If insurance carriers follow through with the frenzy to “go green” in the coming year, one of the beneficiaries will be the vendors that provide electronic signature solutions to the industry. “The green movement is ramping up exponentially,” says Karen Pauli, senior analyst in the insurance area for TowerGroup. “I've been stunned at how quickly it's happening. We identified it as a 2008 business driver, and it is happening fast.”

Pauli recently authored a report on electronic signatures and secure forms in the insurance industry and believes e-signatures offer the perfect complement to insurers looking to rid themselves of the paper they are using. “As the vendors get more active evangelizing their message and the demand for getting rid of all that paper increases, I think in the next 18 months you will see a huge up-tick in [e-signatures],” she says.

Document management and imaging have made huge strides this decade, but Pauli asserts carriers have work to do. “It's still in process for so many places,” she says. “But it is a focus area.” A secure e-signature solution eliminates some of the need for imaging, adds Pauli. “Depending on how critical the document is from a legal standpoint, a secure document initiative with a required electronic signature is the way to make it a defensible situation when [insurers] go to court.”