A broad range of signature pads from various manufacturers are available on the market. Some companies require basic signature pads, while others require more advanced devices, depending on how the pads are to be used.

Here is a checklist to help you choose the right signature pad:

• Does your process require an LCD screen on the signature pad?
  • No LCD is needed:
    • Be aware that if you opt for a non-LCD signature pad, you will not be able to display any kind of text and the signer will not see the signature while signing.
    • On the other hand, this kind of signature pad is the cheapest choice and there are many large installations which work with this kind of signature pad.
  • An LCD is needed:
    • Do you require only a black and white LCD or do you need color? If you want to display your company logo or other advertising on the device, you will probably need a color display.
    • What is the minimum size of the LCD screen (i.e. 800 x 480 pixels) which you need?
    • How quickly and easily can you change the picture that is displayed on the pad?
• What kind of pen do you need?
  • The pen should require no battery, because otherwise you will have to change the battery periodically. If the pen uses a battery, then you will want to be able to monitor the remaining battery life time so that you will not be surprised at an inconvenient time when the pen stops working and needs a new battery.
  • Especially in point of sales scenarios, the pen should be connected to the signature pad with a pen tether so that it does not get lost. Replacing a signature pad pen can be expensive.
• Technical Specifications
  • In addition to the x/y position of the pen, the tablet must also record the pressure flow during the writing process.
  • If you use LCD screens, a real-time visualization of the signature on screen is a must.
  • The LCD screen should only react to the pen and not to accidental touches by the hand or finger.
  • The used sensors should have a long lifetime and should not wear off as the result of scratches or mechanical impacts.
  • The tablet should be USB-powered. In special scenarios, where no USB port is available, you might need a serial accessory kit.
  • The sampling rate should be a minimum of 100 points per second.
  • The pen pressure levels should be at least 256 levels (not interpolated).
  • The screen resolution should be at least 1.000 lpi (not interpolated).
  • You should expect a coordinate accuracy ± 0.5 mm (center).
  • In high security scenarios, you might want an option for data encryption between the tablet and the PC.
• Defect rate
  • Fewer than three percent of signature tablets are proven to be defective within one year of delivery.
• Availability of spare parts
  • Expect guaranteed availability of the product for at least two years after the first delivery.
  • Expect guaranteed availability of spare parts for at least five years after the first delivery.

Since the end of the 1990s WonderNet has been the market leader in personal digital signature capturing and identification based on electronic biometric signature data. Together with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, WonderNet investigated the nature of the human signature and developed mathematical methods to compare such electronic biometric signatures against pre-enrolled signature profiles. Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest bank and financial group, and WACOM Co. Ltd. Japan, were both investors in WonderNet at that time.

Early adopters helped to improve this technology:

• The Israeli Air force uses this technology; for example, to check signatures on airplane maintenance protocols.
• Ono Academic College (OAC), a leading Israeli institution of higher education, facilitates contract signing with SIGNificant. Lecturer recruiting became easy to manage administratively, with controlled budget approvals which are biometrically authenticated in real-time, in order to secure the process.
• …and many more, including Bank Hapoalim as mentioned above.

On February 14, 2008 xyzmo shareholders bought the entire IP rights of WonderNet Ltd. (Penflow) including the most prominent technology for electronic biometric signature authentication. By incorporating this technology from WonderNet, xyzmo SIGNificant became a major international company in its field, with offices in Austria, the US and Germany, and represented by many Value-Added Resellers worldwide.

The major advantage over other solutions on the market today is that our technology is able to compare a signature against a profile which is self-learning over time. Only this approach guarantees appropriate results for signature verification and authentication, respectively, because it is human nature never to sign twice in exactly the same way, and also to alter the signature constantly over a life-time.

• A comparison with only one sample signature is mathematically much easier to handle, and thus some companies offer essentially inaccurate solutions. These “low level” solutions merely pick one random signature as a basis for the comparison. This approach only works for people who always sign in exactly the same way. Most human beings do not behave like that, and thus this approach is simply not feasible for a broader usage of that technology. Anyone can easily prove this by asking 10 random people to sign 6 times in a row, on a blank sheet of paper, in order to see how different most of these signatures are.
• A more sophisticated but still not satisfactory approach is to build a solution which takes several signatures – a profile – into consideration at the time of real-time comparison, but still using a static profile which is not self-learning. This will deliver, at the start, better results than a comparison with just one signature, but the comparison will get less and less accurate over time. This will happen for nearly 100% of human subjects.

