Sunrise digitizes signatures with SOFTPRO SignDoc

[ZURICH - 13.10.08] Successful companies in the telecommunication vertical have one thing in common: Their offers are innovative, reliable, fast and pretty much self-explaining. However when signing a contract for a new phone or web access things tent to get circumstantial: To capture a signature the sales personal still grabs paper. The second largest and fast growing Swiss telecommunication operator Sunrise calls using paper a day. In her branches and an increasing number of resellers signatures of customer and retailer are digitized throughout the writing process on a signature tablet. Signed documents are transferred straight into the electronic archive. Optionally the signature can be verified. Through this process, paper is gradually being phased out from Sunrise's document workflow.

The introduction of electronic signing was warmly welcomed by sales staff as well as by the customers. Sunrise is using the process for various transactions. The most frequent use case is signing a new or updating an existing contract. Signatures are also captured for the transfer of phone numbers from former providers and the registration of SIM cards. The customer can choose to receive a PDF file of the signed document via Email or receives a hardcopy.

Straight-Through-Processing

Sunrise has been successfully using her "Partnerweb", a web-based paperless system for contract management - for quite a while. However, as soon as signatures were involved, paper was printed to capture them. Scanning, correcting mistakes, re-capturing data, and archiving the documents produced a lot of wasted efforts in time and money. This effect of moving from electronic processes back to paper is widely referred to as a "media cut". Starting in autumn 2008, thanks to SignPad and SignDoc, as part of the "eSignature" application, contracts are now processed completely electronic. Signatures are captured in the SignPad - without involving paper. The solution which is gradually rolled out in Sunrise stores starting September 2008 was put into place by SOFTPRO and Sunrise within a few months only. The electronic end-to-end workflow is well acclaimed. Today the usage of SOFTPRO's sophisticated e-signing software SignDoc rounds up a seamless digital document workflow.

Fully digitized workflow

As an elementary part of the Sunrise sales support system ("Partnerweb"), the signing ceremony is a vital component. It is seamlessly embedded, leveraging SignDoc for PDF and the "eSignature Server". The application allows for signing electronic documents fast, easy and cost-effective. Employees of Sunrise and her partners access the Partnerweb and choose the appropriate form. The SignPad displays a text describing the signing purpose. Thus the signer can identify the context of the signing ceremony and the document to be signed without any doubt. The application also reflects on Switzerland's language diversity. For customer and merchant it is possible select one out of four different languages for the displayed dialogues on the SignPad.

• The signature is digitized immediately while signing on the SignPad. SOFTPRO caters with her product SignDoc for the authenticity and integrity of the electronic documents. SignDoc links the captured data with the signed document content. Technically spoken a so called "Ultra Thin Client" allows for signing documents directly in the web browser.
• Based on the individual biometric signing characteristics of an electronic signature is created. Every modification after the signing ceremony is recorded, the integrity value is created. This integrity value and the signature data set is stored with a time stamp in the document for future verification.
• The completed and signed document is transferred to the document management system of Sunrise for archiving. The Partnerweb receives a confirmation about successful signing.

Catering for the needs of the mobile sales force

The retailers of Sunrise also benefit of this process: Contracts may be signed offline as well. This is a particular benefit when using mobile promotion teams, since those are independent of a web access at their temporary point of sale. Moreover the robust SignPad eSignio is easy to carry and can be set up quickly to capture signatures everywhere. In addition to this its stylish design fits with every store interior.

Convincing

Peter Flückiger, Project Manager eSignature - responsible for the introduction of the electronic signature with SignPad & SignDoc: "We have checked through several solutions intensively and carried out the acid test with its manufacturers. The teamwork of SOFTPRO and her hardware partner Wacom was strongly convincing: We were not only impressed by their innovative technology but also with their dedicated and very knowledgeable team. It is especially pleasant, if a supplier is picking up the typically high demands of Swiss customers as a sporty challenge. Today we are happy about a competent and professional partner, who understands our demands and transforms them in a convincing manner. Sunrise is very satisfied with her vendors SOFTPRO and Wacom and recommends them with peace of conscience."

