Leading Provider of Electronic Signature Technology will Showcase Latest Product Offerings

AssureSign LLC, a leader in electronic signature technology, today announced that the company will be an Exhibitor at Microsoft Convergence 2010, the premier Microsoft Dynamics event, to be held April 24-27, 2010 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA.

AssureSign, a Microsoft Certified Partner, offers integrations for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, as well as Microsoft SharePoint. Integrations are also being developed for Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics SL. With AssureSign’s integrated electronic signatures, Microsoft Dynamics users can realize shorter revenue cycles and greatly accelerated business processes, with the ability to map Microsoft Dynamics data into documents for signature. To see a demonstration and receive more information, please visit AssureSign in the Convergence Expo Hall in Booth #439.

Microsoft Convergence enables Microsoft Dynamics users to experience the Microsoft Dynamics community in action. This event offers a unique opportunity to network with peers, partners, Microsoft team members, and industry experts together to share ideas and knowledge – all in one place. Attendees will experience first-hand how they can use the power of Microsoft Dynamics and the full range of Microsoft products to optimize their business and improve their bottom line – now and in the future.

“AssureSign is committed to providing our customers the latest technology wrapped by the most robust  integration options for their business process workflows,” said David W. Brinkman, president and chief executive officer of AssureSign LLC. “We are excited to have the first electronic signature solution to provide Microsoft Dynamics users with a seamlessly integrated channel through which to ensure customer acquisition.”

Additional details and registration information about the upcoming Microsoft Convergence event in Atlanta is available at www.microsoft.com/convergence.

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new and improved website. The new site has been redesigned with a fresh new look to provide a more comprehensive source of information regarding AssureSign's latest products and services, industry applications, recent news and upcoming events. Additionally, the site enables visitors to "Demo It Now" and experience using AssureSign Electronic Signature Technology.

We invite you to visit the new www.assuresign.com today!

Building on the latest features released in our core SaaS application version 2.1.1, the AssureSign for Salesforce application has been converted to access the faster and more feature-rich V2 DocumentNOW® interfaces.

One powerful addition made possible by this conversion is the ability to submit documents stored in Salesforce that contain dynamically created JotBlocks™ (AssureSign signature and data collection locations and attributes).  Customers using proprietary or third party document creation processes can leverage this new feature by inserting the well-defined dynamic JotBlock tags into their documents.

Additionally, we have made it easier to integrate AssureSign with your custom objects, through providing a more complete list of available custom object fields in the parameter tagging help section, exposing custom object fields for manual selection, and providing specific custom object field mapping examples in our online documentation.

Existing AssureSign for Salesforce users will receive a notification on their application indicating when the new version is available for download; we anticipate the general release to occur on Wednesday, March 24.  AssureSign sandbox users who access their sandbox accounts in a development version of Salesforce may access the tool starting today:  please contact support@assuresign.com for information about downloading the fully functional preview version of the tool for your development environment. 

Dale W. Combs, co-owner of D Squared Holdings, Inc. and its related and subsidiary companies Third Party Verification, Inc. (3PV), AssureSign LLC and Marketing Systems Group, Inc. (MSG) announced that effective January 1, 2010 he has retired from his position as President and Chief Technical Officer.  Combs will maintain part-time involvement through mid-year while continuing his ownership interest.   Along with chief executive officer David W. Brinkman, Combs co-founded Marketing Systems Group in 1991.  Brinkman will continue to oversee daily operations of the businesses as President and CEO, while Combs will be involved only in high-level strategy and business decisions.

MSG continues to bring innovative solutions to customers, including its very first customer, signed in 1991, who is still a customer today. 3PV spun-off from MSG in 2001, and has grown to be the recognized market leader in third party verification services. 3PV was named to the Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies in 2008. In 2006, AssureSign spun-off from 3PV, quickly becoming a leader in integrated electronic signature solutions via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering. The companies collectively have been named to the Orlando Sentinel’s Top 100 Companies for Working Families in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

“We’ve planned this transition for quite some time and I’m confident that Dave and his team are very capable of moving the business forward.  I have had the privilege of working with many talented and dynamic professionals and I will miss the organization a great deal, but it is time for me to move to a new chapter in my life,” Combs said. “I’m looking forward to spending time with family, and pursuing other activities including traveling.”

 “Dale and I have done a tremendous job building a world-class organization, and he leaves behind a very capable team.” said Brinkman.

Rigorous Certification Reaffirms AssureSign’s High Quality Operational Standards and Controls

AssureSign LLC, a leader in electronic signature technology, today announced that it has successfully completed an enterprise-wide Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS-70) Type II audit, which assesses the operational effectiveness of internal controls within service organizations. The audit provides assurance that AssureSign employs uniform and reliable operational controls to safeguard customer data, meeting the strictest industry standard. AssureSign completed the SAS-70 Type I audit in June 2009.

The SAS-70 Type II certification designates that adequate controls and safeguards are in place and operating effectively in regards to customer data that is hosted or processed by AssureSign. These high quality operations are required today by all industries, particularly by organizations that deal with financial transactions or critical data.