To summarize: only the xyzmo SIGNificant approach – based on self-learning profiles – really works in the long run with sufficient accuracy.

The SIGNificant Biometric Server takes the ability of self-learning profiles one step further, by using a sophisticated algorithm when building a signature profile, initially by recognizing if such a profile is of sufficient quality or not. In particular, when people sign for the first time on a signature pad they change their signing behavior a little bit, and adjust it after they get used to this new technology, or new way of signing on a signature tablet, until it becomes the “usual” way. Thus it is business-critical to take more than 2 or 3 samples for each profile and, on top of that, to check by intelligent algorithms if these profiles are a robust base for the later verification. It is much better to reject improper signatures out of a profile at this stage, namely, at the time of creating such a profile, and ask a customer to sign one additional time, instead of generating a wrong profile and “try” to use this for later comparison.

The area of electronic biometric signature verification/authentication on a large scale has just started with such high-quality standards as xyzmo introduces them to the market. There are, meanwhile, early adopters in Europe like a German company  for checking signatures on quality assurance documents, or a bank which authenticates all their customers in real-time based on their handwritten electronic biometric signature with our advanced and superior technology as described. This will become a huge market over the next few years, and xyzmo sees itself clearly in the leading position and far ahead of the competition with the best and most advanced solution available. Self-Learning profiles will be the key!

Provided by Billentis – www.billentis.com

Market development in 2010 was very dynamic, although I was somewhat over-optimistic in the case of Italy and Spain. I assumed that the Italian legislation (making electronic invoices compulsory for the public sector) would be ratified immediately. In Spain, while the suppliers’ obligations to the public sector are in place, stakeholders seem to have expected far more exceptions.
 
Overall, European market growth for electronic and automated processes is strong and sustainable. Organizations in the public and private sector are keen to reduce costs and to improve their Cash Management. Combined with the rich solution offering, these benefits are sure to result in further strong market growth for electronic invoicing and related topics. With an estimated volume growth of 35% for 2011, E-Invoicing is currently one of very few growing markets.

 The processed B2B volume is expected to reach 1,735 million E-Invoices this year (corresponding to 11.6% of all European B2B invoices). B2C volume is estimated to reach 1,400 million (9.3% penetration).

Provider landscape:

For the vast majority of today’s 470 operators  the annual E-Invoicing volume still lies below 2 million. A logical step for some would be to consider a merger with others. However, high growth rates still seem to be a hindrance to this process. Substantial market consolidation should not be expected before 2012/2013. For this year, I anticipate 25 merger & acquisition deals. Parties interested in acquiring other providers are invited to contact me.

Around 60 additional operators are expected this year in Europe. Although most providers remain focussed on local markets, an increasing number are expanding their geographical reach, around 60 of them with VAT compliance for 30 or more countries.

For a more detailed market overview, see:
www.expp-summit.com/upload/marketoverview/Market-Overview11_372.pdf

 
Market developing differently on each side of the Atlantic Ocean
 
Of the 14.4 million invoices sent to the Dutch government, just 6% were exchanged electronically.The government clearly missed its target of 10%, despite the removal of legal barriers. Source: DutchNews

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Brazil is having much more success. With some of the strictest legislation worldwide, they achieved in 2010 in their country alone the same volume of electronic invoices (B2B and B2G) as all the European countries put together. E-Invoicing is mandatory in Brazil and an important vehicle for real-time audits by the government.

The contest between countries with strict legislation in combination with obligatory E-Invoicing and those with lax legal requirements and voluntary usage has produced a clear winner. The obligation, not the legal requirements, seems to make the difference.

Poland: New regulation governing use of electronic invoices

Thanks to the new guidance, businesses can send E-Invoices in any electronic format that allows for authenticity of origin and integrity of content. The prior requirement for electronic signature and use of EDI no longer applies; however, both methods are mentioned in the new guidance as examples of how to satisfy the required conditions for e-invoices.

