Aug 31

Digital Signature Capture comes of Age: Part 2

Yesterday we discussed how digital signature capture is “coming of age” and how it is a perfect document management solution for the manufacturing and distribution sector. Today we will dive further into what other industries should utilize a digital signature capture solution and what hardware and/or software an organization might need.

Other Candidates for Signature Capture
Other good candidates for signature capture are banking and financial services institutions, city or county government offices or any organization where documents must be signed by employees at multiple locations or regularly signed in significant volumes. For example, a bank with branches in five or 10 cities around the state must have each loan signed by the president and the local lending agent. Let’s say the bank prints three copies of all of the paperwork and couriers everything to the central branch so every finalized loan packet can be signed three times. Then the signed documents are returned to local branches. With 20 or 30 or more loan approvals daily, the president could easily spend a lot of time physically signing documents. Signing electronically without needing to re-scan paper documents greatly speeds the loan-approval process and lowers courier costs, which could become unmanageable if paper is shipped around regularly. A streamlined process might work like this: One copy of each loan packet is created on a network drive or in the company’s document-management system. The bank president electronically signs each document at headquarters and the lending agent countersigns it locally. In this scenario, the documents weren’t printed or mailed in any way until the single final copy for the customer was printed. The signed electronic copy always stays securely stored on the network.

Quality-control applications are common in research and manufacturing operations where procedures must be approved regularly with physical signatures. New signature-server technology can eliminate this paper-and-ink process. When a document is reviewed, the signer simply enters a secure user ID and password to apply a signature to a document. This can greatly speed the signing of documents because signers can log into the PIN server once and then apply signatures to several documents.

I mentioned capturing signatures on mobile devices and applying them to documents after returning to the office. This process works for merging a precaptured signature with a form document to create a final, signed document. Precaptured signatures could also help create accounts-payable, payroll or other checks within an organization. For use with automatic check generation, signatures can be precaptured and encrypted or stored on a secure thumb drive. Signatures, magnetic-ink character recognition fonts and check numbers would be applied electronically as checks are generated. Most modern form products let users automatically apply one or more signatures to a check based on dollar-amount thresholds or other criteria, eliminating the need for management teams to physically sign every check. Signature capture and electronic form overlays can streamline check generation for companies that create a large number of checks. These organizations can save money by using generic check stock instead of prenumbered, preprinted check forms.

Hospitals and clinics can also take advantage of signature capture. When patients are admitted and are signing to agree to medical procedures, digital capture can reduce paper-based medical-record creation as hospitals increasingly move toward implementing electronic medical records.

Hiring and other signature-intensive human-resource processes are another opportunity to streamline.

Hardware and Software Logistics
Logistically, you’ll need to consider both hardware and software. Make sure your hardware can accommodate the capture of digital signatures for what you’re trying to accomplish. You can purchase digital pads that can simply capture a written signature, or invest in a device that captures signatures and credit-card information if you’re working in a retail environment. If you’d like to store a digital signature that can be electronically applied, consider signature-server software that can store an encrypted signature and apply it to documents on the fly. For mobile capture, Windows Mobile technology still seems to be the device of the moment, although the other platforms such as BlackBerry and Apple devices could catch up over time. From a software-integration perspective, seek signature-capture solutions that can easily integrate with your existing ERP, financial and other business systems, whether they run on IBM i, Windows, AIX* or Linux*. You’ll also want to look for a system that doesn’t tie you to a specific back-end output location. Make sure your provider supports saving signed documents to any electronic-document management system, network drive or Microsoft* SharePoint, which has become popular in the past few years. Several vendor solutions are also available that can accommodate quick and easy integration.

Coming of Age
In an ever-changing technology landscape, digital signature capture has come of age. If your company could benefit from capturing, storing and distributing documents with signatures, it’s time learn more about this technology.

Previously featured in IBM Systems Magazine – July 2010.