Posts Tagged ‘IBM’
US Army achieving its vision with paperless e-signature processing
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
It’s always exciting to be part of a visionary undertaking—especially one that is succeeding so well, and on such a large scale.
A full seven years after commencing the largest e-signature initiative ever undertaken in government, the US Army continued its commitment to paperless processing by renewing its annual electronic signature enterprise license with Silanis.
The original enterprise license was awarded as part of the Forms Content Management Program (FCMP)
Not only will the Silanis e-signature enterprise platform help save the US Army approximately $1.3 billion every year, but our solution’s recently added native e-signatures integration to the IBM Forms server moves the Army even closer to its paperless goal.
With the Army’s direction towards fully web based, zero client e-forms solutions, Silanis added native e-signature integration to the IBM Forms server allowing Army users to sign an e-form in a browser-only environment. In addition, this new functionality includes interoperability between client based and zero client based solutions. Army personnel can start the signing process with the e-signature/e-forms solution in a zero client, web browser-only mode while maintaining the option to complete the process offline at a later date.
In the paper-signing days, getting a signature from a superior officer sometimes meant sending convoys into hostile territories. Now, Army personnel can safely and securely sign online from anywhere in the world, using just a browser and without having to download files.
In addition, the fact that our software transitions seamlessly between client based (desktop) and zero-client based (web) solutions, Army personnel can start the signing process online without giving up the ability to complete it offline at their convenience. In this way, our solution is web-enabled, but not web-dependent.
This kind of flawless interoperability was one of the driving factors behind this project’s success, according to a 2008 Gartner case study that also highlighted the implementation’s emphasis on simplicity, efficiency and high end user satisfaction.
To date, under the FCMP, 2,500 of the most critical Department of Army forms have been digitized and made available to more than 1.6 million users.
It’s a remarkable achievement considering that the US Army was the first government department to spearhead automation and that once completed, the project will hold the title as the largest e-signature and e-forms deployment in the world.
Categories: Customer News, Product News
Tags: Army, e-Sign Enterprise, e-signatures, electronic signatures, Forms Content Management Program (FCMP), IBM, Silanis, United States
IBM’s Preferred E-Signature Vendor for Insurance
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
To date, Silanis’ electronic signature process management software has enabled more e-signed insurance transactions than any other e-signature provider in the world.
In fact, we can count four of the top 10 property and casual insurance companies among our customers, giving us lead on market share for this segment of the industry.
Given this adoption rate of auto and home insurance products, it’s not surprising that we’ve also seen a spike in the number of life insurers interested in improving their customer’s experience. For example, Country Financial, a long-standing full-service insurance company implemented Silanis’ enterprise e-signature solution as a means of streamlining how they processed their online new business insurance applications between agents and consumers. The company quickly found that the benefits went far beyond simple cost-savings.
According to Wade Harrison, senior vice president of life/health operations for Country Financial, Silanis’ enterprise e-signature solution improved the company’s “overall operating efficiency and further enhanced the company’s client services.”
In an industry where the margins are slim and hence volume is key, improving customer service by processing applications more quickly and with fewer returns for omitted information or errors, gives companies an unrivaled business advantage. And that’s especially important in today’s fiercely competitive economy.
No doubt, a big part of Silanis’ success in gaining this level of adoption in the insurance market, a notoriously slow-to-adopt and timorous industry, is selecting with the right partners. We have been working closely with technology powerhouse and industry leader, IBM for over five years and in 2009 we were selected as the e-signature provider for their Insurance Framework, which provides a reference architecture for insurance solutions.
In February of this year, we were honored with the IBM Beacons Award for Best Industry Solution for Insurance. This prestigious award, which receives hundreds of nominations every year from leading industry journalists, analysts and IBM executives, recognizes the IBM Business Partner who has brought a key innovative industry solution to the insurance market.
But we’re not one to sit on our laurels—in fact, we’re constantly inspired to reach higher in order to develop products that meet the needs of our customers. Case in point: Silanis recognizes that “one size” doesn’t answer the needs for all insurance providers, especially those with minimal IT infrastructure or support.
Our e-SignLive Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution is a handy fit for small to mid-sized insurance carriers, as well as Managed General Agents (MGAs) and Brokerage General Agents (BGAs). e-SignLive is a nimble, cost-effective solution that provides these companies and agents with uncompromising reliability and ease-of-use.
Here’s a short 2-minute video that demonstrates how e-SignLive works. New agents can be onboarded 50 per cent faster. That’s not a bad return on investment considering that e-SignLive pays for itself in as little as two transactions per month.
Only launched last year, e-SignLive was just awarded the IBM Business Transformation Cloud Computing Award at IBM Lotusphere 2011. This award is given to the IBM Business Partner who has demonstrated the most innovative online collaboration solution that is integrated with Lotus Live.
All told, Silanis’ e-Sign Enterprise Platform and its e-SignLive SaaS service combine to provide the insurance industry with all the e-signature tools they need to thrive in the online world.
As is noted in the IBM study, Powerful Interaction Points, insurance companies can no longer rely on the old-fashioned single channel model for service delivery. Customers today expect stellar experiences through multiple channels: in person, on the phone and over the Web.
Categories: In the News, Industry Insights, Partners
Tags: Beacon Award, Customers, e-Sign Enterprise, e-signatures, electronic signatures, Events, IBM, Insurance, Life, Lotus Award, Lotusphere, Silanis, Straight-through Processing
