any browser in smartphone, other tablet device, Windows PC, or Mac - with no apps to install, and much more.

Yarra Ranges City Council, Evolve Scientific, Digital Mobile Vodafone’s NZ largest dealer, and many others no longer need to print, sign, scan, fax, mail, or deliver documents. Neither do their customers nor business associates who simply fill-in and sign online their designated electronic form.     

And, as Bill Gates once said: “The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it - so it’s part of everyday life.”    

Till next time,

Cheers, John 

12 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