An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
Toronto-based Syngrafii continues to transform numerous sectors, including banking, auto financing, and real estate, with its innovative remote signing solutions. The pandemic accelerated digitization globally, and as one would expect, remote signings trended then and continue to thrive in the new normal. Unlike many of its newly launched competitors, Syngrafii eSignature platform also provides technological safeguards to ensure consent and compliance.
Founded in 2003 by the renowned author, poet, literary critic and social activist Margaret Atwood, and co-founder Matthew Gibson, the Syngrafii platform ensures robust compliance and non-repudiation in its product suite of Video Signing Room™ (VSR), iinked™ and LongPen® technologies. Reportedly the only remote fully compliant signing solution that includes remote swearing, commissioning, and notarizing, VSR preserves the biometric protection of a traditional signature and mitigates the risk of fraudulent behavior. Each signature is unique to a document – not a proxy. Syngrafii also integrates an unalterable electronic verification service complete with human biometrics, reinforced with geotagging and an extensive and detailed audit trail.
Initially an Idea Management Consultant, now as President and CEO, Gibson manages the firm’s forward momentum and product development, intellectual property development, strategic partner negotiations, IP licensing and corporate mandate adherence. In addition, Gibson continues to be an inventor of record in eleven patent families, consisting of 45 granted and patent pending applications. Gibson also co-founded and serves as President and CEO of Fanado, a digital content generator.
Specializing in launching, monetizing and commercializing intellectual property, Gibson has developed revenue models to capitalize on industry and customer market needs, most recently in remote wet ink eSignatures on mobile technology platforms.
I caught up with Matthew via email to learn more about a variety of exciting topics, including Syngrafii, cutting-edge eSignature high-technology solutions, leadership style and partnership cultivation, the benefit of failure, Pelee Island Bird Observatory and book/film recommendations. Our interview follows.
EKMH: In what specific ways has Syngrafii changed, and its growth strategy pivoted during the pandemic? How do you envision Syngrafii leading electronic signing transformation in the next five years?
Matthew Gibson: Covid 19, despite the tragic impact in human and economic terms, forced people to examine the need to be able to complete business transactions in a compliant but also customer-friendly manner. This brought attention to Syngrafii’s remote signing tools that includeiinked Sign , Video Signing Room, the LongPen and now iinked Seal for Remote-On Line notarization. It also highlighted the need for a higher confidence in the authenticity and human consent implied in the use of a signature historically. This is where Syngrafii’s approach to remote signing was noticed.
Syngrafii’s goal as the next generation of e-signatures is to replace the current approaches and offer the market the best in compliance, customer service and acquisition possible.
EKMH: Let’s meet at the intersection of regtech, compliance, investment opportunities and innovative high technology solutions. Which high-tech breakthroughs, such as blockchain, digitalization, AI and AR, inspire(d) your own patented innovations?
Matthew Gibson: Interestingly, while the world was moving forward with business process transformation to the online digital world, much of the inspiration to develop our patented solutions relating to remote signing, biometrics, original signatures, intent and the use of video in a unified and patented software platform, came from looking what worked best in the analogue world – human handwriting, pens and paper, face to face meetings and the value and strength of a one-time use original signatures.
While certainly the mass introduction and widespread adoption of mobile and portable touch screen technologies enable our patents to be commercialized far more rapidly – the use of them with our service provides increased security, ease of use, familiarity and compliance. Syngrafii interestingly blends the best of our traditions with best in class remote signature and video solutions.
EKMH: What led you and the formidable writer Margaret Atwood to co-found Syngrafii? How have your co-leadership styles morphed and streamlined since launching?
Matthew Gibson: The original vision was to develop a hardware device called the LongPen™ to sign books remotely while on a video call with the reader. This provided the foundation for the robust IP package owned by Syngrafii, the experience and knowledge of biometrics and the first use of video signing. This knowledge and IP was applied to the digital version now referred to as Syngrafii iinked™. The LongPen is still widely used by governments and the private sector for specific high-level applications.
The company went through a number of learning curves but now its leadership is focused on moving forward based on its technical vision and superior product capabilities and the market. This is a shift from placing the internal corporate functions of the company ahead of the market’s appreciation of the iinked Platform.
My background prior to 2005 when I was contacted by Ms. Atwood could best be described as an “Idea Manager.” I assisted inventors in commercializing their inventions. That capability was one of the reasons Ms. Atwood contacted me when she came up with the idea for a service that would assist writers in reaching out to their readers in markets that were geographically challenging while reducing the carbon footprint of global travel. The second reason? My father was Graeme Gibson, Margaret’s husband of 49 years - so I am fortunate enough to say Margaret and I go way back.
