ISCA saves over 10,000 pages per month with HelloSign
The Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) is the national accountancy body in Singapore that provides training programs to accounting firms and professionals, helps its members digitize, and works with government agencies and ministers on budgetary matters.
Accounting for a remote world
The events of 2020 upended the way so many businesses around the world operated. And one of the biggest changes was how they signed important documents. Before the pandemic, the uptake of eSignatures wasn’t a priority because the existing paper system wasn’t broken. But COVID-19 threw a spanner in incumbent pen-and-paper signing methods for businesses everywhere. Something had to change.
For ISCA’s 100+ staff who serve over 32,000 ISCA members, managing thousands of documents efficiently is critical to their day-to-day operations — we’re talking internal training applications, approvals, and board member signatures as well as external vendor contracts. But with new, remote ways of working, ISCA foresaw a big challenge if they didn’t act fast. “We realized all our requisition forms and memos would be stuck because we were no longer in the same building. We can’t just go up to a different floor and say ‘Please sign.’ We had to find a solution, because the moment we missed a contract deadline, it would have become a big problem for us and our members,” says Edmund Liu, Head of InfoComm Technology & Management at ISCA.
That’s when they turned to HelloSign to help them digitize their signing processes with eSignature technology.
“I have used various top-notch, expensive eSignature solutions, but HelloSign changed my perspective. It is the simplest and has the best UX while still achieving the same output as those other expensive solutions.”
Faster signing in fewer pages
ISCA immediately implemented HelloSign to speed up and manage internal approvals. When projects involve senior management, they often require several signatures from different heads of department, council members, or board members. But with paper documents, this signature chain was at risk of breaking down whenever a document was lost or a bottleneck in the signing process arose.
To add complexity, ISCA’s documents must be approved by stakeholders in a particular order. And if any of these approvals happens out of order, they have to begin the entire signing process over again.
With HelloSign's built-in logic, however, the right contracts always go to the right people at the right time.
“What I like most about HelloSign is the ordered signing feature. We can request two people to sign at the same time or request documents are signed in a specific order. All the logic, sending, and timings are handled by HelloSign. Plus we can see who has not yet signed or where a document is stuck, and then we can send a reminder to that person.”
HelloSign has also greatly improved ISCA’s productivity. When managing high volumes of detailed paper contracts, errors and version control can be costly. Even the smallest mistake might lead to a 20- to 30-page reprint, wasting huge amounts of time and paper.
ISCA's employees now share and sign documents digitally — that way, when an error does occur, they can fix it and resend the document without a single page of printing. Plus, because ISCA can attach documents as one file, recipients don’t need to sign on a page-by-page basis anymore; it's just one signature for the entire document — speeding up the signing process further. “The whole effort of reprinting and sending documents manually is a pain. Because we’re signing and resigning digitally with HelloSign, we can just upload the whole document again and resend everything as a soft copy. It’s so easy,” says Edmund.
This was just the tip of the signing iceberg. When it comes to procurement, the process demands original copies. But sometimes hard copies get lost or damaged. Once that happens, you need a backup copy, which requires drawn-out reverification and approval from the finance team. But, as Edmund explains, “with HelloSign, once a document is signed, everyone who has signed it automatically has their own original copy. And because it’s digital, it can’t get lost or damaged. It has become so much easier for everyone along the way because they can help themselves and find original documents using HelloSign.”
ISCA also saves on information admin and filing time by grouping its documents together. “One of my favourite HelloSign features is the ability to attach many files of different formats and sizes. The drag-and-drop is really easy. I can also attach previous HelloSign documents that have already been signed, so I can share all the relevant information in one package,” says Edmund.
Eliminated cost of printing 10,000 pieces of paper per month
Replacing pen-and-paper signing with eSignatures has cut ISCA’s paper usage by an eco-friendly 10,000 pages per month. Even better, it has reduced paper costs by over 10%, amounting to savings of more than 300 USD per month.
Increased signing productivity
Alongside cost savings was a big boost in productivity. Because HelloSign’s built-in logic now manages multiple signature requests in a specific order, ISCA’s teams no longer waste time managing and tracking the signing process. “Productivity has increased tremendously. Time is saved, and work is done quicker. Once everyone started using HelloSign, we didn’t look back,” says Edmund.
What’s next for ISCA?
HelloSign is now ISCA’s established platform for signing documents, with over 17 different teams using it. In fact, they’re so impressed, they’re considering it as their preferred signing method for all internal and external documents. “Because of HelloSign’s wide adoption within ISCA, we are now considering using HelloSign as the key platform for all signing-related tasks,” says Edmund.
Interested in seeing results like ISCA?
HelloSign is the easiest way to send, receive, and manage legally binding eSignatures for business. Voted #1 for Ease of Use from G2, two years in a row, our eSignature solution can make your most important workflows fast, easier, and more secure. Sign up for a free trial today to start digitizing your business.
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