Posts Tagged ‘Government’
Silanis Government Users Conference 2012
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
On March 29, representatives from government organizations gathered in Washington DC to learn about electronic signature trends, use case demonstrations, the Silanis product roadmap and more, as part of our Government Users Conference.
Silanis’ VP of strategic planning, Michael Laurie, opened the conference by speaking to attendees from the US Army, US Air Force, IRS, US Department of Energy and more, with an overview of the most significant developments in the e-signature market. His message centered on the emergence of electronic signatures as an enterprise-class software category. He explained how organizations are choosing e-signature solutions according to the software’s ability to scale and support transactions for more than just a single type of process. This is the case for federal DoD and civilian agencies all the way through to state and local governments, many of whom have been adopting e-signatures with the enterprise in mind. Laurie explained his use of the term “enterprise” as meaning implementations where e-signatures are being used to automate a core process or transaction, run on a stack of enterprise systems, and are part of a larger vision to extend to other processes and/or departments in the future.
Government agencies are moving away from selecting point solutions in favour of enterprise solutions because of:
- Paperless mandates: Unlike point solutions that simply capture a signature, enterprise e-signatures go further in that they manage the execution of an e-signature process from start to finish, so it never has to fall back to paper. This is known as “straight-through processing”.
- Security: Enterprise e-signatures interface with multiple authentication services, protocols and devices, including the Common Access Card (CAC) and other PKI services.
- Scalability: Enterprise solutions scale easily and cost effectively while supporting the unique requirements of individual departments, processes, channels and jurisdictions.
- Consistency: From a single platform, government can ensure a consistent approach to electronic transactions and records compliance, something that is especially critical to external processes involving contractors, vendors and citizens.
- Interoperability: Having an enterprise platform gives an organization the ability to tie into many different internal systems and infrastructure already in place, such as: enterprise applications (BPM, CMS, CCM, etc.), data, services (on the cloud or SaaS-based), and various devices (mobile phones, tablet PCs, etc.).
Silanis is now seeing a corresponding increase in the perceived value of e-signatures across the board, from clerical personnel to soldiers to the Joint Staff. The benefits are too visible to ignore: what used to be a two-week process on paper has become a 5-minute electronic process – more secure, efficient and significantly less costly. In one case, a government user at the Silanis conference shared how some of his agency’s processes were so critical and time-sensitive that prior to e-signatures, paperwork would be routed by helicopter to the various signing authorities. At a time when policymakers are cutting back on spending, replacing resource- and time-intensive paper processes with electronic processes is a solution that just makes sense – but that is only possible with e-signatures.
The trend toward e-signatures has accelerated over the last 18 months, with Gartner predicting the technology will become mainstream in specific industries in less than two years. Adoption is high in part because organizations typically mandate the use of e-signatures once deployed. As an example, the General Services Administration (GSA) now mandates approximately 20,000 vendors to use e-signatures – if they want to do business with the US Government using the GSA as a financing vehicle. According to Laurie, this is how most government processes will eventually be managed, because the inconvenience and cost of handling paper is simply not worth it anymore.
Categories: Customer News, In the News, Industry Insights, Silanis Events
Tags: Customers, e-Sign Enterprise, e-signatures, electronic signatures, Government, Michael Laurie, Product, Roadmap, User Conference
Meeting Government Security Standards
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
Cyber security is a top priority for US government agencies seeking to protect critical information assets. As the number of attacks increases, so does the amount of data government needs to process. Federal agencies have therefore mandated support for stronger cryptographic keys and more robust algorithms. Naturally, electronic signature providers need to follow suit.
Silanis meets the security certification standards issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC).
We also comply with the National Security Agency’s National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) or Common Criteria, through our support for the Federal Information Processing Standard FIPS PUB 140-2, a computer security standard used to accredit cryptographic modules. NIAP is a federal initiative originated to meet the security testing needs of both information technology (IT) consumers and producers.
Further, as agencies such as the Department of Defense migrate from SHA-1 to SHA-256 for D0D CAC PKI certificates, Silanis e-signature solutions will support this cryptography standard for the highest levels of authentication. A SHA-256 upgrade for Silanis solutions is planned for release this summer.
