2016 ESRA Summer Meeting Recap

With most conferences we attend, there are multiple speakers and comprehensive sessions spread out across several days; however, in the case of this year’s Electronic Signature & Records Association (ESRA) Summer Member Meeting, immersive sessions and speakers were jam packed into one in-depth day.

Members and invited guests convened in beautiful Denver, Colorado at the Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center on August 3. The full day meeting encompassed best practices and trends related to the world of eSignatures and records, including regulatory updates, international insights and public policy.

Docutech had the great pleasure of serving as sponsor, attendee and speaker as our very own Harry Gardner presented a deep dive into the current state of electronic mortgages in the session, “eMortgage: The Holy Grail,” including updates on eNotarization and remote notarization from the recent National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) meeting in Nashville.

As we’ve all heard over the past few years, fraud has become one of the leading hot button topics within the mortgage industry and beyond. It should come as no surprise that fraud was a key point of discussion at the ESRA summer meeting, which included a special presentation from Equifax’s Joel Hardi titled, “Establishing Identity.”

Throughout his session, Hardi emphasized the importance of establishing a true identity to allow secure access to online services while not imposing overly burdensome obstacles for consumers to maneuver. The fact of the matter is that fraud isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Hardi shared that the cost of identity fraud will rise to $28.6 billion this year alone, and that in 2015 data breaches exposed some 169 million identity records.

The goal is simple: prevent fraud by implementing a comprehensive, effective strategy and risk management framework. Data, analytics, technology and insights can provide the foundation for strategies to verify and authenticate identity without imposing undue burdens.

As we look toward the end of 2016 and into 2017, many of the key points discussed at the recent ESRA meeting will remain highly important, while new areas of concern and growth will emerge as well. Luckily, we do not have to wait long for the next ESRA meeting of the minds.

ESRA’s next conference, eSignRecords, will take place November 2-3 in Washington, D.C. at the iconic Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Will we see you there? To learn more, go to www.esignrecords.org.