Telecommunications companies nowadays have relationships with different entities (B2C, B2B, B2G[1]) and in all of them the use of digital signatures is beneficial for their activity. In this article we review one by one the advantages of using this technology in telecommunications companies, without forgetting the importance at the internal level.
The work of telecommunications companies has become much more diversified in recent years. Their activity no longer consists only of customer service offices where cell phones are sold, fixed lines are contracted and tariffs are modified. Therefore, we will now take a closer look at each of its facets and see exactly how the use of digital signatures can benefit them.
Customer relationship (B2C)
First of all, there is the B2C facet of telecommunications, i.e. direct dealings with customers. Relevant companies in the sector, such as Vodafone and Orange, have already integrated digitized signatures into their customer relationship systems.
The integration of this tool makes the connection with customers faster and gives point-of-sale managers more time to advise, provide information and meet the needs of those who come to the store. It also increases identification security, thus reducing the possibility of fraud. Most importantly, it avoids queues and reduces waiting time.
It is common for many of the same contracts to be signed every day, only for different people. Important communication companies in Europe and Latin America use Documents, which allows the design of templates with a series of variables (such as name, surname, telephone number…) that the in-store consultant modifies on the spot from tablets to personalize it (and even the signer himself can do it).
Saving time is almost as important as saving money, as it contributes to the customer’s satisfaction, since he gets what he wants in the shortest possible time.
Business to Business (B2B)
Telecommunications companies make many arrangements and collaboration agreements with other companies. Some of the services they offer are digital solutions such as cloud hosting or security enhancements or telecommunication services such as IP, higher bandwidth capacity, satellite services, mobility…
Not only that, in addition to providing fixed telephony, mobile telephony and internet, they also have a subscription television, for which they must produce their own content and also acquire other content from third parties through agreements and the purchase of distribution rights.
In all these cases, executives and managers of the companies involved sometimes reach agreements in meetings that are not necessarily face-to-face. This is done to facilitate telematic procedures, logistics and save on travel costs.
Another example is all the client companies to which it provides supplies, agreements with technological companies for R&D support, etc. In a global world, in addition to the necessary technology for communication, a solution such as Viafirma Documents is needed to place 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 to speed up the procedures and not to 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 has also been enhanced (B2G). Thus, this type of companies are being one of the main drivers of change to make smart cities a reality (Smart Cities).
The use of digitalized signatures in these cases is in line with the implementation of e-Government, through which it is no longer necessary to go to physical offices to carry out procedures, but rather, thanks to digital certificates, they can be carried out online.
Improvement of internal organization
It is not only important to strengthen the organization with regard to the public and other companies or the Administration, but also the internal organization, with the aim of achieving greater operating efficiency and better results at the end of the year.
For example, the signing of payrolls takes up a large part of the administration and human resources team, especially if you are a large company with a large number of employees. Fortunately, there are tools available to streamline this process.
Viafirma Inbox is an example of this. It is a signature tray, with an aspect very similar to an email account, to make its use closer and more intuitive. It allows to create workflows to facilitate the signature of all documents. Its interface shows in a clear and visual way the objects that are pending to be signed, with notifications so that no one is left behind.
Sometimes, the person in charge is too busy or has other tasks and cannot cover everything. For this reason, it is important the functionality that allows the delegation of signature, giving power of attorney to another person to sign for him/her.
Improved safety
The signature is something very important, since it can have a lot of power and, if someone forges it, it can do many things that its original bearer does not want. That is why 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 is going to be used or the day and time of the week in which it is going to be used. This is especially useful for holiday periods or when dealing with very large companies.
With the tool you can keep an exhaustive control of the use made of the delegated signature, where it is identified with it, which documents are signed, etc., in order to avoid any undesired use.
This solution is combined with Viafirma Fortress to achieve a complete security and to have the confidence that the digital certificates are 100% secure. The main objective of Fortress is to host the certificates in the cloud, therefore, there is no need to carry them always in a device.
The management of legally important contracts is another clear example where security is paramount. At a time when cybercrime is on the rise, it is essential that a company is able to ensure that all the sensitive information it holds on its customers is safe and secure.
For this, viafirma recommends the use of strong authentication to avoid potential security breaches. This type of authentication requires at least two identification methods to ensure that the person trying to access is the person he/she claims to be. An example is the combination of the classic login data (username and password), and the sending of an SMS token to confirm identity.
Success story
At Viafirma we have experience collaborating with telecommunications companies. One of those works was with one of the leading companies in the sector in Colombia, whose project was the first implementation of the advanced digitized signature in the country.
This company was looking for a solution to streamline sales procedures, which would help them to be more competitive and at the same time provide a better service to their customers. Thus, the company was offered the possibility of integrating a digital document signature solution. The forms, once filled in with the customer’s data, are sent to the sales agent’s tablet or mobile device so that the customer can review them and sign them.
Thousands of points of sale are now operating at full capacity in its Colombian subsidiary, with tens of thousands of active users, and several million contracts successfully signed since its implementation. This means a huge amount of hours saved, and mountains of paper reduced to small, ultra-secure servers, at a single customer. And there are many more Viafirma’s success stories in the 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 streamline sales processes and improve customer waiting times to achieve greater satisfaction and enhance internal organization, shortening the time of activities that are traditionally longer and heavier to complete, such as the signing of payrolls.
[1] B2C:Business-To-Consumer; B2B:Business-To-Business; B2G:Business-To-Government