3 Common E-Signature Delivery Models and What They Can Do For You
Electronic signature software can be delivered in a variety of ways. This flexibility makes it easy to find a solution that fits your budget and meets other needs like speed-to-market. And while there are three common e-signature delivery models, you are not limited to any one option. In fact, we are seeing more organizations consume e-signatures in a combination of ways, including:
- Starting with SaaS to meet an immediate need, while integrating with core systems;
- Deploying an on-premises solution for transactions with customers, but using SaaS for lower volume processes in other LOBs, departments or among small internal workgroups;
- Dropping e-signature capability into a CRM such as Salesforce with our pre-integrated connector – while another LOB uses our API to integrate e-signature capability into enterprise systems, agent portals, customer portals, etc.
SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE
A SaaS subscription means you can sign up today and start sending documents for e-signature immediately – no integration or customization required. Using SaaS makes e-signatures extremely accessible. Because of the low monthly fee, there is a perception that the cloud is intended for small businesses. It's true that our e-signature service is popular among small businesses and government departments who often have administrators or representatives set up the documents for signing. However, the cloud is gaining traction among organizations of every size. According to Ron Eddy, Senior Development Lead at U.S. Bank, "The e-SignLive cloud solution has allowed us to be quick to market with smaller projects within our large organization."
Another top bank experienced an almost identical situation. According to the bank's Senior Manager of Digital Strategy & Experience: "Using e-SignLive, we successfully delivered a single platform that supports multiple LOBs across multiple channels. This was accomplished using the e-SignLive Enterprise [on-prem] solution. Our organization also has several smaller business groups that enjoy the benefit of the e-SignLive Professional cloud solution."
INTEGRATED E-SIGNATURES
An integrated e-signature solution is ideal because it enables employees and representatives (the people preparing document packages for signature) to work more efficiently. Once integrated, users can initiate e-sign transactions in literally two or three clicks. In the category of integrated solutions, there are two options: pre-integrated connectors and integration that your IT team develops using our API or SDKs.
Pre-built connectors provide out-of-the-box functionality inside another application. This is the quickest and easiest way to add e-signatures to existing business systems and applications because we've done the integration work for you already. Pre-integrated apps and connectors for CRM, CCM, DMS, ECM, etc., don't require any coding or effort from your IT team other than installing the plug-in. A popular example of a pre-integrated solution is e-SignLive for Salesforce, Microsoft SharePoint or Box. Your employees and agents can prepare, manage and send documents for e-signature directly in Salesforce – and gather "click-to-sign" e-signatures in a fraction of the time it takes on paper.
Using SDKs and working with our API provides the greatest depth of integration, and allows you to configure all aspects of the workflow to fit your exact requirements and use case. This includes everything from customizing the interface with your brand, to automatically exporting the audit trail via XML to your system of record. Of course, this requires IT resources and time, depending on the extent of your integration. To accelerate the process and simplify integration for developers, we provide simple but powerful programming tools for integrating secure, compliant e-signatures without writing any custom code. This can reduce integration effort from weeks to days.
ON-PREMISES
An on-premises deployment will be more expensive than the other options, but it also gives you the most power to take advantage of robust customization possibilities. On-premises solution is deployed behind the firewall to provide maximum control over data and systems. This is ideal for larger organizations that have the budget and IT resources to handle the investment and face the diverse use cases internally that would justify being able to create a variety of custom signing experiences.
All told, each of these e-signature software delivery models delivers significant value. Whatever you choose, e-SignLive offers the widest range of pricing, deployment and signing options right out the gate, while giving you the flexibility to easily make changes as your needs evolve. Download our guide to understanding e-signatures to learn more.