EKMH: What advice do you have for cultivating and maintaining successful partnerships?
Matthew Gibson: We believe the key, especially when working remotely, is to listen, ask questions and even try to predict the impact of time zones and whether global local holidays, political events and religious holidays in the pace of our engagement.
Partnerships come in many forms and while reseller, channel and technology partners are all critical, the identification of strategic partnerships – those firms in target geographic regions of interest are key. Strategic partnerships ideally enhance the capabilities of both partners software platforms by combining two complementary solutions; the end result becomes more powerful. This scenario also allows both parties to focus and share sales and marketing efforts to a common target market efficiently.
EKMH: How has failure played a role in your career success? What have you learned from taking risks?
Matthew Gibson: Failure… key to solving problems and valuable in the sense that you tend not to repeat the same mistake twice. All failure leads to wisdom; to better decision making; to enhanced solutions and provides a lesson that cannot be taught in school. I value failure – it is a catalyst for change both in process and in the way an individual changes their perspective and the processing of future decisions regarding life and business challenges.
EKMH: Please share some details about your patents.
Matthew Gibson: The company started filing patents in 2005 on the first product development, the LongPen® - which required three initial prototypes - two of which promptly destroyed themselves in initial trials as we underestimated the physical realities— the speed, acceleration and G-Forces the human hand is capable of while writing a signature (a muscle memory), as well as the brain processing requirements, which we had to replicate perfectly. The third try proved lucky and the first patented LongPen® was born. The pen has gone through a number of improvements over the years but is still built on the lessons learned in our initial failures.
From that successful development, the firm continued filing IP on all aspects of remote signing and signing in conjunction with video which laid the groundwork for the balance of the filings which became the foundation of the iinked Sign™; Video Signing Room™ , LongPen™ and our latest release, iinked Seal™ for legal and notarial professionals. Public disclosure of the Patent Families and 45 Granted Patents can be found here.
EKMH: As a global-minded entrepreneur and e-signature pioneer, what are your views on the future of work and communication?
Matthew Gibson: I’m optimistic. One of the impacts Covid has had on the global workforce has been the need to adopt change. Prior to this event, I feel business had fallen into a comfortable rhythm of what was considered the norm. With the disruption that the pandemic created across all business, we were forced to change, move into a new rhythm, and while elements of this too have been challenging, the need to move to the new normal has been enabled by the acceleration in adoption of technological solutions to accommodate this change. The new normal will likely be a hybrid of these two end points – ideally providing a better work/life balance. Technology, applied wisely, provides efficiencies of time and geographic independence.
EKMH: You Co-Chair the Pelee Island Bird Observatory, a non-profit charitable organization devoted to the study and conservation of birds. Best citing/ tagging ever?
Matthew Gibson: As I am not “hands on,” I polled the amazing team of banders on the island for their most memorable moments in sightings and capture and banding. As follows:
As a bander at PIBO’s banding station for the last 15 years, the most surprising bird we banded was a yellow-breasted chat captured this spring and a red-shouldered Hawk captured about five or six years ago. Capturing the chat was surprising as we had captured less than half the volume of birds over the previous seasons. Unfortunately, their population is decreasing, and they are listed as 'Species at Risk' in Ontario.
The region along the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is the north part of their breeding ground, but there are not many places to observe chats easily like Pelee Island, since they like very thick vegetation with thorns. I am very glad that the island is still hosting them as a good breeding habitat and hope the population doesn’t get too small for them to find a mate to increase their dwindling populations.
A red-shouldered hawk was a biggest bird I extracted from the nets, and I still remembered when I spotted the first of the American white pelicans which have become regular visitors to the island over the last few years.
And finally, Graeme Gibson the Younger, a Founder of PIBO and expert birder called out a red-headed woodpecker, which was spotted this year. Red-headed woodpecker populations have declined by more than 60 per cent in Ontario in the last 20 years because of habitat loss due to forestry and agriculture. The removal of dead trees in which they nest is also believed to be a threat to these birds.
EKMH: How would you encourage more business leaders to become actively involved in their communities? How has your community involvement catalyzed change in your career?
Matthew Gibson: The value of community work to any cause if obvious. The value to the executive is relaxation and also a balance. When you are building a business, everything can be an emotional roller coaster. Working on a larger problem that faces a community, nature, the planet helps keep perspective. It also exposes you to new ideas and approaches that you will not find through your own company’s work.
EKMH: And finally, which books, films and/ or podcasts top your recommended list?
Matthew Gibson: Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Stand and The Gunslinger series, Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman
Generally suspense and classic and smart horror films:
Nosferatu Original title: Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens silent film 1922
Let the Right One In, a Swedish romantic horror based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Rear Window, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. With James Stewart, Grace Kelly
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