Digital signatures help speed up approvals, increase administrative efficiency and ensure compliance with legal requirements across Swiss local governments. Certified solutions like DeepSign offer a secure, practical path to digital transformation in the public sector.

Why public administrations choose DeepCloud
To date, 237 Swiss municipalities have chosen DeepCloud to digitise and simplify their workflows. Here’s why:

• Fully digital, end-to-end processes for creating, approving, signing and archiving documents
  
• Seamless integration between paper-based and digital procedures
  
• Legal compliance with ZertES and eIDAS standards
  
• Standardised integration with platforms like Abacus, Innosolv and CMI
  

Canton of St. Gallen: End-to-End digital processes
St. Gallen has replaced paper-based workflows with legally binding digital ones. Using DeepSign and the free identity solution DeepID, documents can be securely signed online, and users identified with ease – enabling a seamless, compliant signing process.

Basel: Bridging the gap between analog and digital
In Basel, residents now sign official documents like proof of residence directly on tablets at the service desk. These signatures are stored digitally, simplifying internal workflows and enhancing the citizen experience. All three Basel municipalities have fully integrated this digital signature process into the innosolvcity platform.

City of Zurich: Compliance with confidence
Zurich uses DeepSign to sign contracts and legal documents both efficiently and securely. Electronic seals bring transparency and integrity to creditor workflows and archiving. Customised seals for each department ensure document authenticity, allowing millions of files to be sealed and stored reliably.

Municipality of Illnau-Effretikon: Smart integration
More than 4,000 documents – including city council resolutions and work contracts – have already been signed with DeepSign. Thanks to seamless integration with Abacus, CMI and Innosolv, the municipality can sign documents directly within the platforms it already uses, reducing manual tasks and improving efficiency.

More benefits: Saving time and costs
Manual signatures generate total costs of CHF 10.00 to 14.00 per document, considering printing, mailing, staff time and archiving. Digital, qualified signatures cut those costs to CHF 2.00 to 5.00. The process takes under five minutes and frees up internal resources through automation.

	Handwritten signature	Digital signature
Cost per document	CHF 10.00 – 14.00	CHF 2.00 – 5.00
Time required	10 – 15 minutes	Less than 5 minutes
Postage	Yes	No
Document storage	Physical / Digital	Digital
Process	Media discontinuities	End-to-end digital

To explore a detailed comparison of costs and time savings, read our article Digital signatures in the public sector: why the switch is worth it.

Looking ahead: DeepSign On-Prem and DeepValidator
Data sovereignty remains a top priority for cities and municipalities. With DeepSign On-Prem, they can run the signature solution on their own infrastructure, retaining full control of their data. And this summer, DeepCloud launched the first certified validator. This new solution not only checks the validity of digital signatures but also verifies if signatures come from authorised individuals and whether quorum rules are met – all in service of simpler, smarter public administration.

This article was originally published in the August 2025 issue of Schweizer Gemeinde.