Jason M. Lemkin – CEO from Echosign wrote:

Most importantly, we will grow from where we are today (about 1% of all contracts signed on the web) to 50%+ (the majority) in 4-6 years. The broader market will grow 50x, and with that, the market will fundamentally change. At a product/technical level, there will be at least 3 important evolutions as the % of contracts signed on the web that we see at EchoSign:

• Seamless web workflow (integrations). Today, it’s still relatively nichey to, for example, create a document in Google Docs or pull a form from DropBox or Box.net, review/edit/collaborate on the document, send it out to get signed, and then have it all stored on the web, in the cloud. In 3-5 years, the entire contracting workflow and process will be 100% web and cloud based.
• 100% web-based contract. Today, only a minority of e-signed contracts are created purely on the web. Instead, most contracts are still local content – a local PDF, or a local Word document. In 3-5 years, the contract will be 100% web-based and completely abstracted from not only paper, but from an off-line contract creation process. This makes e-signatures a requisite, not optional, part of the contracting process.
• Dramatically more functionality. From a functionality perspective, the solutions and market are still at a nascent stage. As the market grows 50x in the next few years, the demands for functionality will grow 50x. Whether it’s basic things like HTML5 support for e-signing on the iPad, or tailoring the electronic signature experience in real-time based on the country the signer is in, or bigger changes, like true web-based contract collaboration, the bar will continue to go up.

Because of this, the market is likely to end up with “2.5″ leading players. E-signatures and e-contracting are too nuanced, and require too much workflow and too high a level of user-specific functionality, to become just a feature of another solution. The level of solution complexity certainly is not as high as standalone CRM, for example (where competing with Salesforce.com at this point is impractical), but it is much higher than simple web apps (e.g., document or content storage) or even web conferencing/collaboration (WebEx/GoToMeeting/etc.). The solutions also benefit from scale and users, but do not have a true network effect. Also, electronic signatures have a significant legal component, which creates challenges to immature products.

Thus, 4-5 years out (perhaps not 3), we are likely to see (x) e-signatures having become the primary way contracts are signed, period, with (y) a few leaders (a la WebEx and GoToMeeting) whose products are deeply integrated with, but not subsumed by, the workflows and integrations of the web, along with a few smaller players with niche offerings and relatively small customer bases.

Gerald Cäsar, CEO of xyzmo SIGNificant wrote:

In my view the e-signature market will split up into at least two different segments:

• Cloud-based electronic signature platforms (“click-to-sign”). Their offering is typically: “Simply drag and drop “Sign Here” and “Initial Here” tabs. Click and send—that’s all.” Handwritten signatures and digital certificates do not play a dominant role in these offerings. For this market I agree with Jason’s view that it will end up with “2.5” leading players. The changing game could be how on-demand CRM systems like Salesforce and others behave in the next 2–3 years. For them these functionalities are a logical additional feature of their existing offering and they already have workflows, document archiving and so on. Maybe they simply acquire existing providers—the investment of Salesforce in Docusign might be an indication for that—or some others might consider launching these features themselves. This could lead to a quite different view about the future of this market segment.
• A second market is enterprise platforms for large corporations. These platforms support multiple methods of e-signing including signature pads, smartphones, digital certificates and “click-to-sign”. They are a highly flexible and scalable enterprise solution. Partly as (private) cloud, partly as dedicated, on-premises solutions. It might be that this area will also end up with “2.5” remaining players, but it is unlikely that this will happen already in 3–4 years, simply because of the influence of local aspects like the legal situation of the country, local sales and support, and not forgetting partnerships with resellers in different regions of the world.

There might be some overlap between both segments, and it is hard to say today which one will be the largest segment at the end of the day. For some customers both offerings might be attractive, but in most cases I do not see that the dominant players in one area have the necessary functionalities and the right business model for the other area.

System integrators who have not only existing relationships but also in-depth knowledge of existing IT-systems and processes will also play an important role in spreading the e-signature solutions around the globe. For them enterprise platform providers are a much more natural fit and business partner than “click-to-sign”-platforms. The larger and broader the customer installation planned, the more important this difference will get.

