There is an enormous amount of emphasis to go to e-signatures. I think it will increase the speed of adoption, but it won't be a revolutionary increase in speed. Dorney says companies that deal with consumers will need to be careful when carrying out e-signatures as a standard because of a fairly detailed consumer section of the law that was included to ensure its passage. Examples include sending notices to consumers to explain that they have the right to documents available in paper form, as well as getting consumers' consent to use their e-signatures and send records in an electronic format. Also, if technology changes, businesses must let consumers know so that they can withdraw.
Security is another issue.
We have been moving closer to a paperless environment, and this bill is the capstone. Although digital signature technology has been around for the past 10 years, it remains to be seen how quickly users will adopt it. We will need to get to a certain level of technology before implementing this bill. Tim Ford, chairman and chief executive officer of Expeditrix, agrees. We see this as something that will help them a lot, but the adoption in our environment will depend on whether our customers are ready to use the technology in their systems.