Over a year ago when Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, between all the devastating pictures that came from this tragedy, I was struck by the images online of people gathering around power outlets and coffee shops to get charged. These survivors who had lost so much and were scouring to find food and water were also struggling to stay digitally connected. Our digital world, which has become so ingrained in our daily existence, is now a staple as important as food, water and shelter to those devastated by disaster.

With our Digital lives playing such an important role in our daily routine, it’s no wonder so many of us have a love/hate relationship with technology. In large part, this dissolution comes from the way technology has failed us. Not in how it’s allowed us to connect with those we love or the things we want to follow, but in the promise it has made to us. All technology comes with the promise to improve our lives. It guarantees to improve our efficiency, save us time, make us more money, and make us cooler and more efficient than our competitor. But let’s be honest, has it really improved our lives or simply made our lives more accessible? Nowhere is this more evident than in e-mail. Is it really an improvement that we now can be contacted at any hour of the day and night and have our personal time interrupted or maybe more accurately, disrupted?

I know that it may seem a bit ironic that I am writing this as a blog, and you are most likely reading this on a Smartphone, tablet or desktop computer; all of which rely heavily on multiple technologies to perform. These technologies all provide a valuable platform, and I appreciate its functionality, which is helping me to share my story with you.

I recently joined DocuSign from another technology company and was amazed at the reaction I received when people found I am part of the DocuSign team. At a recent national convention, I was literally hugged in the elevator by a complete stranger who told me how much they “loved DocuSign.” Several of my new teammates commented on the overwhelming response that people have to the DocuSign experience and I realized that it was a very simple equation: Unlike many other purveyors of technology, who have vowed to improve our lives, DocuSign actually has fulfilled their promise. It’s common for DocuSign subscribers to remark about the savings delivered by this simple, elegant solution. Individuals and companies of all sizes, from small to Fortune 500 have recaptured millions of dollars in revenues, and untold amounts of time and energy, by implementing DocuSign into their products and services both internally and externally.

To be fair, there are some truly amazing, helpful, life-improving, career expanding, technologies that have been introduced – quite a few in just the last 10 years. But fairness also demands it be said that technology has created as many barriers to productiveness as it has claimed to tear down. The unpredictable but constant pinging of incoming messages; electronic requests that are delivered with the expectation of an immediate response, the “24-Hour Work Cycle”, the automated calls from political campaigns, polling services and intrusive companies. They all get in the way of living a life, free from time without digital interaction. So discovering a technology like DocuSign has provided its users – and now me – one of the most non-technological things someone can hope for, a breath of fresh air.