All of that is of course speculative, and a market that is at its beginning and growing that fast in the next years might change, through M&A and other influences, quite dramatically.

The Australian Open Program has launched an iPad app that contains a digital autograph feature which enables fans to capture their favorite players’ signatures and save to a digital scrapbook. But the ability to sign on this kind of device is proving helpful for more than just autograph hounds.

Companies are utilizing smartphones to digitize signatures, making it easier for customers to get documents signed on the go. The idea is simple: The company provides a document on a digital signature platform, the customer who should e-sign the document gets an email with a link, clicks on the link and then he can sign on the go with his smartphone or tablet. Another often talked-through scenario is to equip sales agents with smartphones and use this device to capture signatures from customers. If you want to get an impression of how this looks please click the following link to watch a short video about e-signing on the iPad: http://vimeo.com/16996194.

The benefits of using e-signatures via smartphones and tablets are obvious:

• It enables the signing of a document displayed in the browser via a smartphone nearly “everywhere”: sign anywhere, at any time.
• Smartphones are becoming standard equipment, so sales agents, customers, service personnel, etc. either have them already or will get them in the future. They can thus be utilized to capture signatures without the need for an additional signature pad, which has a great impact on the ROI of e-signature solutions.

The important question now is – Is it the right time to consider e-signing on smartphones already?

In short, the answer is: yes, in principle, depending on what you want to achieve.

The technology is available, and more and more customers are equipped with smartphones based on Android or iOS. Globally, market intelligence firm IDC counted 269.6 million smartphones sold in 2010. In 2011, we might see half a billion phones sold worldwide.

The only thing that has to be kept in mind is the fact that signing with a finger on a smartphone definitely changes the signature graph. The quality of the captured signature is much better using a traditional signature pad with a pen. Even in scenarios where sales agents use their own smartphone to capture the customer’s signature, giving the possibility of equipping these sales agents with special pens, those pens do not have sufficient quality as yet. Some companies have announced special pens that should finally solve this issue, but they are not available yet.

Our recommendation for the time being is to use signature pads in retail scenarios or whenever you have the need to capture a signature in a high quality. But, when it comes to document signing on the go, smartphones and tablets are becoming the tool of choice for more and more businesses. Contact us at sales@xyzmo.com for further information.

Depending on your company’s needs, an e-signature implementation should cover the following issues:

In customer-facing environments: 

• Preparing your documents. Most companies have a number of standard documents that they use over and over again. Therefore, it is necessary to have document preparation support for creating reusable template documents and to locate and fix positions for signatures. These documents may optionally be pre-filled with data from other data sources; for example, CRM systems, banking applications and so on.
• Presenting the signer with the documents. Most companies present documents to the signer embedded within a Web page or Client Application. This also allows for the possibility of walking the signer through the process of supplying signatures.
• Document attachment. Additional documents (such as a scanned passport, scanned driver’s license or any other kind of document) might be attached to the signed document. In such scenarios, it is very often necessary to integrate scanners directly into the e-signing process.
• Capturing the signer’s intent to use an e-signature. In some scenarios it’s recommended not only to capture the signature, but also to register the signer’s intent and agreement to use digital signatures.
• Replace pen-and-ink signing with something familiar. The challenge for digital signature solutions, particularly in customer-facing environments, is to replace pen-and-ink signing with something that provides the same sense of gravity and security as traditional wet signatures. Capturing handwritten signatures is the natural replacement, which everyone understands immediately, and it allows signers to feel more comfortable with the process and provides a sense that digital signing is a serious event. Make sure that your use a solution that captures much more than just a simple electronic image of the signature. Leading solutions, such as the one from xyzmo, record not only the image of the signature, but also parameters like pressure, acceleration, speed and rhythm. These parameters are unique to every individual and cannot easily be reproduced by a forger. Of course, you gain nothing if your solution does not provide you with a forensic expert tool that, in case of a dispute, you can use with your e-signed document and prove that the signature was really performed by the signer.
• Comparison of signatures. Captured handwritten signatures may also be used for verification and authentication in critical business processes. In such cases, documents are only processed if their signatures can be authenticated based on their captured signature.
• Providing the signer with a copy of the signed document. Usually, the document is either printed out or sent via email to the signer.
• Continued processing. When the signing process is complete, the document (usually a PDF file), perhaps along with XML data, is handed back to the core application for continued processing or for archiving.
• Audit logging. At a minimum, you should log events from the core process functions.

