SAN FRANCISCO, July 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/-- Reflecting the strategic and operational importance of eSignature and Digital Transaction Management (DTM) across the real estate, property management and mortgage industries, thought-leaders Alex Lange from UpstreamRE, Bob Goldberg from National Association of REALTORS®, and Jeremy Crawford from the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) today added their expertise to the xDTM Standard Association's advisory board.

The xDTM Standard provides in-depth guidelines and best practices that Digital Transaction Management vendors should address to create a trusted online environment for their customers, including data ownership, transparency, security and the ability for data integration across applications. This is especially important in the real estate industry, given the standard includes requirements that personal information is used only for the purpose it was intended. This aligns directly with brokers' and agents' priority that the data collected be used appropriately and only in a manner to which brokers and agents have consented.

"Standards are integral to the health of the real estate industry – they lay the foundation for improved collaboration between parties and promote efficiency in real estate transactions," said Jeremy Crawford, Executive Director at the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO). "We're pleased to bring our real estate expertise to the xDTM Standard advisory board, and we're looking forward to working with the group to ensure the right levels of privacy, validity and security are in place for all our members who use eSignature technologies."

The appointment of these new members is testament to the real estate industry's importance as one of the earliest adopters of eSignature and DTM technology. And it comes at a time when the xDTM Standard Association is seeing increased interest from the sector to ensure improvements in technology can benefit brokers, agents, buyers, sellers and everyone involved in the complete transaction – from listing to close.

"All digital transactions – especially real estate transactions, which contain some of the most sensitive and time-sensitive information – will benefit from the xDTM Standard," said Alex Lange, CEO, UpstreamRE. "UpstreamRE is thrilled to join the xDTM Standard Association advisory board and further the work of the body to foster trusted digital transaction environments that allow for choice, privacy, flexibility, security and control – critical elements for brokers, agents and their clients."

More than 300 companies already endorse the xDTM Standard – with several prominent Board of Governors including individuals from SAP, BASF, Dow Jones, News Corp, Visa, Intel, Hewlett Packard, FedEx, NBC Universal, DocuSign, the United States Postal Service, BuckleySandler, and Microsoft among others.

The xDTM Standard provides detailed guidelines on customers' key requirements of security, assurance, privacy, validity, availability, scalability, universality, and interoperability

• Security – features best-in-class technical protection, highly secure access, and proactive protection policies
• Assurance – provides assurance that xDTM transactions are compliant with applicable laws
• Privacy – allows a person or company to reveal information selectively, at their discretion
• Validity – has a reliable, transparent and verifiable chain of custody, and a digitally signed, tamper-evident audit trail
• Availability – ensures that transactions are always accessible and obtainable, high performing during periods of peak use, resilient across disaster scenarios, and free of scheduled offline maintenance
• Scalability – accepts increased volume without impacting performance due to ongoing capacity modeling and proactive lifecycle management
• Universality – functions across heterogeneous environments/devices and is accessible worldwide
• Interoperability – works across collaborative services environments and includes integration guidelines and APIs

"The xDTM Standard sets the quality bar for digital transactions and electronic signatures in every industry, including real estate," said Curtis Feeny, a member of the board of directors at CBRE Group. "Similar to the PCI Standard in payments - the xDTM Standard ensures businesses and consumers realize the most trusted online environment for digital transactions."

Real estate can be the single most significant investment that someone makes in their lifetime – it is therefore critical that transactions are conducted in a private, secure and completely-trusted environment.

"As the representative of more than 1 million residential and commercial realtors, we support the development of any processes, tools and infrastructure that make buyers' and sellers' lives easier," said Bob Goldberg, SVP, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. "The xDTM Standard is exactly that – something that ultimately brings value to everyone in the real estate chain – and that's something we throw our weight behind and encourage even more real estate organizations to support, as well."

Some of the most recognized brands and technology companies in the world have demonstrated their support in ensuring that the methods, procedures, and requirements for safe and secure digital transactions and electronic signatures are adhered to.

"Global Standards like xDTM help drive consistent, predictable, and trustworthy interactions between parties, be it business-to-business, business-to-consumer, or consumer-to-consumer," said Arden Bement, former director of both the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Science Foundation and xDTM board of governors. "As more and more companies and individuals make the transition to digital, the xDTM Standard will serve as the guide post for what industry-leading digital transactions will look like."

"The further development of the xDTM Standard itself will clearly benefit from the addition of UpstreamRE, NAR and RESO to the advisory board," added Heather Petersen, executive director of the xDTM Standard Association. "Their leadership and expertise in the real estate community are unprecedented, and their contribution will result in an even more developed and trusted xDTM Standard. Resulting from this announcement, the real estate, mortgage, and property management industries will all have an enhanced sense of trust in digital transactions and electronic signatures."

For more information on this and other developments, please visit www.xDTM.org.

Media contact:
Judith Vanderkay 
xDTM Standard Association 
+1 781-876-6208 

About the xDTM Standard Association 
The xDTM Standard Association is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and empower organizations to transact business online securely. Digital Transaction Management (DTM) is as a category of cloud services that enables companies to manage their document-based transactions digitally, allowing for faster, easier, more secure processes. DTM solutions help consumers and businesses complete transactions faster by automating manual, paper-based workflows for capturing information, payments, and signatures, thus eliminating the hassles, costs, and lack of security in printing, faxing, scanning, and overnighting documents. Organizations who have implemented DTM solutions report substantial ROI, improved security and compliance, and increased satisfaction and loyalty through better end user experiences.

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SOURCE xDTM Standard Association

Related Links

http://www.xdtm.org/