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2022-02-24

Eco cosmetics utilizing the e-signature

How does SimplySign make it easier to do business? Daria Prochenka, CEO of Clochee, a rapidly growing Polish manufacturer of natural cosmetics, talks about the reasons and benefits of using the mobile electronic signature from Certum.

For what reason did you opt for the qualified electronic signature SimplySign?

There has been a change in legislation that has required management board members to electronically sign financial statements.
Before the e-signature became a requirement, did you consider using it?
At first, I did not see the need for it. I did not know entrepreneurs who would use this tool, and I associated electronic signatures themselves with offices and banking. My impression is that before it became a requirement, some people were afraid of this solution. They did not understand how it worked or what it allowed. But when the legal requirement appeared everyone rushed to get an e-signature and today using it is something absolutely obvious!

You chose SimplySign – why?

In my case, the principle of recommendation and local patriotism worked. I asked for feedback from other users. I consulted accountants who use it every day, responsible for financial documents, and friends in the IT industry whose opinion I find very reliable. I run my business in Szczecin, where I was born and started my search on the local market. And that is how I found Asseco. While searching for information on SimplySign, I learned that the tool is simple and easy to use.

   

How did the installation go?

As it turned out, it is nothing scary and nothing to be afraid of. We are a small company and as the management board, we do a lot of things ourselves. This was also the case with installation of SimplySign. It did not take me long – it was actually a little while and I started functioning with an electronic signature. First of all, because using SimplySign is as easy as using a banking app or a smartphone, and these have become ubiquitous in our lives.

From an almost three-year perspective, what is your opinion of this tool?

I have been using it since October 2018 and I think it is brilliant! Thanks to this, the other member of the board who is in Warsaw and I can easily renew lease agreements, move factoring from one bank to another. Previously, this required printing out documents, hand-signing them, and sending them back and forth via courier. It sometimes happened that in urgent matters, such as grant applications, the documents were sent by train and you had to wait on the platform at a specific time. Today we have the electronic signature and we do not have such problems, provided that the institution accepts this form of signing documents.

Recent pandemic months have certainly been a test of the e-signature’s usefulness

No one expected the pandemic, and electronic signatures outright saved the lives and businesses of the people who used them. This situation demonstrated what it means to be able to sign a document no matter where we are. I cannot imagine functioning in quarantine or during lockdown without such 21st century tools that have passed this test with flying colors.

How did using SimplySign benefit you?

First, it is convenient and saves me time – signing documents does not require physical contact with the other management board member – I can always have them with me and store them electronically in many different places.
Second, it is safe. I feel personally very confident and secure with documents signed in such a way. To obtain a qualified electronic signature, you must first verify your identity with a document at a notary public or representative of the signature issuer. This guarantees the identity of the counterparty, unlike a stamp that anyone can have made with any content and it is not verifiable.
Third, it is eco-friendly. SimplySign not only saves paper, but also reduces the carbon footprint resulting from, among other things, transporting paper documentation across half of Poland, back and forth.

What other paperless solutions do you use in your business?

Clochee produces natural cosmetics. From the very beginning, we have had this mission and vision to be as eco-friendly and as close to nature as possible. That is why we use natural resources in our products, care for animals and do many things for the environment.
Our cosmetics can be purchased without paper packaging. We have eliminated packaging that goes straight into the trash when you return from shopping anyway. No one puts beautiful perfume in boxes in the bathroom!
We still have to print some documents, but we use recycled eco paper to do so. And if we can – we do not print! We use instant messaging and video calls, we do not write on paper, and we keep our calendar and notes in electronic form. We accept e-payments in the online store. If we can, we send e-invoices.

However, regulations do not allow us to completely eliminate paper

For me, this is a difficult situation to accept. Every time I look at the dozen or so binders filled with invoices, receipts, and documents that I have to keep and collect in printed form after each year, my heart bleeds. It is no secret that receipts, for example, quickly become unreadable. I think it is high time for the introduction of cash registers and payment terminals with the ability to digitally record receipts and automatically export data to accounting systems.

Do you encourage other entrepreneurs to become more paperless?

Definitely yes – if you can do business electronically, make backups and keep them in the cloud on backup media. I for one am of the opinion that it is paper that is less durable than well protected digital documents.
Any method and example of how to function in a world without printing being common education has my full support. That is why I am glad that once someone came up with the idea that you can sign documents electronically. This is a very good start. I hope that such calls for more paperless solutions will eventually be heard. The arguments for this are plentiful. This is the direction we should go as the business environment, and the usual signature and stamp should be a thing of the past.