Seamless integration of Handwritten Signatures in Adobe Live Cycle

Adobe and Softpro enable fully electronic document workflow

Signing electronic documents with a handwritten signature seems to be a contradiction in itself. However, only at first glance: The handwritten signature as a proof of authenticity is quickly being re-discovered as the enabler for user-friendly and efficient digital document workflows. Adobe and Softpro are proud to introduce “SignDoc for Adobe’s Digital Signatures”. The new offering enables the seamless embedding of digital wet ink signatures electronic documents thus enabling a completely paperless document workflow while still retaining the simple and well-understood signing process of traditional paper-based processes.

„Softpro specializes in solutions for creating electronic signatures that are handwritten, yet provide all the advantages of a digital signature. Their SignDoc products offer an excellent addition to Adobe’s portfolio – in particular our LiveCycle product family.” says Hans Dahmen, Sales Manager Solution of Adobe Germany.

Ralph Maute, Product Manager for Softpro, sees Adobe LiveCycle as a feature-rich solution platform. Maute: “Adobe LiveCycle provides a rich platform for creating and managing intelligent electronic documents which have applicability in several industries. We are proud to work with Adobe in order to enrich the LiveCycle platform with convenient and simple electronic signatures that anyone can understand and put to practical use”.

Customers of Adobe and Softpro increasingly inquire on whether it is possible to use a handwritten signature within contract process and yet keep the process electronic and at the same time ensure the authenticity of the signatures. The signature data captured in the revolutionary approach fostered via this partnership acts as a digital surrogate of the classical wet ink signature on paper. The data set uniquely identifies an individual based on biometric characteristics thus finally providing a solution for this market demand.

As a result of this combination a so-called “advanced electronic signature” - based on digitized handwritten signatures - is created. Legal experts confirm that these signatures provide a high level of evidence as to the identity of the signer ensuring trustworthiness comparable to the complex digital signature processes that have been on the market for several years. According to an assumption of leading officials of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology approximately 98% of all business processes are sufficiently secured when using this kind of electronic signatures.

The first installations of this new technology are currently being implemented at savings banks under the umbrella of the Sparkassen Informatik, the largest processing centre of savings banks. The banks are using these processes to enable electronic workflows while still allowing their end customers to sign contracts in the traditional and accepted way.

Dahmen is also enthusiastic about the global response to the new alliance which confirms the need for this practical and efficient solution. According to information provided by the companies, interest has been sparked in diverse verticals - not only in Germany but also in the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Dahmen is highly convinced that this cooperation opens a new level of efficiency in various workflow processes while using established, well-known and secure elements of technology in order to create seamless, fully automated business processes.

The solution will be demonstrated at the Signature Pavilion at Cebit (hall 17 A01.15). Also exhibiting at this booth is Adobe’s Partner Wacom which will present the very latest in signature capturing devices, plus Motion Computing – one of the world’s most successful Tablet PC manufacturers which is also using Wacom’s pen input technology (“Penabled”). They will demonstrate how electronic PDF documents of a mobile sales force (e.g. account opening) are signed with Softpro’s SignDoc on state-of-the-art Tablet PCs.

According to the organizers of the sub-show Bank-Finanz-Systeme, which is part of Cebit, the Signature Pavilion is the ultimate one-stop-information centre for electronic signatures at the show in Hanover.

A free fully functional trial version of the software “SignDoc for Adobe’s Digital Signatures” is available from Softpro’s website http://www.softpro.de/doc.

© Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, LiveCycle, and Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Softpro and SignDoc are registered trademarks of Softpro GmbH or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About SOFTPRO

The SOFTPRO Group is the worldwide leading vendor of systems for capture and verification of handwritten signatures. The company is based in Boeblingen, Germany with local subsidiaries in North America (Wilmington, Delaware), the United Kingdom, and Asia-Pacific (Singapore).

The group currently employs an international staff of over 60 people, enabling more than 200 companies worldwide to streamline their document and transaction workflows. With its Biometric product line, SOFTPRO provides solutions for securing the authenticity and integrity of documents within electronic processes, such as those required for legal contracts. For this purpose, a unique signature technology is used to extract and evaluate both the static and dynamic (biometric) characteristics of handwritten signatures. SOFTPRO’s "Fraud Prevention Solutions" portfolio provides a holistic approach to detecting and preventing fraud in paper-based processes (such as payment transactions), as well as increasing operational efficiency using signature management and verification solutions.

Among SOFTPRO’s customers are American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Discover Financial, HypoVereinsbank, Ingolstadt Hospital, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds TSB, Saudi Chamber of Commerce, SEB, Standard Bank of South Africa and Wachovia.

Since 2002, the offer to secure electronic documents with handwritten signatures extended the customer portfolio of SOFTPRO to other industries such as banking and insurance, health/pharma, retail, government, automotive and logistics.

SOFTPRO's shareholders are GE Capital (since 1998), AdCapital (since 2001) founders and management.

SOFTPRO's partners include: A2iA, BancTec, Beta Systems (Kleindienst), Carreker, DISOFT Pro, Fujitsu Siemens Computers / Fujitsu, Gateway, Gijima AST, House of Development, HP, IBM, Interlink, Lenovo, Microsoft, Mitek, Motion Computing, NCR, Toshiba, UNISYS and Wacom as well as APP Informatik Davos.

Please contact for additional information:

SOFTPRO GmbH
Joerg-M. Lenz
Manager PR

Wilhelmstrasse 34
71034 Boeblingen
Germany

Phone: +49 7031 6606 0
Fax: +49 7031 6606 66

This release was published on openPR.