 In non-customer-facing environments you will have the following additional issues: 

• Delivering the document to the signer. It is very common to send an email to the signer indicating that the document is ready for signing, along with a clickable link to a website that takes the customer directly to the document. Alternatively, you can send the document directly to the signer as an email attachment.
• Authenticating the signer’s identity. This step requires the signer to provide proof of identity to authenticate himself to the e-signature system using a password, PIN, token, smart card, digital certificate, biometrics or comparison of signatures. Check if it’s possible to reuse your existing authentication system for that.
• Download option for a copy of the signed document (usually as a PDF file) for the signer’s records. This functionality can also serve to allow signers who do not wish to complete the transaction online to download the unsigned but pre-populated form for printing and wet-signing.

Wacom’s signature tablet solutions are designed to capture an electronic signature, which can be used in lieu of traditional paper signature. They help lower costs and eliminate the inefficiencies associated with paper documentation, like ease-of-sharing and storage.

All tablets, pen displays and pen-enabled tablet PCs from Wacom easily integrate with software from xyzmo. Thousands of signature stations world-wide successfully use xyzmo software and Wacom tablets.

Click here for a free 90-day software trial.

The STU-520 LCD Signature Tablet offers a high resolution color display, large signing surface, and Wacom’s cordless, battery-free pen technology. The 800×480 pixel resolution provides a sharp image display—perfect for presenting marketing messages and company logos in color.

Every day, businesses throw away hard-earned income by printing, copying, faxing, sending, scanning, shredding and storing documents that require a signature. Furthermore, a lot can go wrong with paper-based signatures. Mail can get lost. Faxes can fail to go through. Scanners may create distorted documents. Customers may ignore the paper document or lose it on their desk.

Did you know that the average paper-based signature costs an organization over €3 in document printing, copying, faxing, sending, scanning, shredding and storage costs?

xyzmo brings signatures into the modern age. You no longer need to scan, fax or mail your important signature-based documents. Just get your customer to e-sign it with xyzmo. It could not be easier, or more secure.

A captured handwritten signature looks identical to a person’s original wet-ink signature, but if you use the xyzmo Suite it is much more than just an electronic image. Our solution records the handwritten signature of a person by measuring parameters of pressure, acceleration, speed and rhythm. These parameters are unique to each individual and cannot be easily reproduced by forgers. Once a signature – including all these biometric parameters – has been embedded into a document, it becomes a signed and sealed PDF. Anyone can verify the signature and integrity of the content anywhere, at any time; thus, unrecognized post-signing manipulations are impossible.

This ability can be taken one step further, by enabling the performance of a real-time biometric verification of a person’s signature through the comparison of the recorded parameters of the handwritten signatures against a pre-enrolled profile. This means that business transactions are only processed if their signatories were authenticated, and companies can therefore prove who signed a document, and exactly when it was signed.

End-customers worldwide embrace our solution with enthusiasm, as embedding a handwritten electronic signature requires no changes in their habits. The customers continue to sign like they always did, but with the distinct advantage of an improved experience, thanks to reduced waiting times and the convenience of remote and secure document handling.

xyzmo 4 Smart Phones and Tablets

Dynamic Signature Verification

xyzmo 4 Banking White Paper

xyzmo 4 Telcom White Paper

Nashua Mobile has become the first telecommunications service provider in South Africa to offer a completely paperless process for customers that are signing up for cellular contracts. The company has implemented a digital signature solution in partnership with Signatura, a specialist provider of solutions for secure paperless contracts.

The move towards digital capture of signatures will make the process of signing up for contracts faster and more convenient for Nashua Mobile customers. In addition, it supports the company’s migration towards paperless business processes in line with its goal to conduct business in a more environmentally friendly manner. The system went live nationwide on September 1, just in time for Arbour Day. 