Categories: In the News, Industry Insights
Tags: Department of Defense, DOD, e-Sign Enterprise, e-signatures, electronic signatures, Government, JITC, Joint Interoperability Test Command, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIAP, NIST, Washington
The Future of Electronic Signatures: Silanis Shares Its Product Roadmap at Annual User Conference
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
CIOs, developers, IT and operations managers from Silanis’ customers and partners in the insurance, financial services and government industries wanting to help shape the direction of electronic signatures and ensure that their organization’s specific requirements will be met are encouraged to attend Silanis’ Annual E-Signature User Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 5 and 6, 2011.
Robert Al-Jaar, Executive Vice President and CTO, and Francois Leblanc, Director of Solutions Marketing at Silanis will solicit audience feedback as they present highlights from last year’s product releases and share the road map for future product development.
Francois will review Silanis’ existing suite of on-premises and cloud-based services. The functionality, application areas, and major releases of the past 12 months will be clarified for each offering.
Robert, will provide an overview of new features in upcoming product releases, discuss enhancements in future versions, and provide an update on the company’s product development direction. The session will give attendees floor time to discuss with Silanis what features and functionality they would most like to see on Silanis’ product roadmap.
The seven most requested tips and tricks will also be shared, including:
- e-Sign Enterprise integration overview
- Sending email invitations and reminders
- E-signing on mobile devices
- Implementing business rules
- Retrieving documents and meta-data
- And more!
The two-day user conference will also feature e-signature best practices presented by two leading insurance carriers, a top 5 auto finance company, and a year in review presented by Silanis’ co-founder.
Categories: Silanis Events
Tags: Banking, Customers, e-Sign Enterprise, Events, Francois Leblanc, Government, Insurance, IT, Michael Laurie, Product, Roadmap, Robert Al-Jaar, Silanis, User Conference, Washington
Electronic Signature Best Practices: Leading Insurers and Auto Lender Share Their Stories at Silanis’ Annual User Conferences
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Customers are invited to network with their peers, and learn from each others’ experiences during Silanis’ Annual E-Signature User Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 5 – 6, 2011. CIOs, developers, IT and operations managers from insurance, financial services, government, manufacturing and other industry segments are scheduled to attend the two-day conference.
Moreover, two leading insurance carriers and a top auto lender will share their e-signature best practices and success stories.
“Our distinguished guest speakers will discuss how they successfully rolled out electronic signatures to deliver exceptional customer service and gain an edge over their competitors,” said Tommy Petrogiannis, CEO and co-founder of Silanis Technology.
By attending the three separate sessions, users will walk away with a solid overview of how to:
- Address demanding flexibility, integration and scalability requirements
- Achieve high adoption of electronic signatures by consumers
- Leverage the iPad for in-the-field signing and consumer-facing transactions
- Reduce legal and compliance risks by capturing comprehensive electronic evidence
- Leverage a pre-defined professional services package for rapid time-to-market
The two-day conference will also feature a year in review presented by Silanis’ co-founder, and an overview of Silanis’ product roadmap.
Categories: Silanis Events
Tags: Banking, Customers, e-Sign Enterprise, Events, Francois Leblanc, Government, Insurance, IT, Michael Laurie, Product, Roadmap, Robert Al-Jaar, Silanis, User Conference, Washington
Electronic Signatures Year in Review: Silanis’ Co-Founder to Present at Annual User Conference
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Executives and CIO’s from insurance, financial services, government, manufacturing and other industries looking to understand where the future of electronic signatures is heading will be attending Silanis’ Annual E-Signature User Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 5 and 6, 2011.
Michael Laurie, Vice President & Co-Founder, Silanis Technology will present a year in review featuring the top e-signatures trends of 2010, and what impact that will have future development and implementations.
“Past events form future trends. 2010 saw a significant increase in the adoption of e-signatures across many industry segments due to the introduction of new solutions, services and functionality,” said Michael Laurie.
“Going forward, two big trends we see are increased mobile signing capabilities, and cloud-based services that will enable organizations of all sizes and budgets to move to paperless processing.”
Michael will also discuss how market maturity and customer feedback are driving important changes at Silanis, including an even greater focus on mobility, integration and enterprise scalability.
The two-day user conference will also feature presentations by two leading insurance carriers, a top-5 auto finance organization, and executives from Silanis’ R&D and product management teams.
Categories: Industry Insights, Silanis Events
Tags: Banking, Customers, e-Sign Enterprise, Events, Francois Leblanc, Government, Insurance, IT, Michael Laurie, Product, Roadmap, Robert Al-Jaar, Silanis, User Conference, Washington
