"The e-sign was a byproduct of what we were trying to achieve," Cindy High, vice president of lending and chief lending officer for East Idaho Credit Union, said. "We were switching forms providers, we needed an organization that could help us with the presentment piece, and IMM allows us to do that along with the e-sign process."

TotaleAtlas is a premise-based solution designed to reside within the security confines of credit unions' technology centers. A strategic partnership with Adobe's new Document Cloud service allows for a tight integration of remote e-signing capabilities within the TotaleAtlas environment.

The e-sign element is one of the system's greatest features, High pointed out. IMM's iSign app enables the credit union's employees to complete in-person e-signature transactions with members using iPads to create an untethered, interactive member experience.

"We do everything electronically, so even if they are signing in a branch, we have them sign on iPads, and that has been pretty nice as well," High said.

The credit union's newly-added ability to let members remotely sign documents from any location has dramatically accelerated the speed of its loan preparation process.

"As long as they have an email address, members can sign on a device, smartphone or tablet," High said. "We've signed loans from as far away as Malaysia using the system."

The functionality is particularly helpful because of the credit union's location in a rural area of Idaho, and the fact that its branches are spread out, High explained (one branch is a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the credit union's main location). Its membership also spreads into different states, including into the oil fields in North Dakota, and the credit union is now able to service distant requests without requiring members to come into a location or use a fax machine.

"We can do it all remotely," High said. "They have an online loan application, and they don't have to come into the credit union to finalize the documents."

High explained that keeping members from having to come in a branch translates to a big process improvement for the credit union. In addition, signing takes significantly less time – with its previous supplier, it took approximately 30 minutes.

"Not even taking an application, but signing," High said. "Now we can do that in about five minutes. There are different security features that IMM offers as well, which allow us to be sure that the person we are sending the information to is the true recipient, and the person who we want signing the forms," High stated.

The functionality has given time back to staff too, High explained.

"Our internal process is reduced by about 20 minutes," she said. "Since we're not requiring members to come into a branch, it's a big time-saver [from an internal standpoint] when that happens. And an added benefit is that IMM interfaces very nicely with our imaging system, which means our teams don't have to manually place those forms into separate file folders."

As part of the process, the correct file folders are automatically placed onto the imaging system.

"So, it really has reduced the time it takes to complete a loan by quite a bit, from both a signature standpoint and internal maintenance standpoint," High added.

TotaleAtlas can build custom, "intelligent" forms from integrated credit union core, lending and deposit platforms, or it can accept documents that have already been prepared through a business application system. It also prepares, receives and processes documents for electronic signatures, then archives them into the credit union's ECM/imaging system.

Document management with TotaleAtlas allows the credit union to more easily identify the required forms for a loan, which results in a smoother process, High explained.

"Transactions have also become virtually error-proof – a member's application cannot move forward without the completion of each required signature," she said. "This is a huge time savings, as a simple missed signature can cause significant delays and even impact our ability to collect on the loan."

There are a variety of document-signing methods available with TotaleAtlas, depending on the where the signing takes place, Michael Ball, vice president of markets and strategy for IMM, said.

"TotaleAtlas integrates seamlessly with most credit union business applications, creating an overall ease-of-use for employees," Ball said. "Its intuitive signing capabilities make it simple for members to sign documents when and where it's convenient for them, incorporating a variety of methods for signing both in-person or remotely."

For in-person (in-branch or office) signing, members can use traditional signature pads, iPads, Windows 8 tablets or touch screen PCs, or use "click-to-sign" capabilities, which requires no hardware. Remotely, members can sign on any device, using any OS or browser, including iOS, Android and Windows 8 smartphones.

The credit union also cited IMM's training courses as an extremely beneficial aspect of the partnership, which teach employees to build smart documents and electronic forms internally. There is no additional cost for the training services.

The credit union is now exploring how it can expand the application of the e-signature-based technology to improve other transactions.

"We are in our infancy with our relationship with IMM," High said. "There are certainly other opportunities internally, such as HR forms or new account forms, which we haven't tapped into yet. We're making sure that all the lending is solidly put together and working out any remaining bugs, which aren't many."

She went on to add, "This is step one in moving into a more electronic format to assist our membership. So far, the reviews of the document presentation phase have been outstanding. Our teams are much happier with the process, and our membership sees it as an added benefit. It's been a great situation for us."