Says Barry Venter, General Manager for Business Services at Nashua Mobile: “Customers that visit any of our stores countrywide to sign up for a new contract, or that get a new handset delivered to them by our courier partner RTT, will be able complete the process without signing a single piece of paper.  

“They will enjoy a faster, more convenient experience since there will be no more need to print, scan and photocopy documents any more. In addition, we will be able to cut down on the amount of paper that we use, which will benefit the environment.”  

Nashua Mobile has been long been on a drive to reduce the amount of paper in its business to benefit the environment. It has a longstanding partnership with Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) and makes a donation of R10.00 to FTFA for every Nashua Mobile subscriber who opts to receive monthly accounts by email instead of in the post. To date, this initiative has helped FTFA to plant about 5,000 trees in total. 

Customers will be able to store their contracts electronically on their cell phones or personal computers. In addition, the move towards a fully electronic process will reduce opportunities for data capture errors to creep in. From Nashua Mobile’s perspective, eliminating the need to recapture data from application forms and other documents will allow the company to streamline business processes and save time and money.   

The customer’s signature is captured on a digital signature pad and is electronically attached to the electronic ‘paperwork’ generated by Nashua Mobile’s systems. The signature is stored in an encrypted format for security reasons and cannot be copied. It is also time and date stamped so that it cannot be reused for any purpose besides the original contract it is attached to. Any attempt to change the document after it has been signed will invalidate both the signature and the contract.

 The digital signatures also strengthen security by offering more information than paper-based signatures and offers biometric functionality. This form of digital signature is recognised by the Electronic Communications & Transactions Act, and makes paperless contracts legally binding.   

 About Nashua Mobile

Nashua Mobile, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the JSE-listed Reunert Limited Group (http://www.reunert.co.za/), is an independent telecommunications solutions provider that has built up a range of offerings from Broadband, Internet service provision and mobile Data through to messaging and cellular voice solutions. The company operates through four divisions: Corporates and SMEs; Retail and Franchise; LCR and Specialised Services; and Nashua Mobile Internet. The company is one of South Africa’s largest, independent cellular solutions providers and one of the few providers to offer customers the choice of all three networks (Vodacom, MTN and Cell C). More information on Nashua Mobile is available at www.nashuamobile.com

Returning customers are one of the main measurements of a business’ success, particularly in the retail sector. Therefore a satisfied customer is the main goal of every business. On the other side, the retail arena is facing high cost related pressures that require more and more automation in the POS area in order to reduce the cost structure.  xyzmo’s solution for the retail industry helps achieving improved customer satisfaction rates whilst ensuring lean processes, by offering simple and secure electronic signature solutions, that solve the challenge of signing electronic documents securely while simultaneously reducing the costs and labor associated with paper-based processes and improving the time required for doing business at the POS.

With the combination of the “slim” and secure SIGNificant Generic POS Connector used at POS in retail outlets and the SIGNificant Server infrastructure used in the datacenters, expensive traditional paper-based processes efficiently transform into full electronic processes. This cutting edge solution is tailor-made for POS systems, characterized with a generic interface supporting any POS system.

Paper-based business transactions are time consuming and expensive as they require slips to be printed twice, one slip to be signed by the customer for archiving purposes and another to be given to the customer. The customer signs the paper slip and the POS system sends the slip’s raw data to the company’s back-office, while the signed paper slip is sent via physical mail to the back office or third parties. At the next stage the signed paper slip is scanned and archived with the raw data or manually archived in a physical archive.

The fully electronic process is done easily and intuitively. It starts with the customer’s handwritten signature on a signature tablet and followed with an option to verify the signature with the SIGNificant Biometric Server. Then a customer copy of the slip can either be printed by the POS system or be sent to the customer via email by the SIGNificant Server. At the next step the SIGNificant POS Connector encrypts the raw data and signature data and transfers them to the back-office. In case a network connection is not available, data is cached locally and retransmitted when online connectivity is achieved again. The SIGNificant Server converts the raw data into signed and sealed PDF slips at the back-office and then sends the PDF and raw data to the archive.