E-Signing gets increasingly popular

With the SignPad eSignio Sunrise selected a signature tablet which is increasingly more and more popular: One of the largest German savings banks - the Berliner Sparkasse is using thousands of these tablets in their branches and currently branches of IKEA are equipped with SignPads by Softpro's partner TeleCash. Christian Escher, Technical Project Manager of project eSignature at Sunrise: "Sunrise is proud to be recognized as an innovative operator and having the reputation of easy-to understand products. Part of the reputation building is done when signing a contract in the shops or at a retailer. So it was pretty straight forward what we have expected from a device for signature capturing and the underlying software: It needs to be easy to use and innovative. Besides this we demanded a system that caters for own shops as it does for our resellers. Today our customers sign easily- without paper. With the SignPad eSignio we use a device that displays the signature in a similar way to a handwritten signature on paper. The display can be used to display additional information while the tablet is not used for signing capturing. When choosing the device we had our customers in mind who expect a high-class digitizing of their signatures. Simple pen pads, which are in usage at courier services or frequently seen in the United States, would neither be accepted by our customers nor they would match our own quality standards."

Trustworthy Process

The processes that Sunrise handles using "eSignature" do not require the written form according to the Swiss Code of Obligations, Art. 13, 14. They may be defined as "form free agreements". Sunrise trusts in a procedure that captures a signature with a similar power of proof as a signature signed on paper.

The trustworthiness of electronic documents is closely linked to the power of proof for authenticity and integrity in the particular application and workflow. In addition to the option to verify the dynamic signature, this form of signature includes encryption and the option to check that a document has not been tampered with (integrity check).

SignDoc uses a comparison of an integrity value ("hash"). Thus it is possible to detect any manipulation of a document after it was signed. Another important aspect is to ensure that the customer's signature is securely tied to the signed document a document is flagged as invalid, if signature data are manipulated. In addition to this signature data cannot be transferred to other documents undetected.

Legal experts define this kind of e-signing as "a legal surrogate equivalent to the conventional method of signing with ink on paper, and thus similarly fulfilling the same formal intention to sign of the written paper form." In other words, electronic signatures based on SignDoc offer at least the same security as handwritten signatures on paper, and more.

Signing a contract at the telecommunication provider Sunrise is now fast and uncomplicated - and the innovative procedure for electronic signing is at least as reliable as the classical signing on paper. In addition to this the Swiss also save a substantial amount of Francs by no longer using paper.

More intense verification possible

Ralph Maute, Product Manager at Softpro says: "SignDoc offers our customers, most of them from the financial industry such as Berliner Sparkasse, the opportunity to increase their security levels. Besides the static image of the signature that is familiar to everyone from paper the SignPad eSignio captures also dynamic signals. These signals are created throughout the signing process and may be used as additional security features. The different levels of the writing pressure, speed and velocity throughout the writing process are very unique to the individual signer. They can be verified automatically on demand."

Although every signature is unique in itself, the image of a signature varies. It is possible to compare two signatures that are produced from the same person. Softpro is the only vendor of signature verification technology involved in the German Institute for Standardization (Deutsches Institut für Normung, DIN), and the national body of the International Standardization Organization (ISO). The Standard "ISO/IEC 19794-7: Biometric data interchange formats, Part 7: Signature/Sign Time Series Data" was largely influenced by Softpro's experience in research and development.
 
 

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High-Quality Images

ID: S01 The sales assistance shows the customer the entry in the Sunrise Partnerweb, the POS solution for paperless contracts of Switzerland's second largest Telco-provider. Softpro's SignDoc Web is embedded in this solution. The photos were taken in the flagship store of Sunrise in Zurich. The SignPad is a joint development with pen technology specialist Wacom and designed to work seamless with SOFTPRO's popular e-signing software SignDoc. download size and type 1 MB / ZIP >> Download

ID: S02 The customer signs on the SignPad eSignio a paperless contract of Switzerland's second largest Telco-provider. The photo was taken in the flagship store of Sunrise in Zurich. The SignPad is a joint development with pen technology specialist Wacom and designed to work seamless with SOFTPRO's popular e-signing software SignDoc. download size and type 1 MB / ZIP >> Download

ID: S03 Close up of SOFTPRO's SignPad which is embedded in the counter of Sunrise stores, Switzerland's second largest telecommunication provider. The photos were taken in the flagship store of Sunrise in Zurich. The SignPad is a joint development with pen technology specialist Wacom and designed to work seamless with SOFTPRO's popular e-signing software SignDoc. download size and type 1 MB / ZIP >> Download

ID: S04 Close up of SOFTPRO's SignPad which is embedded in the counter of Sunrise stores, Switzerland's second largest telecommunication provider. The display shows the context of the signature and the captured signature as well. The photos were taken in the flagship store of Sunrise in Zurich. The SignPad is a joint development with pen technology specialist Wacom and designed to work seamless with SOFTPRO's popular e-signing software SignDoc. download size and type 1 MB / ZIP >> Download