The SAS-70 audit, issued by the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), defines the professional standards used by a service auditor to assess the internal controls of a service organization. It was developed for service providers who wish to demonstrate the establishment of effectively designed control objectives and control activities, and has become one of the most widely recognized auditing standards for service organizations.

The scope of AssureSign’s SAS-70 audit is not exclusive to its world-class, mission critical data center; it incorporates controls from every aspect of AssureSign’s operational process including: human resources, information technology physical security, information technology logical security, client provisioning and account maintenance, accuracy and timeliness of transaction processing, application development, testing and change management, and statutory compliance.

“Achieving SAS-70 compliance demonstrates AssureSign’s commitment to delivering value to our customers and exceeding their expectations. As a hosted services provider, it’s essential for our customers to have effective controls, standards and infrastructure in place to completely protect their data,” said Steven Cardillo, AssureSign’s chief financial officer. “We feel strongly that our processes and transactions fall under the same scrutiny. It is very important that our clients feel that we have their best interest in mind.”

“It’s important to AssureSign’s customers that we have safeguards in place to protect the security, privacy and sensitivity of their data, and completing an enterprise-wide SAS-70 Type II audit provides further validation and assurance of that,” said David Brinkman, AssureSign’s chief executive officer. “We are proud of this very significant investment in time and resources and know it significantly sets us apart from our peers and competitors.” 

New version provides seamless integration for dynamic document creation

AssureSign LLC, a leader in electronic signature technology, today announced the official release of the latest offering of its AssureSign product, AssureSign v2.1.1. With this new release, AssureSign delivers a higher degree of automation, enhanced document creation and dynamic template generation, producing the most cost-effective solution for AssureSign users.

AssureSign is a web-hosted service that facilitates the managed processing of documents in an all-digital, highly secure environment. Since its inception, AssureSign has had the ability to template the signature process using ‘JotBlocks’(AssureSign’s term for signature and data collection locations and attributes),  which has proven to be a powerful feature, opening the door to a limitless variety of uses of AssureSign’s DocumentNOW® integration interfaces.

While it has always been possible within AssureSign to dynamically create single use document patterns with distinct layouts, AssureSign v2.1.1 introduces a well-defined process that allows user to programmatically vary the signature areas in a way that best suits their existing processes.   Ultimately, this new release means AssureSign users will be able to further embed AssureSign electronic signatures into their existing web portal applications, CRM systems or any other back-office or desktop applications without having to manage an extensive library to templates and workflows.

AssureSign 2.1.1 is a result of client and partner suggestions and feedback. Requests included very low level programmatic control of the process, as well as simpler in-document tagging mechanism; and the ability to define information embedded within their streamed-in Word documents, as well as the ability to apply information to PDF documents using existing toolsets. The final solution provides all of these options and offers the flexibility to mix and match the features that suit each user’s needs.

“With the introduction of dynamic JotBlocks, AssureSign users have complete control over their document templates,” said David W. Brinkman, AssureSign’s Chief Executive Officer. “With dynamic JotBlocks, the process of integrating a new technology into an existing business process becomes seamless.”

The latest version of AssureSign, version 2.1.1, is currently being qualified and is being released for our integration clients to the development sandbox on January 20 with production release scheduled for mid-February 2010.

A key feature of this release is dynamically defined JotBlock signature locations.

Templating the signature process has proven to be a powerful feature, opening the door to a limitless variety of uses of our DocumentNOW integration interfaces.  And automation through integration produces the most cost effective solutions.  While it has always been possible within AssureSign to dynamically create single use document patterns with distinct layouts, we have developed a well-defined process that allows our customers to programmatically vary the signature areas in a way that best suits their existing processes.

Client suggestions and feedback played an important part in crafting this solution.  These also created an early puzzle that caused our engineers to approach the problem cautiously.  Some clients wanted very low level programmatic control of the process, others wanted a simpler in-document tagging mechanism; some clients needed to be able to define information embedded within their streamed-in Word documents, others wanted to apply information to their PDFs using existing toolsets.

Our final solution provides all of these options and offers the flexibility to mix and match the features that suit your needs.  You will be able to define JotBlocks:

• in the template creation process
• in a text tag within the document to be signed
• through XML
  

or combinations of

• tag + XML
• tag + template
• XML + template
• tag + XML + template

For example, in a simple case where all workflow rules are well established, such as there being only 1 signatory in a single signing step who will sign 1 specific signature block that may vary in its location due to variation in the agreements terms, then the JotBlock could be defined in advance on the template and an embedded tag in the streamed-in document could indicate merely the final signing location.

In the case that an entirely new signature area is to be defined that was not known when the template was created, this could be done with embedded text or through XML.  The XML could completely describe all attributes of the JotBlock, including height, width, x/y coordinates, signing order, signatory, special instructions, etc.  Or the XML could describe complex information but a text tag with the same name could intrinsically define the location of the signature.

