AlphaTrust e-Sign Product Overview

AlphaTrust e-Sign is offered to enterprises for operation in their computing environments on-premise or deployed in a private cloud. It is also licensed to third-party software and services companies as OEM software for inclusion in their end-user SaaS or software products. Additionally, AlphaTrust e-Sign is offered as a multi-tenant SaaS service.

Introduction

AlphaTrust pioneered eSignature solutions in 1998, and since then, our products have processed hundreds of millions of critical business transactions each year for satisfied customers worldwide in banking, insurance, financial services, and other industries. We are trusted by some of the largest enterprise and technology service provider companies globally.

AlphaTrust e-Sign, formerly known as AlphaTrust e-Sign, is a third-generation electronic signature and document process automation platform that creates legally enforceable, permanent business records equivalent to paper records. It supports electronic signatures that comply with applicable laws and regulations worldwide.

Our solutions easily integrate with existing applications, enabling high-volume digital document process automation to reduce costs and dramatically improve the overall customer experience while adhering to strict regulatory and compliance requirements. This flexible approach allows you to create the optimal customer experience across hundreds of use cases and has made AlphaTrust the vendor of choice for some of the largest global businesses across diverse industries worldwide.

Product Overview

Creating enforceable electronic transactions is a major long-term initiative for most enterprise and governmental organizations. Except for a few specialized markets, most business transactions are still documented on paper today. The credit/debit card industry has developed a method for enforceable electronic transactions using electronic networks over the past 30 years, effective for small-value purchases. Other methods, such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), exist only in certain vertical markets among large enterprises.

Until the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN), enacted in 2000 in the United States, there was no method to effectively create the electronic equivalent of a binding commercial or governmental transaction that could replace paper documentation and, in many cases, the requirement for ink signatures. Even within organizations, many internal processes require documented approval, acknowledgment, or acceptance.

This documentation must meet standards for accountability, enforceability, permanence, auditability, and document retention. Business documents and records that evidence transactions have a life cycle divided into three phases:

• Phase 1: Creation, Collaboration, and Review
• Phase 2: Approval, Acknowledgment, or Acceptance
• Phase 3: Distribution, Audit Creation, and Secure Storage

In today’s business environment, most of Phase 1 of the transaction record life cycle has been automated. Many transaction records are generated by automated systems such as desktop software (e.g., word processing and spreadsheet software), web-based forms, workflows, and large-scale computer systems. Some records, mostly forms, are still created on paper. The move to automated systems for Phase 1 records has saved organizations considerable time and money.

Phase 2, the transaction execution phase, could not be automated until the legal framework supporting electronic document and record enforceability was established. Previously, the only alternative was private, contractual systems (as used by credit card and EDI systems). Over the past several years, the legal framework for enforceable electronic records has been implemented in most developed countries, including the USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India, Russia, and the European Union, providing for the use, acceptance, and enforceability of electronic records and signatures.

AlphaTrust e-Sign provides organizations with enterprise-wide capability for Phase 2 and certain Phase 3 functions, including:

• Obtaining proper, enforceable electronic signatures on transaction documents and records.
• Authenticating signers (verifying their identity).
• Translating documents and records into human-readable formats suitable for archival, filing, and document retention requirements.
• Distributing executed documents and transaction records.
• Archiving original transaction documents and records.

AlphaTrust e-Sign easily integrates with existing systems to enable fully automated digital transaction management, as highlighted in the graphic below.

All AlphaTrust e-Sign transaction processing centers around the unit of work called the “transaction.” Each transaction may have one or many documents associated with it. Each document may have one or more tasks to be performed by participants, such as entering form data, uploading a file, acknowledging a disclosure, reviewing, initialing, or signing a document. In addition to transaction processing, AlphaTrust e-Sign supports administrative functions for user management, security, monitoring, reporting, logging, and accounting.