Jun 21, 2016

A total solution greater than the sum of its parts

With increasing digitalisation, businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on efficient business systems. Customers and staff alike expect smooth processes, clear information and for a contract to take effect immediately. It is therefore increasingly important to have a holistic view of your business system, including how your company concludes and signs its contracts.

Looking at modern business systems, without electronic signing of contracts there is an unnecessary halt in the process just when you are close to closure. At the same time, going through an external party to e-sign can be cumbersome when dealing with many contracts. This is where an integrated API-based solution can make a big difference. Electronic signing and secure identification of the contracting parties, makes the whole sales process run more smoothly.

Technically, integration with Egreement's solution is always based on an API, i.e. an interface that allows the company's business system to use the functions available in Egreement's service. Using the API as a basis, the contracting process is then tailored to suit the way the company works.

Egreement's API is well tested and has been used for many different solutions, so the implementation itself tends to go quite quickly. A normal integration usually takes about 1 week, but more complex integrations will of course take longer. Most commonly, Egreement provides API documentation, test environments and support during the integration process. The company that will have the solution, contributes with the expertise of its process and business system. With good planning, the whole project usually goes smoothly.

Our experience shows that it is important to think carefully about how you want the process to work before you start the actual integration work. Once the technical requirements have been specified, many customers can manage on their own, depending on their own development resources. For a technical department that is used to working with APIs, this is not difficult at all!

In a fully automated solution, customers can sign for example a subscription directly on the web. If instead it's a contract between a salesperson and a customer, the contract can be emailed for e-signature and take effect within minutes. In a business where contracts are relatively standardised, making contract signing a natural part of the process will both increase security and significantly reduce administration and error handling.

If you have a business that handles many similar contracts and where customers are expected to sign according to a clear process, if you want to demonstrate that you are at the cutting edge of technology, or if you want to demonstrate your own brand through all the steps of the process, a customised integration solution is almost always preferable. Examples of companies where it is usually easy to recoup an investment in an integrated solution include companies that offer loyalty cards, rent out premises or sell subscriptions.

The advantage of an integrated solution is that the management of the contract itself and the contracting parties is married to the company's business systems in a fully automated process, without interruption. This reduces costs, increases security and improves customer satisfaction. If you are unsure and want to test on a small scale, you can always start with Egreement Basic to get started and then move on to a customised, integrated solution, once you know what features you need for a truly efficient way of working.

Our experience is that with an integrated solution, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Peter Ousbäck, Development Manager Egreement