Powerful New e-Sign and Mobile App Functionality Introduced; Partner Ecosystem Expands

Adobe announced significant new e-sign capabilities in Document Cloud that will make electronically signing documents and contracts easier than ever before. New functionality includes a visual drag-and-drop Workflow Designer, digital signatures (a more advanced, secure form of e-signatures) and Enterprise Mobility Management and Signature Capture that makes on-the-go signing a breeze.  Adobe also announced expanded partner integrations with Workday, Salesforce and Ariba, making it easier for organizations to quickly add e-signing capabilities to their existing HR, sales, procurement and legal systems.

“Companies are in the midst of massive digital transformation, with a relentless push to streamline all business processes,” said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Media, Adobe.  “New e-sign capabilities in Adobe Document Cloud, including digital signatures and breakthrough mobile functionality--will bring a new level of efficiency to core business processes by eliminating the time lag and cumbersome paperwork associated with securing ink signatures."

“The way businesses interact with each other and with customers today is almost unrecognizable compared to how we did business in the past,” said Paul Robson, president, Adobe Asia Pacific. “The need to drive down costs and boost speed and efficiency is greater than ever before. Integrating e-signature support into everyday applications is crucial to giving the process the transparency and ease of use that will help Hong Kong businesses and consumers adopt this process to streamline and protect interactions.”

“Our experience with Adobe eSign services has been excellent,” said Alfred Aloysius, Director, Strategic Sourcing, SMRT Corporation Ltd, a leading multi-modal public transport operator in Singapore. “The implementation was quick and fuss-free, and the approval process now is a lot less laborious. We’re pleased with the increased mobility that Adobe eSign has brought us, as contract approvals can now be done on the go. Efficiency and productivity have increased for more than 300 employees who use the eSign services across 12 departments, including Finance, HR and Commercial; we have recognized a reduction of document handling fees by more than SG$100,000 (approximately HK$553,000) since November 2014. Today, we’re able to better achieve Organisational Excellence by turning around a contract approval in mere minutes, as compared to several hours or days previously, thereby improving team productivity. The integration with Ariba has also helped us streamline the procurement process, with greater flexibility, security and control when sending contracts for e-signature.”

Introducing Advanced E-sign Capabilities

Adoption of electronic signatures is soaring due to the competitive edge they afford businesses of all sizes. Forrester Research “estimates over 754 million documents will be signed electronically in 2017, a 350 percent increase over the 210 million transactions e-signed in 2014”1. However, many businesses are required to use digital signatures, a more advanced, secure form of e-signature, and one that is set for EU-wide adoption beginning July 2016. As such, digital signature and advanced workflow capabilities now available in Document Cloud eSign services deliver enterprise-grade signing to businesses worldwide.

Powerful new capabilities introduced today include:

Breakthrough workflow automation – With the new, drag-and-drop Workflow Designer, visually create easy-to-follow workflow templates for senders to follow a consistent signing process every time.  Plus, use new Advanced Workflows to build custom apps and a web experience that automates steps in a business process, like onboarding new hires or finalizing a sales contract, before, during, and after signing.

• Digital Signatures - Comply with advanced signing requirements in the EU and regulated industries to drive global business with new digital signatures, now incorporated into Adobe eSign services.  Adobe is the only global provider to enable not just European citizens, but people around the world, to validate European signatures through the support of the European Trusted Lists (EUTL) now available in Adobe Acrobat and in the ubiquitous Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• New global data centers – New Document Cloud data centers are planned to be available in Ireland and Germany by the end of this year, part of a global expansion that will continue through 2016.
• Enterprise-class control - Equip employees with new options so they can eliminate extra steps and get signing done faster with an all-new send agreement experience that’s as simple as it is powerful. For example, use new functionality to correct documents ‘in flight’ - when the wrong document has been sent by mistake, simply fix and resend instead of cancelling and starting over.

Enabling the Mobile Workforce

Adobe eSign Manager DC is an upgraded mobile app companion for Document Cloud eSign services and Adobe Acrobat DC.  It lets you easily e-sign documents and forms, send them for signature, track responses in real-time, and get instant signatures with in-person signing.  The eSign Manager DC app now features powerful new functionality, including:

• Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) – Securely manage employees’ Document Cloud mobile apps and devices using Android for Work, or, coming soon, Good Technology and Microsoft Intune.
• Signature Capture – Let employees use their mobile device camera to take a photo of their handwritten signature once, then use it to sign documents again and again.
• Signature Sync – Give employees access to their signature image across web, mobile and desktop experiences with automatic synchronization. Plus, download and view more stored agreements on your mobile device and find the right one quickly using powerful new search and filter options.

Document Cloud Partner Ecosystem Expands

Partners are a critical element of the Document Cloud ecosystem.  With powerful e-sign partner integrations, enterprises can easily add turnkey e-signing capabilities to systems of record that are crucial to day-to-day business. With new integrations and updates, Adobe Document Cloud is now extended through partners including:

• Workday – Speed business processes with e-signature capabilities pre-integrated into Workday’s built-in business process framework. The integration provides Workday customers that purchase Adobe eSign services with the ability to add e-signatures to over 400 business processes across the entire Workday application suite to help save time, reduce errors and legal risk, increase compliance, and improve employee experiences.
• Salesforce – Simplify the setup, use and management of signature workflows for sales via the #1 customer-rated e-signature solution for Salesforce. The latest eSign services update delivers an easy-to-use setup wizard, automates common tasks like adding product lists to agreements, and supports certificate-based digital signatures. And, it’s native on the Salesforce Platform and fully certified with the Lightning app builder framework.
• Ariba – Streamline the procurement process through greater flexibility, security and control when sending contracts for e-signature in Ariba Contract Management. The latest eSign services integration enables users to add multiple signers, define signing order, and verify signers with multi-factor authentication.

About Document Cloud eSign Services

As the inventor of PDF, Adobe brings over 20 years of experience with secure digital documents to help businesses compete more effectively. Document Cloud provides departments and entire organizations with services, including enterprise-class eSign services, that bring speed and efficiency to business document workflows. Leading organizations all over the world – including companies like KLM, Groupon, Jaguar Land Rover, NetAPP and TiVo – rely on Adobe’s eSign services for fast, secure and mobile e-signatures. Having processed over 150M e-sign agreements, e-sign services offers solutions for industries including healthcare and insurance, financial services, media and entertainment, government, and schools and universities.

Helpful Links:

• Learn more about Adobe eSign services.
• Blog on our Document Cloud news from Kevin M. Lynch, Adobe SVP and GM, Document Cloud.
• Blog from Dan Puterbaugh, Associate General Counsel at Adobe, on our new study with legal professionals.
• Blog from Jon Perera, Adobe Vice President of Product Management for Document Cloud, on new innovation in Acrobat DC subscription.

Pricing and Availability

The new Adobe eSign capabilities will be available to customers beginning in November through early 2016. Find out more.