The partnership aims to provide organisations in highly regulated sales and service industries with a comprehensive, multi-channel solution for improving customer communications and service, while reducing transaction costs and mitigating legal and compliance risks.

"The combined Silanis and Thunderhead offering goes beyond simple electronic signatures and document generation," said Dr. Robert Al-Jaar, Silanis' Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice-President of Product Management. "It provides a highly-scalable, rules-based solution for managing effective communications and ensuring efficient, compliant processes - from the moment messages are sent to customers to promote a product or service to when their signatures are captured in contracts and other documents to seal the deal."

The only platform based on XML and open standards, Thunderhead NOW is designed to enable business users to create and deliver highly personalized documents and messages to customers across all output channels, whether print or electronic, and in batch or real time.

Thunderhead NOW pulls in information from an organisation's core business applications and then dynamically assembles and produces documents and correspondence according to pre-defined business rules. Organisations are able to improve operational efficiency, reduce risk and deliver a consistent brand experience.

The ApproveIt Web Server 3.0 solution from Silanis provides next-generation, e-signature process management capabilities enabling documents generated by Thunderhead NOW to be electronically signed with the highest level of compliance and control.

ApproveIt Web Server 3.0 is a response to evolving market demands for a more comprehensive solution that manages complex, high-value and high-risk e-transactions. In addition to electronic signature capabilities, the solution enforces business, legal, regulatory and IT requirements by completely managing activities and processes related to e-signing from beginning to end.

This includes setting up transaction processes and rules for handling variations and exceptions, preparing documents to receive electronic signatures, presenting documents for review and signing, and delivering e-signed copies of documents to all parties and back-end systems.

Moreover, ApproveIt Web Server 3.0 records and reproduces the entire e-transaction, including all screens viewed and actions taken, to provide even stronger legal evidence than currently available with paper.

Documents and contracts can be created on an ad-hoc basis via Thunderhead NOW and sent to ApproveIt Web Server for presentation and signing. Or, the joint solution can be integrated with an organisation's loan-origination, underwriting and policy administration, or other transactional business system, for automated document production.

"Organisations are looking to execute transactions faster and reduce their reliance on print output with a multi-channel approach to customer communications," said Glen Manchester, Chief Executive Officer at Thunderhead. "The Thunderhead-Silanis partnership provides organizations with best-in-class solutions to address these requirements, leveraging open standards. Organisations will be able to respond to customer preferences while minimising legal and regulatory risks.