The EU’s adoption of the Electronic ID and Trust Services regulations, effective from Jul 1, paved the way for the announcement of the Cloud Signature Consortium, comprising industry and academic organizations, by Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) . The main objective of the consortium is to build an open standard that can facilitate cloud-based digital signatures for both the mobile and web platforms. Through the offering, the company expects to allow users to digitally sign a document from anywhere in the world.
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Zacks Investment Research
What’s a Digital Signature?
Like the hand-written signature, a digital signature is a method of digital authorization. The only difference is that digital signatures are the most advanced and secure form of electronic authorization. Due to its user-friendly nature, digital authorization is increasingly gaining popularity among businesses and governments worldwide.
Disadvantages
Difficult to use: Existing standards-compliant digital signatures are time consuming and exhaustive processes that often require storing certificate-based IDs on physical devices such as a smart card or a USB drive. This keeps users tethered to their workstations.
Lack of Mobility: The current offering also fails to meet growing consumer expectations of a simple and engaging experience that can work on any device from any location.
Lack of Options: The cloud-based digital signature solutions available in the market today are proprietary and fragmented that don’t offer a choice for certificate providers.
Benefits of Open Standard Signature
Digital Transformation: The new standard of digital authorization would give everyone access to secure digital signature solutions on various cloud applications and mobile devices, bringing about a transformation in businesses globally.
Easy Signer Identification: Application processes that involve signer identification such as business license, marriage, loans or social security benefits are expected to be significantly expedited with the implementation of the new standard.
What's Next?
Adobe is developing an open standard, in collaboration with industry leaders, to bridge the gap between the most secure form of electronic signature and over seven billion mobile devices online across the world.
In this regard, we note that through Adobe Sign and Adobe Document Cloud, more than six billion digital and electronic signature transactions are already processed every year. Backed by its recent offering of cloud-based digital signatures, Adobe will likely be able to take the industry to new highs.
In fact, by the end of this year, the Cloud Signature Consortium intends to release the specifications of the new standard, followed by its implementation shortly thereafter.
At present, Adobe carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Other Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACIW) , Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) and Exa Corp. (NASDAQ:EXA) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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CITRIX SYS INC (CTXS): Free Stock Analysis Report
ADOBE SYSTEMS (ADBE): Free Stock Analysis Report
ACI WORLDWIDE (ACIW): Free Stock Analysis Report
EXA CORP (EXA): Free Stock Analysis Report
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Zacks Investment Research