Telecommunication companies today have relationships with different entities (B2C, B2B, B2G*) therefore the use of digital signatures is beneficial for their activity. In this article we review what are the advantages of using this technology in telecommunications companies, without forgetting the importance internally.
The work of telecommunications companies has diversified a lot in recent years. Its activity no longer only consists of customer service offices where mobile phones are sold, fixed lines are contracted and rates are modified. So, below, we will describe each of its facets and see exactly how the use of the digital signature can benefit.
Relationship with customers (B2C)
In the first place, we find the B2C facet of telecommunications, that is, direct contact with customers. The relevant companies in the sector, such as Vodafone and Orange, have already integrated the digitized signature into their customer relationship systems.
The integration of this tool makes the connection with customers faster and that the managers in the points of sale have more time available to advice, offer information and meet the needs of those who come to the premises. It also increases the security of identification, which reduces the possibility of fraud. And, most importantly, avoid the queues and decrease the waiting time.
The same contracts are signed on a daily basis by different people. Important communication companies in Europe and Latin America use Documents, which allows you to design templates defining a set of variables (such as name, surname, phone number, etc) that the store advisor fills in (though it may be the case that signer can do it).
Time saving is almost as important as cost saving, as the end user is satisfied, since they obtain what they in the shortest possible time.
Relationship with companies (B2B)
The telecommunications companies carry out many procedures and collaboration agreements with other companies. Some of the services offered are digital solutions such as cloud hosting or improvements in security or telecommunications services such as IP, greater bandwidth capacity, satellite services, mobility…
Not only that in addition to providing fixed telephony, mobile and internet, they also have a subscription television, for which they must produce their own content and also acquire other third party content through agreements and the purchase of distribution rights.
For all these cases, executives and managers of the companies involved sometimes close agreements in meetings that are not necessarily face-to-face. And to simplify the procedures electronically, logistics and save travel costs.
Another example is all the client companies to which it provides supplies, agreements with technology companies for R & D support, etc. In a global world, in addition to the necessary technology for communication, a solution like Viafirma Documents is needed to allow the final signature necessary to close the agreements, without the need for all parties to be present in the same room. At the end of the day, this allows you to streamline procedures and not make unnecessary trips to simply sign a document.
Relationship with Governments (B2G)
Thanks to the infrastructure and innovative capacity that telecommunications companies have today, their relationship with administrations and governments have also been enhanced (B2G). Thus, these types of companies are being one of the main drivers of change to make Smart Cities a reality.
The use of the digital signature in these cases is in line with the implementation of Electronic Administration, through which it is no longer necessary to go to the physical offices to perform the procedures, but thanks to digital certificates, can be perform online.
Improvement of internal organization
It is not only important to strengthen the organization for the public and other companies or the Administration, but also the internal organization, with the aim of achieving greater efficiency of operation and better results at the end of the year.
For example, the signing of payroll occupies an important part of the administration and human resources team, especially if it is a large company with a large number of employees. Fortunately, there are tools that make this process faster.
Viafirma Inbox is an example of this. It is a signature tray, with a look very similar to a mail account, to make its use more intimate and intuitive. It allows creating workflows to facilitate the signing of all documents. Its interface shows in a clear and visual way the objects that are pending to be signed, with notifications so that none are left behind.
Sometimes, the person in charge is too busy or has other tasks and cannot cover everything. For this reason, the functionality that allows the delegation of signature, giving powers to another person so you can sign for it is important.
Improvement of security
The signature is very important, because it can have a lot of power and, if someone falsifies it, it can do many things that its original carrier does not want. Therefore, digital security is vital for any natural or legal person. Viafirma Inbox allows, among many other things, to delegate it and apply a series of restrictions so that its use is correct, such as, for example, specifying the browser in which it will be used or the day and time of the week in which it will be used. This is especially useful for holiday periods or when dealing with very large companies.
With the tool you can take the exhaustive control of the use made of the delegated signature, where it is identified with it, what documents are signed, etc., in order to avoid any unwanted use.
This solution is combined with Viafirma Fortress to achieve complete security and to have confidence that digital certificates are 100% secure. The main objective of Fortress is to host the certificates in the cloud; therefore, there is no need to always carry them in a device.
The management of contracts of great legal importance is another clear example where security is vital. In times in which cybercrime increases, it is essential that a company is able to ensure that all sensitive information it keeps from its customers is safe.
For this, from Viafirma we advise the use of robust authentication to avoid potential security breaches. This type requires, at least, two methods of identification to make sure that the person who tries to access is what he claims to be. An example is the combination of the classic login data (user and password), and the sending of an SMS token to confirm the identity.
Success cases
At Viafirma we have experience collaborating with telecommunications companies. One of those works was with one of the most leading companies in the sector in Colombia, whose project was the first implementation of the advanced digital signature in the country.
This company was looking for a solution to expedite the sales process, which would help them to be more competitive and at the same time provide a better service to their customers. In this way he was offered the possibility of integrating a document signing solution in a digital manner. The forms, once filled with the customer’s data, are sent to the tablet or mobile device of the commercial agent for the client to review and finally proceed to the signature of the same.
At present there are thousands of points of sale that operate at full capacity in its Colombian subsidiary, with tens of thousands of active users, and several million contracts signed successfully since its implementation. This means a huge amount of hours saved, and mountains of paper reduced to small ultra-secure servers, in a single client. And there are considerably more success stories in Viafirma’s telecommunications sector in Europe and America.
In short, the digital signature is a really useful tool in many aspects of the activity of any company in the telecommunications sector. It can help to streamline sales processes and improve customer waiting times to achieve greater satisfaction and enhance internal organization, shortening the times of activities that are traditionally longer and heavier to complete as the payroll signature.
*B2C: Business-To-Consumer; B2B: Business-To-Business; B2G: Business-To-Government.