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E-Signatures: Digital Transformation’s Last Mile?

E-Signatures: Digital Transformation’s Last Mile?

This article is one in our ongoing series on digital transformation In our experience at SignTime, we typically see digital transformation projects failing with clients due to four key reasons:

  • Starting Too Large
  • Solving the Wrong Problem
  • Lack of internal credibility (ignoring needs of actual users)
  • Not Starting Internally First

SignTime works with many companies that are struggling to implement meaningful digital transformation processes, whether it be for internal company processes and procedures, or programs designed to transform customer engagement or business partner operations.

What do some of these “struggling” DX projects have in common and what can other businesses learn from them? Here are a few common themes that we see that can cause customers less-than-stellar results in a DX journey.

Avoid Starting Too Large

This is probably the single largest issue of concern we see with our clients.  There may be broad agreement inside the company, even at the board level, with the need to transform business processes.  Yet often, businesses try to do too much, too fast. 

This usually occurs when complex business processes or software needs to be overhauled or completely changed, and consulting costs, software costs, change management concerns, and more can easily derail a very large DX process.

Solving the Wrong Problem

Another common issue that we see is businesses that are trying to make a fundamental change – either with internal business processes or with customers or partners – and they have not clearly understood what the real business problem is up front.  For example, they may have concluded deploying an enterprise-wide ERP system will solve their problem, but if they don’t realize the real issues are culture and change resistance, the best software in the world won’t solve an issue that is better addressed with training, upgrading of skills, and a detailed change management program first.

Not Fixing Small Problems First

This is also a major issue for many businesses we work with.  There is often a challenge in a business that everyone is aware of, but the people involved do not have confidence that a DX program can or will address the problems.  Because of organizational skepticism, or the learned experience of past business changes that did not deliver the desired outcome, some people inside the business can have a mind-set that the company is incapable of meaningful change.  This can be particularly true in Japan, a country known for its established work culture and where consensus is such an important ingredient of business success.

Start Internally

A major issue we often see is clients who try to start a DX project that has a heavy reliance on partners or customers.  It goes without saying that even internal projects can be challenging, and starting with customer facing projects first can leave a company subject to the contributions of third parties.  Our advice:  start with internal projects first, then move to vendors then move to customers. 

What about the successful case studies then?  From our experience, firms that are well on their way with fruitful DX programs tend to share some common themes. We have listed some of these below and generally find that companies that are moving forward confidently with digital transformation programs usually share at least two of these common denominators.  

Starting Off Small

Getting quick wins on the board is a very powerful way to not only change business processes, but to build internal confidence with staff members.  If employees are seeing tangible benefits from small and manageable DX programs (and hopefully lots of little ones continuously), it is easier to achieve buy-in and support when large projects are attempted. 

We see countless businesses that operate in this way that take on 1 or 2 discrete projects at a time – and drive them through to success.  Often, they are very basic but important changes – think moving employee expense claims online, or modernizing customer ordering systems, and eliminating antiquated processes like fax or paper based ordering.  These small business processes deliver concrete business value for employees and customers and are likely to be supported widely inside most businesses if they tangibly improve the work experience.

Small Wins First, then Repeat, Enable, and Optimize and Expand

Another common theme we see with successful DX programs is taking on one or two small projects and driving them through to completion, before introducing more business process change.  Minimize required changes on day one, but implant a digital, not paper mindset. After all, people are human and can cope with change, but working in a business that is trying to change multiple business processes – all at once – can create anxiety and change resistance in even the most robust executives.  

Our advice: pick 1-2 business processes to modernize first, that are “low hanging fruit” and pilot them, then drive through the change to completion, and start in areas of high impact and high employee reward/buy-in.

We’ve listed below a number of robust SignTime features that have a proven track record of success when implemented in a DX context.

e-Signatures: Last Mile of Digital Transformation

If your organization has not deployed e-signature and electronic contracting, start here first.  Most businesses simply cannot believe how much process improvement comes from eliminating paper based contracts and forms.  It delivers immediate impact for staff, customers and partners and will produce immediate productivity and cost benefits.  

Take advantage of features and processes that change not only e-document flow, but improve business processes at the same time.  Here are some tangible examples:

SignTime Delegation Function (New!)

This was one of our most commonly requested features from our customers. SignTime makes it simple and easy to delegate and/or forward signatory authority for signers.   The use cases for this are straightforward. During a typical sales process, the technical decision maker and main point of interaction may not be the final signatory on the contract. If so, it is simple for the technical decision maker to escalate/forward to the final signatory for approval. This can also be used by senior leaders in the company when on leave.

SignTime Bulk Send

If you want to send a standard employment agreement for signature to hundreds or thousands of people simultaneously while still customizing it for each person’s specific needs, or if you want to automate your maintenance contracts to ensure that they are up to date each year, bulk send is a DX feature that will transform tons of internal business processes.  It enables thousands of e-signatures with a simple upload of a CSV file. When you’re ready to bulk send one of your templates, simply import your list of recipients and their custom field values. After importing the CSV, your documents are on their way. 

SignTime Guarantor Function

Developed initially for higher education (universities, trade schools, etc), adult continuing education, and real estate, but extendable to corporate human resource departments (emergency contact forms, etc.), the guarantor feature enables the sender to specify a field for the primary signer to provide contact information for “guarantors”, who then automatically receive the document for seamless signing. With just one step, you can add an extra layer to the signing process for speed and convenience of all parties.   

This acts as an “anonymous” delegation function that allows a signer to add the contact information of a third party required, but not known to the sender. This is used often with students who may be applying for college, and so will be required to submit their own information but have no credit standing and will likely not be paying the bill.

PrimeTime by SignTime!

Our “PrimeTime” plan is our product suite that allows you to take advantage of all the features that we offer, allowing for multiple DX opportunities inside the business.  It provides e-signatures and electronic contracting, scanner hozon (for compliance with Japan’s Electronic Bookkeeping Law), corporate branding, anti-phishing features by using a company’s own email domain, Salesforce integration, Google integration and more.  PrimeTime provides a one-stop, paperless shop that can transform almost an unlimited number of business processes within a firm. 

Conclusion

Getting Digital Transformation projects right can be a challenge for all businesses, regardless of size.  Keeping projects simple and manageable is a good first step for most businesses to begin their DX journeys.  It’s important to understand that any DX program ultimately involves people and how they interact with technology and business processes.  By focusing on getting the human aspects right, and making sure the benefits are felt widely inside a business, a firm is set up for success.  As a leader in the e-signature and electronic contracting industry, we see many successful projects, and many failures.  If your business is taking its first steps on a DX journey, or you need to get a project back on track, get in touch and see how SignTime can help.

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