We are excited about the possibilities these new features provide our customers.  Existing sandbox users will have early access to documentation and examples from within the sandbox environment in the DocumentNOW help section.  For more information about these and other features of the AssureSign application, please contact sign@assuresign.com.

Well, things have slowed down a little after an exciting Dreamforce and the Thanksgiving Holiday and it’s time to reflect back on our experiences at Dreamforce 2009!

First, thanks to the thousand-plus customers, prospective customers, partners and monkey-seekers for stopping by to visit with us at our booth and at our partner’s booths, Riptide and BigMachines.  Many of you got to see first-hand the new, game-changing offer in AssureSign Verbal Agreements, plus see how our enhanced integration is the most streamlined way to get electronic signatures launched (verbal or written) and processed within Salesforce CRM.

One of the most exciting things was the resounding endorsement of Verbal Agreements.   We all know that electronic signatures speed up the document execution process, but what if you can gain an equally ESIGN and UETA compliant verbal agreement while you still have the customer on the phone?  Since we have been doing this for years outside of Salesforce CRM it was only logical to extend our offering.   We had many telesales, trading and not-for-profit organizations interested in these applications.

As electronic signatures become more widely accepted the most frequently asked question was “how is AssureSign different from other vendors?”  Well, it’s pretty straight-forward and was easily demonstrated....

·        We, along with all AppExchange electronic signature vendors easily and seamlessly integrate with Salesforce Realtime Quotes – of course there are differences in all vendors.  AssureSign’s document launch is more streamlined and transparent... Of course there’s more...

·        There really IS something to be said about signing with a mouse – it is familiar to signers, it looks like a real signature, is more broadly accepted, is equally ESIGN and UETA compliant and simply a better way to do it.  Why would anyone want to use a font to represent your signature?  Why would a third party accept a font-based signature?

·        AssureSign is the most transparent signature solution on Apexchange – you can completely brand the entire signature workflow so a signatory would never know they are using a 3^rd-party signature application

·        AssureSign offers the ability to pre-sign documents by originators within the Salesforce CRM application – no need to leave Salesforce AND countersignatures are also accomplished without email, within Salesforce.  This creates a single user experience for complete document execution.

·        Immediate signing within Salesforce CRM – for field personnel with tablet PC’s or hand-held devices, signatures can be done face-to-face for field representatives

AssureSign would like to thank Riptide Software and BigMachines for their support and endorsement of AssureSign by demonstrating our application in conjunction with theirs in their respective booths. 

We look forward to upcoming Salesforce events and of course, remember to sign-up for one of our webinars to learn more.

And, lastly, please remember to take a minute and tell us 'where they are now’. In this season of giving and reconnecting with those we may have lost touch with over the last year, we at AssureSign would like to take this opportunity to get back in touch with some friends we haven't spoken to in a while.

We adopted out several monkeys at Dreamforce 2009, and would like to know more about where they now call home. Is your monkey in the loving arms of a child? Or sitting on your desk ready to cheer up a coworker on a rainy day? We will be setting up a "Where Are They Now?" blog, on which we will be posting updates from our long lost friends. If you know a monkey you'd like to see featured on the blog, please send us a picture and/or any information you have about its whereabouts. Keep checking back to read about other monkeys and their travels across the country and the world.

Electronic Signatures Provide a Simple and Smooth Contract Process

AssureSign LLC, a leader in electronic signature technology, today announced it has entered into a partnership with Riptide Software, Inc., a salesforce.com integration partner, to provide comprehensive solutions to Salesforce CRM users.

As salesforce.com partners, AssureSign  and Riptide are collaborating to bring best of breed, unique solutions to market together with the inclusion of new industry-leading verbal agreements. Riptide will be the preferred Salesforce CRM integration partner for the AssureSign solution, bringing electronic signatures and verbal agreements to a broad range of salesforce.com users. Additionally, Riptide has chosen AssureSign to be its preferred partner for integrated electronic signatures for its Real Estate applications – Riptide Real Estate and Riptide VOS (Vacation Ownership Software) – as well as its Human Resources application –  Riptide Recruiting.

AssureSign and Riptide will be demonstrating their integrated solutions at the Dreamforce Global Gathering 2009 Expo in San Francisco, November 17-20. Please visit AssureSign in Booth #1201 or Riptide in Booth #1202.
“AssureSign is committed to providing customers with the latest technology and the simplest integration into their business process workflows,” says David Brinkman, AssureSign’s Chief Executive Officer. “Through our partnership with Riptide, Salesforce CRM users can easily create documents for signing electronically with robust tracking, workflow and reporting capabilities, for improved and accelerated business processes.”

 “AssureSign’s product makes Riptide’s commitment to a paperless business process one step closer to reality,” says Philip Loeffel, Riptide’s Chief Executive Officer.  “Our partnership with AssureSign allows us to utilize our integration experience to guarantee our customers success, reduce their document tracking expenses, and show how going green in the real world can save money for everyone.”