Does anyone use E-signatures or Document Signing programs?

Hi Wayne. I've been using echosign (who was recently bought by Adobe) for a few years. I view the service as a cost effective solution when dealing with a distributed workforce and when you have global clientele (e.g. NDA's, contracts to be signed, etc.).

Interestingly, the minimal pushback that I get with the technology typically comes from banks, who more times than not will only accept electronic signatures as temporary measures (ahead of receiving physical copies on loan docs, etc.). However, most like the good old fax machine to validate wire and other requests, preferring that over e-mail and digital signatures. Go figure...

Some insurance companies use/accept docusign. Very neat little tool.

We have used Docusign Ink (a nice tool), and recently I have been signing pdf's with the "digital signature" feature built in to Adobe Acrobat itself. It's just comes with the Acrobat X software we use (it's the purchased version, not the free one they offer to just view pdf's). With that I built a digital signature once, and now I can apply it to any pdf doc. It's quite simple and it's free once you have bought Acrobat X.

It does not store your signed docs in the cloud, but I don't care b/c I immediately save every signed doc which then goes up in our cloud on Box.com. Easy and cheap - warms my heart.

So, three answers so far and three different products.

Do any of them require the other side to have the same technology, or do anything special except just to accept the document?

I have been on the receiving end of DocuSign and DotLoop along with using the Acrobat X. All are very beneficial and useful. I am trying to convert all regular business to this method of acknowledgement and acceptance.

Yes, they are user friendly for the party receiving the documents to sign and can be saved for your own purposes. I personally prefer the DocuSign layout and features over DotLoop. These both cost the subscriber or sender and makes it very easy for others.

The Acrobat X version could possibly be done the same way, but I have only used it internally and not for requesting others signature.

The Adobex X product significantly reduced our paper flow and improved processing turnaround with operations. The only pushback has been with banks. Occasionally a receiver will accept an electronic signature and request an original to be forwarded for their file.

I have been researching some as well. Another agent suggested Echosign, but I will definitely check out DocuSign as well. Thanks for the post!

I have used several of the products occasionally, but prefer docusign. That said, I find that docusign's interface does not work well with pre-established work flows internally where multiple levels of authorization are required before I sign off on a document sent to me by another party using Docusign. If I am the signer, for example, I want to make sure that my legal team has reviewed and okay'd the specific document I am signing. This can be done if the product is correctly set up (correct authorization levels set up) but it isn't always easy, and as the signer, you are dependent on the sender to set it up correctly. Something to watch out for.

We do for any documents except where counsel advises otherwise. I don't see any issues. We are a relatively small company with a limited number of people authorized to sign official documents.

DocuSign and Echosign are both great tools. We use them whenever it is accepted. We have ran into some issues with the e-signature not being accepted on our international documents with some UK vendors.

I've been discussing this E-signature with my team members also, currently we have nearly 40 cartons of payable invoices and shipping documents to process and approve a year, what a cost saving project if we are allowed to do E-signing! The money will be saved through the paper, the cartons, the space we rent from third party for storage after processing, and our office will be clean as well.

Nice to see others discussing the same.

I have been using Docusign for over one year and it is a great product. We use it for signing of Board Consent, Stock Options, Employment Offer, and a multiple number of other agreements. It is simple, secure and it is great for tracking what agreements are outstanding. What I have not figured out is how to use it for complex agreement where there is always revisions going back-and-forth. Many times the customer makes changes to the agreement and signs it before we can load it back into Docusign. I would definitely recommend it.

I wanted to add that according to the NCDOL e-signatures do not work for authorizing payroll deductions. I was hoping it would. Obtaining proper written authorization for deductions has become a job.

We also use DocuSign for pretty much anything and everything, and we haven't had any problems with it being accepted by our bank or others who require sensitive information. It can be a bit cumbersome if you have multiple signers as Don mentioned, but because it emails the final signed copy as a pdf, anyone can view or download it, even if they don't have the software. I highly recommend it as a great time saver, particularly when you have virtual employees or people out of the office and need something signed quickly.