Creative agency JEFF digitalises contracts and accounting processes with DeepCloud technologies.

Challenge

A mix of client technologies that couldn’t do the whole job.

As a young agency specialising in events, experiences, campaigns, and visual design, JEFF is no stranger to creative applications of digital technology, often taking a digital-forward, early adopter approach. Although their accounting processes have been digitalised for many years, there are still areas with potential for improvement. Recently, they successfully optimised some of these processes.

When signing contracts with clients, JEFF tended to use whatever random mix of technologies their clients did, including Acrobat, Docusign, and digital images of signatures. When a qualified electronic signature (QES) was required to meet written form requirements under Swiss or EU law, they found it easier to sign by hand than use their existing options.

JEFF was ready to get into the driver’s seat on digitally transforming their internal processes. But where would they start? The answer, it turned out, was with DeepSign digital signatures. David Shilling, CFO and Managing Partner at JEFF, discovered DeepSign at a client conference hosted by Abacus partners Fidevision AG, and decided to give electronic signatures a test drive – including the QES to replace signing by hand.

Solution

Test driving digital signatures for a Mercedes-Benz Switzerland campaign.

Shilling experimented with DeepSign functionality, and was soon using the solution to sign new project contracts externally and new employment contracts internally, choosing from the three types of electronic signatures offered by DeepSign: qualified (QES), advanced (AES) or simple (SES).

From the beginning, he appreciated the gains in efficiency from DeepSign, given that in the company every contract required a signature from both Shilling and one of his partners, who were often not in the same place at the same time. Shilling also appreciated the price: with DeepSign, there’s no subscription required and you can pay per signature to keep costs under control.

Soon, JEFF took on a project that would be their biggest test of DeepSign. For the “Electric Match” campaign on behalf of Mercedes-Benz Switzerland AG, they recruited and signed contracts with 50 campaign ambassadors around Switzerland. Thanks to DeepSign, they finally said goodbye to putting printed physical contracts in the post. They sent out digital contracts and got them back quickly – and adoption of DeepSign by their ambassadors was quick and easy.

Another use case quickly appeared: when updating the Swiss Commercial Register with company mutations, the delay in the typical process was drastically reduced thanks to electronic submissions and automated processing.

“Usually it takes two weeks from submission of the documents to publication in the commercial register,” said Shilling. But because they were able to quickly submit a missing digital signature in response to feedback, their company mutations were already published the following morning. “This was the crowning glory of our use of DeepSign.”

“Usually it takes two weeks… but our mutations were already published the following morning. This was the crowning glory of our use of DeepSign.”

David Shilling
CFO, JEFF

Results

From digital signatures to document processing with the DeepCloud ecosystem.

After starting with digital signatures, JEFF began implementing other DeepCloud solutions including DeepFlow, the DeepBox functionality that lets them automate processing of Accounts receivable invoices coming from a third-party system. This system triggers an email sent to DeepBox, where the attached PDF invoice is processed.

From getting more than 50 contracts digitally signed by ambassadors throughout Switzerland for Mercedes-Benz Switzerland AG, to swiftly processing all the necessary documents for onboarding two new business partners, DeepSign, with integrated ID verification from DeepID, continues to enhance efficiency across many use cases.

According to Shilling, JEFF’s commitment to digitalisation positions them ahead of many companies in their industry. The integration of DeepCloud technologies has not only streamlined their document signing process but also reinforced their digital transformation journey, ensuring both efficiency and compliance.