August 13th, 2008 · No Comments

By John DeFore

More and more corporate emails these days end with text blurbs urging the recipient not to print messages out unless absolutely necessary. Hard copies of documents are a must in some instances, of course, but they’re becoming less and less necessary thanks to some efforts to finally make good on the computer era’s promise of a “paperless” world.

Count Fidelity Investments among those companies trying to cut down on paper use — and save themselves a bit of money in the process. The firm has just announced that it will partner with DocuSign to use the latter’s “e-signature” technology, allowing staff and clients “to electronically sign all documents, including Fidelity and advisor-specific forms, required to establish and fund a brokerage account.”

While the amount of paper saved with this move may be trivial compared to that wasted in printing the average financial report, the change does of course cut down on the time, expense and fossil fuels required to send hand-signed documents back and forth via courier and for customers to make trips to their new financial advisor’s office.

Not incidentally, all this automation will shift funds to Fidelity more quickly and save its independent advisors money. Whether these efficiencies and savings get passed on to consumers remains to be seen.

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