NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 5, 2021 — NotaryCam®, a Stewart-owned company and a pioneering provider of remote online notarization and identity verification/authentication technology for real estate and legal transactions, announced today that its remote ink notarization (RIN) functionality and remote online notarization (RON) expansion has been included in the 2021 Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards. NotaryCam’s products garnered an honorable mention in the Pandemic Response category, highlighting the importance of remote notarization in 2020.
The winners of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced today, honoring the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality.
When COVID-19 hit, the demand for NotaryCam’s services increased almost overnight by 300%. The increase forced NotaryCam to think outside the box to meet the demand of people who had to bypass the challenge of social distancing. The NotaryCam team created a new workflow process to accommodate the new demand so that NotaryCam’s client’s needs could continue to be met amidst the pandemic.
In response to restrictions imposed on in-person gatherings due to COVID-19, legislators across the U.S. passed temporary measures authorizing RON to ensure notarial activities, including real estate closings, could continue unimpeded. While NotaryCam was fully equipped to handle the increased demand for RON transactions, the company was also tasked with the development of its Concierge Service to accommodate RIN, which many states chose to authorize in lieu of RON in their emergency orders, to ensure home buyers and real estate professionals in every state could utilize the NotaryCam platform to complete their closing ceremony in accordance with their individual state’s permanent and/or temporary authorization.
Now in its fifth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 33 winners, more than 400 finalists, and more than 800 honorable mentions—with Health and Wellness, AI & Data among the most popular categories. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 4,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, and more. Plus, several new categories were added, including Pandemic Response, Urban Design, and Architecture. The 2021 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Brazil to Denmark to Vietnam.
Showcasing some of the world’s most inventive entrepreneurs and companies tackling exigent global challenges, Fast Company’s Summer 2021 issue (on newsstands May 10) highlights, among others, a lifesaving bassinet; the world’s largest carbon sink, thanks to carbon-eating concrete; 3D-printed schools; an at-home COVID-19 testing kit; a mobile voting app; and the world’s cleanest milk.
“With the onset of COVID-19, RON technology and NotaryCam played a critical role not just in moving the housing market forward, but also keeping it from grinding to a complete halt,” said Rick Triola, division president of NotaryCam. “I am proud to be able to share this honor with the entire NotaryCam team, which worked quickly and tirelessly to develop and release a RIN product to help accommodate a greater majority of remote closing ceremonies in a socially-distanced world.”
“There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems,” says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects that have launched since the start of 2020.”