Advancing to a fully electronic process offers companies in the retail arena the benefits of a secure paperless environment. These valuable benefits include elimination of costs associated with paper-based POS (reduction of between 50%-100% in paper slips printing; reduction of 100% physical mails and scans), acceleration of business processes, avoiding lost slips and enabling retailers to perform transactions faster compared to their competitors. Additional benefits include fast and easy integration, thanks to the similarity of this process to the current paper-based process and the generic interface suiting any POS system and any archive at any IT environment. Furthermore, by adopting electronic signatures in the retails industry, companies provide customers with an easier, less time consuming experience and enable the generation of an audit trail necessary for compliance. Finally, last but not least is the significantly improved security aspect, based on automatic data encryption at the POS side and secure identification of customers.

What would you do if you were requested to provide a scan of your iris or your fingerprint for authentication, when performing a routine business transaction? Most people would avoid providing this kind of data due to its intrusive nature. A more acceptable alternative is the dynamic handwritten signature, which is a reliable indicator of an individual’s identity with a high level of security and authenticity but without the aversive feeling associated with other biometric recognition methods that raise privacy concerns.

Signing a document with wet ink handwritten signature used to be the most common method of authorization for many years. A more advanced use of this traditional method is via electronic signature solutions that were upgraded by the biometric technology like the one offered in the SIGNificant Suite which enables a dynamic handwritten verification. This technology leveraged electronic signatures to more than just an electronic image identical to a person’s wet ink signature, as it records the handwritten signature of a person by parameters of pressure, acceleration, speed and rhythm. These parameters are unique to every individual (similar to one’s finger-print) and cannot be easily reproduced by a forger. Once a signature including all the biometric parameters has been embedded into a document it is turned into a signed and sealed PDF, thus guarantying authenticity.

The dynamic signature verification is part of a wide range of biometric technologies being used for identity verification by means of unique physiological traits or behavioral characteristics that cannot be forgotten, lost or stolen, including fingerprint identification,  face recognition, retina or iris scan. The biometric handwritten signature is differentiated from other methods of identification as in oppose to other biometrics it is based on the commonly used practice of signing with a handwritten signature and in addition it lacks an invasive nature, making it more easily accepted by people in their business and daily transactions.

In addition to the obvious benefits of dynamic signatures, deriving from its cultural acceptance and easy implementation in any organization, dynamic signature verification is one of the most accurate methods as it cannot be copied or duplicated the way fingerprints or other physical biometrics can. Furthermore it is intuitive, rapid, cost effective and involves compact data. These benefits make it a superb solution for document authentication in most business environments and workflows.

When evaluating electronic signature solutions, companies are confronted with the question whether to use neutral software or software bundled with signature devices which is typically provided by the pad manufacturer itself.

Device independent solutions hold many benefits in comparison to signature solutions which are bounded to a specific device. A device independent solution enables the use of a broad range of signature capturing devices from various manufacturers. As some companies require basic signature pads, while others require more advanced devices, a signature pad independent solution offers the needed flexibility and leads to an improved satisfaction rates due to the fact that each customer integrating this solution can choose the signature pad that most fits its needs.

To make the argument that a signature pad independent solution is beneficial more concrete, let’s examine some examples illustrating its main benefits. This kind of solution enables a mix of tablets for different applications. As each tablet was developed with a specific set of customer requirements in mind, different applications have different needs in terms of tablet size, cost, paper trail or LCD features. In addition, the implementation isn’t bounded to a specific pad or pad manufacturer. It is only with neutral software that the pad can easily be replaced without the need to change the software integration itself.  Furthermore at the end of the signature pad’s lifecycle, the company can choose the best pad available on the market at a certain time and not be limited to only one manufacturer. This enables companies to avoid being on the hook of signature pad manufactures and lets them make an informed desiccation each time the need to replace the existing pad infrastructure arises.

Another practical issue that definitely makes an independent solution valuable is that companies have the possibility to distribute parts of their software also to business partners that might wish to use different signature pads than the company uses for its purposes. It is a basic fact that the typical core competence and focus of pad manufacturers is hardware and not software, meaning pad manufacturers typically provide only an SDK or not much above it; therefore it cannot be compared to a total solution like the SIGNificant Suite.

