Coming Soon: Digital Signatures from AAR!

Ballpoint Pen

Image courtesy of Flickr user Tom Raftery

It wasn’t long ago that I asked if you would e-sig. You responded quite emphatically… “Yes!”

That started a process in which 2010 AAR President Holly Eslinger and her leadership team of Duane Fouts, Holly Mabery, Jack Woerner and AAR staff began researching which company would be the best choice to provide AAR’s digital signature member benefit. We investigated several different providers, including EchoSign, eOriginal, Authentisign, DocuSign®, zipLogix Digital Ink™ and AlphaTrust. All of these companies are good companies with good products. We appreciate the time and effort each provided in answering our questions and providing responses to our requests for proposals.

In the end, AAR chose zipLogix Digital Ink™ to provide digital signatures as our latest member benefit. This benefit is provided to you as part of your current AAR dues and requires no monthly fees or annual contracts with the vendor.

This benefit will allow you to email your customers AAR forms to sign digitally–no printing, faxing or driving around town to get the forms signed. This new efficiency tool will reduce your costs, save you time and reduce delay. Your customers will also find this a time saver and convenient way of working with you during their purchase or lease. Everyone is going paperless!

We are currently working with zipLogix to ensure that this new member benefit works seamlessly with our electronic forms through zipForm® 6. We are also working to ensure that the product works in multiple browsers, that it is intuitive and that you can add documents that are not contained in your zipForm® library that require signature. Our staff is testing the product and suggesting changes to the vendor. Our target date for release is mid-first quarter 2011.

Two digital signature options will be available and integrated with AAR forms in zipForm® 6: zipLogix Digital Ink™ and DocuSign®. Digital Ink™ will be a member benefit paid for by AAR. DocuSign® requires you to have a separate agreement and pay a fee to the company.

With the addition of digital signatures as a member benefit, AAR is striving to help you and your business succeed. This latest benefit added under the Business Services Department at the association continues our efforts to help you go totally electronic and paperless. AAR Transaction Management through SureClose, AAR electronic forms through zipForm® 6 and now AAR digital signatures through Digital Ink™ —what could be next? Maybe the Arizona Integrated Business Platform? Stay tuned for more on that idea in a future blog post.