E-Signatures Take Off

Digital signatures are becoming big business even though e-signatures are not legally required on a Web document, where ticking a check-box is legally acceptable, according to TechCrunch.

Still, many brands find their customers don’t trust online box-checking, which creates an opportunity for companies like RightSignature. The Santa Barbara, CA-based company just closed a deal with Farmers Insurance, which – according to RightSignature CEO Daryl Bernstein – is the “biggest SaaS e-signature deployment ever.”

Farmers will roll out the service to 15 million customers, while RightSignature also announced that the American Bar Association will start making it available to its 400,000 members.

RightSignature has also developed a popular iPhone and BlackBerry app, and will "thrive" as the iPad takes off, Bernstein wrote on the company's blog. The app even lets users "draw out" their signatures.

Digital signatures, which are also offered by companies including EchoSign and DocuSign, cover a myriad of documents requiring signatures (services contracts, or W-9 and other tax forms, for example) and offer features such as secure SSL encryption, e-photo authentication, digital fingerprinting, and much more.

Although not overtly a sexy app, increasingly, brands, companies and organizations are offering this utility to customers. Yes, "Your John Hancock here" is going digital.