Last but not least if you are looking for an enterprise platform that is capable of other forms of digitally signing a document like smartcards, tokens, Click2Sign and software certificates for different needs in various business processes, a pure pad based software is anyhow not what you are looking for.

Bottom line is that being obligated to only one manufacturer or one device in your business will usually engage more disadvantages than advantages, therefore being at this position is never really recommended. To make the right strategic decision for your company you should think outside the box.

Signing documents does not take place just in Retail locations anymore; the online channel is used more and more to sell of products and services. (E.g. handset upgrades membership application, etc.).

Click2Sign requires to identify the signatory, and to keep track of the signing process in an audit trail. SIGNificant Click2Sign is taking care of these challenges by various ways of identifying the signatory, as well as keeping the audit trail with the signed document, which makes these documents legally binding. Click2Sign offers various ways to identify a signatory. From a simple „I agree“ checkbox to a sophisticated challenge/response protocol using different channels.

PIN by SMS
The most sophisticated identification method is the PIN by SMS functionality. The user signs on the web using a PIN code. This PIN is sent to a cell number the user has to specify. Logging all the steps („SMS was sent to at with PIN code “ and „PIN was entered at from “) into an embedded audit trail, it can be assured, that the signatory is the holder of this particular cell phone. This is e.g. used today by wireless providers, who know their customer’s cell number.

PIN by E-Mail
The PIN by E-Mail method works the same way as PIN by SMS; the PIN is delivered to an E-Mail account instead. Useful if e-mail addresses are known upfront. A blacklist for e-mail domains is configurable, so known SPAM e-mail domains can be avoided.

Sign by Name
The User signs by entering his Name instead of a PIN. Optionally the name can be provided to the system by a backed system, and be compared when signing. The audit trail will show „User entered at from “

Sign by Click
The User signs by clicking an „I agree“ checkbox.The audit trail will show „User clicked I ‚agree’ at from “

External audit trail
The system can take external audit trail data. For example a calling application could first authenticate users by having them enter their credit card information, and provide the response from the clearing house to Click2Sign.

There are two alternatives for integrating electronic signature solutions, as they can be available as part of a total solution, for instance with the all-in-one SIGNificant Suite which includes a Server, Client and Biometric Server and also be available through an SDK, that enables companies to develop a client application for their specific platform.

Although it might be tempting to consider using an SDK when integrating electronic signature solutions, thinking it could make for an easier, cheaper and seamless integration, actually starting with a total solution is usually a better choice for most companies. One shouldn’t underestimate the efforts that need to be invested in making a working solution from an SDK, resulting in much higher costs when programming your own solution in comparison to customizing a standard solution. Starting with a total solution is critically faster as typically the customization process is done within a few days. Furthermore there are additional costs that should be taken into consideration like maintenance and future developments.

Another important aspect, especially when integrating electronic signature solutions is that when using an SDK, the company’s IT department will need to manage all security issues independently. For instance protecting customers’ handwritten signatures from being transferred to an unauthorized document or stored somewhere in raw format, which is an enormous burden on the company’s internal IT department. This includes efforts to avoid misuse and careless coding by the company’s own employees, turning the task of providing a sufficient level of security tougher. The fact is that even if all security actions are implemented, this issue is usually not easily explained to end customers and third parties, as theoretically the company has the possibility to misuse this sensitive data. Whilst in the scenario of a total solution, the company can easily proof to end customers and if necessary also to court in case of a legal dispute, that it had no possibility to manipulate signatures.

Besides of the security aspects, a total solution offers much more than “just” embedding a signature into a PDF document. Including capabilities like automation of different documents with flexible signature fields positioning; PDF conversion; digital signing (sealing) of documents; encryption and embedment of signatures securely into the document, support for different signature pads and attachment of additional documents and scans. Furthermore the total solution offers predefined and ready to go interface functionalities; Citrix support; audit trailing and many other valuable features.

At the end of the day, each customer must decide what the best solution is for his purposes, but remember that in contrary to what is maybe expected at a first glance, a total solution might be cheaper and deployed faster than an SDK based approach.

To learn more about xyzmo SIGNificant’s solutions, please visit: www.xyzmo.com