RightSignature heralds the annihaltion of the lowly pen as you no longer need to physically sign contracts and other legal documents thanks to this clever solution.

Many businesses needs to sign contracts on a very regular basis. Ever more, contracts are delivered by email in order to bypass the inefficient and slow postal system. With that logic in mind, what better possible solution could there be to complete digital distribution of contracts than to be able to sign and send documents completely digitally?

This is a solution that we’ve all been waiting for - ever since the first contract was PDF’d and sent by email. A simple process and a useful interface sets the grounds for a killer solution.

The biggest problem that I see with RightSignature is that for it to really work, you need to get both parties on board - great if you’re an early adopter, but what if y the other party is a stalwart for the fountain pen?

There are things in society that have held on into the 21st century despite no longer really making much sense at all. Shaking hands used to mean that you weren’t holding a weapon. Not too many of us are walking down the streets with an unconcealed broadsword hanging off our belts like these days, but we still can’t help ourselves saying hello with a nice, sweaty handshake. Signatures are in a similar vein. In a world of fingerprints, retinal scanning and 256-bit encryption, we still use a indeciphrable scribble to stamp our legal and binding commitment to buy a house, get married, start a business, file for bankruptcy and get divorced (often in that order).

Of course, signatures in a digital world are a big hassle. Picture yourself, if you will, sitting in your office receiving that new urgent contract by email. Of course you need to sign it first. So, of course you print it out, find a working pen, sign the document and decide whether you’re going to scan the whole thing back and send it by email or send it off by fax (and risk paper-work procrastination on the receiving end). Of course, none of this is particularly secure, so you decide to send the contract by registered courier. Despite costing you an arm and a leg, it still takes a day to arrive in the recipients hands… only for them to sign the contract and repeat the whole process to get the documents back to you.

When you consider the inefficiency of signing and transporting contracts between parties, the biggest wonder is why RightSignature took so long to get here.

RightSignature is a online subscription based solution that allows you to upload documents and sign for them digitally using either your mouse, an iphone or as a faxed appendage to the document. Even though your signature may look like its been written by a child (don’t you remember how difficult it is to draw using your mouse and MS Paint?), RightSignature assures us that the signature is legally binding. For increased authenticity, you can also upload an image of yourself, proving that indeed, it is you signing the document and not some spotty-faced hacker on the other side of the world.

Once you have signed the document, you can simply add the email address of the recipient to send the document back to them, ready to be signed on their end - they don’t even need a RightSignature account to sign and return the document to you. If you’re working on several contracts at the same time, RightSignature has a tidy dashboard interface that allows you to monitor what is waiting to be signed, what needs to be returned and so on.

There is little doubt that this is a well considered solution with a huge market appeal. RightSignature has created a simple to use product with smart managment tools that doesn’t leave you wanting for features. Their backend technology is robust with secure socket layers and 256-bit encryption with data held on the enviable Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers. Although the overall design of the site is a little flaky, once you start reading the documentation, you’re left satisfied that this is a legal, robust and secure solution.

RightSignature only have a couple of bugs to iron out before this is becomes a dynamite application. Firstly, the iphone signing service did not function as advertised and rudely informned me that the address was invalid. Also, as I mentioned before, the overall design of the solution didn’t ring my bells. The cutesy cartoon icons didn’t really inspire me with confidence (remember that this is primarily a business tool), and the site doesn’t yell “Trust Me!!!” (as it needs to do) with a minimalist white/pastel/web 2.0 color pallette.  As a final addition, an Outlook plugin that allows you to send a document to be signed through the RightSignature API via Outlook would be the cherry on top of the cake.

The bigger problem that RightSignature may face, however, is the heavy task of convincing two parties to use their service. Sure, you can get early adopters to buy in, but then for the solution to work as it shopuld, you have to convince the other party (who may well wear a grey suit and has done business in the same way for 40 years) to put down his Mont Blanc and pick up a mouse. For some, that will be a quantum shift in doing business… Until they build some serious business kudos, this may be a difficult hurdle for RightSignature to overcome.

Right Signature is supported by subsription fees, starting at $0 for a limited volume, one person plan, right up to a $99 per month, multiple user, unlimited documents plan for the medium-large Enterprise environment

It may take some while before RightSignature is a permanent fixture in offices around the globe, but for users that send multiple contracts between the same parties and want to streamline the whole process will love this service. RightSignature offers a well rounded, easy to use and effective solution.

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