eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
A growing number of insurance and financial services companies are turning to Adobe EchoSign to handle new challenges of the digital workplace such as improving customer service and more.
EchoSign is Adobe’s electronic signature solution that enables users to send and e-sign documents on their smartphone, tablet or any Web browser.
Adobe officials said by taking advantage of digital technology, especially electronic signature solutions, across entire processes, insurance and financial services companies can secure interactions as well as increase operating efficiencies. Indeed, financial services companies need to cut down on the significant amounts of paper required to accomplish signature-intensive processes across lending, insurance, treasury, account and trade operations, Adobe said.
The Progressive Casualty Insurance Company is using Adobe’s solution to improve its operations. Progressive is partnering with Adobe to make electronic signature solutions available to its agencies. Adobe is providing Adobe EchoSign + PDF Pack to Progressive’s more than 35,000 agencies in the United States. By combining the reliability of Adobe PDF with e-signatures, agents can close business faster, more easily and securely. The software will initially be made available to agencies in Missouri and Illinois and then roll out nationwide later this year.
“We’re pleased to be able to work with Adobe as a preferred provider of electronic signature solutions and offer Adobe EchoSign + PDF Pack to our independent agents across the country,” said Dwight Hager, director of distribution for Progressive’s Central Region, in a statement. “Adobe’s solutions will help provide a powerful platform to reduce operational costs, improve customer experience and save time for our business, agents and customers.”
Adobe EchoSign simplifies the process of getting to a signed agreement. Single or multiple documents can be packaged and sent for signature, removing the hassle of using paper and multiple email attachments. Once the agreement is signed, it’s simple to track, manage and store them securely in Adobe EchoSign and send copies back to all parties.
With Adobe PDF Pack, paper or electronic agreements can be easily converted to Adobe PDF files that can be easily sent for signature via Adobe EchoSign. It can also be used to create PDF documents to share with clients such as letters, brochures and policy change notifications.
Other financial services companies such as NEC Financial Services and Card Assets use EchoSign to achieve results such as reduced turnaround time for signed agreements from days to as little as minutes, increasing business by completing more transactions per month, and eliminating virtually all printing and postage costs, Adobe said.
Last month, Adobe announced it was making the Adobe EchoSign electronic signature service available to the one billion business professionals who use Adobe Reader, Adobe Acrobat, Box, Google Drive and Microsoft SharePoint 2013. The May release also introduced a streamlined user experience and support for customized business workflows.
Adobe said EchoSign customers achieve an average of 85 percent reduction in contract signing times. Moreover, with the May release, EchoSign supports creating custom business workflows. The e-signature platform helps users build and customize signing workflows tailored to suit individual business processes. And once built, these workflows can be published and used throughout the organization—helping improve compliance, minimize errors and reduce costly rework during signing processes.
The platform also offers two-factor authentication so senders can be assured that people signing the documents are the ones they intended. This is established by choosing from several identity verification methods such as password, knowledge-based authentication or social identity, Adobe said.
Adobe also expanded the number of APIs in the May release of EchoSign. The platform supports a comprehensive set of SOAP– and REST-based APIs, enabling developers to use their favorite tools and programming models to build integrations into Adobe EchoSign.
Customers using Adobe EchoSign include Citrix, Groupon, Foursquare, Foxtons, KIA, NetApp, Rackspace, Ricoh, Shred-It and more than 25 percent of the Fortune 100, Adobe said. Globally, more than 34 million users across 170 countries have already used Adobe EchoSign.
“We trust Adobe for our e-signature needs across a range of critical business processes,” said Odus Wittenburg, senior vice president of Rackspace’s Americas business unit, in a statement in a blog post on the Adobe Web site. “Adobe EchoSign has literally saved us thousands of hours already. The advanced workflows and enterprise-strength e-Signature capabilities in the new release will help us further streamline critical business processes.”
In a separate blog post, Adobe’s EchoSign team described how EchoSign helped Adobe’s own procurement team to streamline and become more productive.
“Our Procurement team removed the roadblocks slowing down business and as a result became more agile and responsive to the business overall,” the post said. “Contract completion cycle was reduced by 73%: going from 2‐3 weeks to 1‐2 days. Currently, 79% of contracts are completed in 7 days or less. Additionally, there was a 70% increase in contract completion and the Procurement department’s paper and supplies costs were cut down by 80%.”