E-signatures provide a safe alternative for handling business mail
CEOs re-evaluate their business processes in today's market climate, reports Silanis
Montreal, Canada – October 17, 2001 — Organizations looking to reduce the risks of handling and storing their in-coming business mail can turn to electronic signatures as a safer alternative, said Tommy Petrogiannis, President of Silanis Technology - a developer of electronic signature and approval management software. Electronic signatures eliminate the need to sign paper by keeping the process completely electronic so that documents can be distributed via e-mail.
“The need to eliminate our dependency on paper and keep business processes in a secure, electronic environment is real,” said Petrogiannis. “Since the tragic events of September 11, Silanis has seen a shift in the perceptions of CEOs. Beforehand, moving completely off of paper and into an electronic environment was perceived to be a risk. After all, centuries of use have made paper a trusted and reliable tool. Now organizations are seeing paper as the risk. CEOs are concerned with their ability to recover critical documents and make them available to employees and customers who may be physically hard to reach. That’s a fundamental change in the way people think.”
The primary reason why business documents are still being mailed and stored in paper format is to record people’s signatures in customer agreements, legal contracts, and a variety of other critical documents needed to support the continuation of business. Alternatively, an electronic signature application permits documents to be securely signed electronically and returned via e-mail to reduce the need for postal and courier services. Organizations can then immediately send electronic back-up copies to multiple locations, which is critical for an effective IT disaster recovery plan.
Electronic signatures also permanently secure the identity of signers and the document’s contents. Each person’s digital identity is referenced within the electronic signature at the time of signing upon entering a private password, inserting a smart card, or applying a fingerprint biometric. Once a document has been signed, the integrity of the data is permanently protected. Any attempt at changing the data or tampering with the signature(s) would automatically and visibly invalidate the document. This is a significant improvement over paper, where malicious or unauthorized changes can only be detected through manual verification.
“The ability to electronically route, sign and store multiple and verifiable back-up copies of documents, in different locations, allows businesses to secure critical data while allowing employees to apply their signature approval needed to keep business moving forward, even when working in temporary locations or remotely,” added Petrogiannis.
About Silanis’ products
Silanis offers a complete, turnkey solution that leverages standard IT investments to enable organizations to quickly add legally enforceable, signing capabilities to their daily business processes. Silanis’ solution brings application-level support to all public key infrastructures (PKI), including Entrust and RSA Security, and enables Microsoft® Word®, Microsoft® Excel®, Adobe® Acrobat®, Accelio® Capture® (formerly JetForm FormFlow), AutoDesk® AutoCAD®, XML and HTML documents to be signed electronically. Because electronic signatures are permanently stored within documents, along with the audit trail, organizations can store signed documents wherever they deem appropriate without compromising security.
About Silanis
Silanis Technology Inc. is a leading developer and provider of electronic signature and approval management software to over 900 organizations within the financial, government, manufacturing, aerospace, pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Hundreds of thousands of people are signing their documents electronically using Silanis’ solutions, including the entire U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, 40,000 U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) personnel, and General Motors Acceptance Corporation Commercial Mortgage Division (GMACCM). A privately held company, Silanis was founded in 1992.
For additional information:
Andrea Simmons Silanis Technology (514) 337-5255 ext. 1152 e-mail: [email protected] www.silanis.com