2019’s Pioneering eSignature Solution Providers to Watch

www.insightssuccess.com

2019's

Company of the Month

PIONEERING

eSIGNATURE PROVIDERS SOLUTION

TO WATCH

Laila Robak

Founder & CEO

2019 VOL-09 ISSUE-05

Business Beacon

Raju Vegesna Chief Evangelist

Ray Sylvain CEO & Founder

SignOnTheGO An Extraordinary e-Signature Platform o ering A ordable Solutions

EDITOR’S DESK EDITOR’S DESK

e

Signature basically refers to signatures in electronic forms, which helps individuals in speeding up the process of documentation in a safe and secure way. The eSignature industry is gaining interest across the industry for its usability in reducing deception and providing high-security encrypted documents within less time-frame.

The global market of eSignature industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 34.7% during the forecast period, to reach $9,073 million by 2023, as per a report by prnewswire.com. The main factors behind the growth of demand are increasing demand for security, workflow efficiency and supply chain enhancement in corporate, and online documentation processes.

Multiple benefits can be gained by implementing eSignatures which are one of the identity and access management. It even reduces the chances of human errors during financial transactions.

Robotics: Simplifying and Safeguarding the Human Life A NEW

DEFINITION OF SAFE SIGNATURE

Given its benefits and advantages, the adoption of eSignature has been increased and so are the solution providers and innovators.

To highlight some of the top solution providers of the eSignature industry, we’ve come up with this edition “2019’s Pioneering eSignature Solution Providers”.

On the cover of the issue, we’ve depicted SignOnTheGo®, a Blockchain based e-signature company designed to scale with the needs of its users.

Whether you are an individual with minimal e-signature

requirements or a major corporation with large teams and complex needs, the company provides an affordable and flexible solution, without sacrificing access to important features.

Users get full-access to our application and it’s features at all subscription plan levels, and there are no hidden/additional fees.

SignOnTheGo® is working to revolutionize the eSignature industry by providing a service that will give users the most-efficient process available on the signature market.

Following the Cover Story, we’ve portrayed the success journey of SigniFlow Americas, on the Company of the Month section. SigniFlow Americas is an independent company, 100% woman owned business located in New Hampshire, United States, that holds the exclusive trade rights for SigniFlow in the American Continent. With a rich history of innovation dating back over 90 years, PBSA (formerly known as Pitney Bowes SA) is a leading customer communications company, offering software, equipment and services to help companies improve operational efficiencies and connect with their customers in more meaningful ways. Together, SigniFlow Americas and PBSA, understands both hardware and software solutions and is optimally positioned to provide a secure, committed support infrastructure to its American customer base.

and WebNMS. Zoho Sign has evolved tremendously over the last few years and is now a complete digital signature app for all businesses.

Zoho Sign, as all other Zoho applications, is extremely secure due to our promise of not selling customer data and deleting the same after users are inactive for 30+ days. Recently, we have added the option to incorporate brand images and logos, track document status and configure workflows.

We’ve also enlisted a few iconic service providers in the issue. They are respectively Axicos: A Global Destination for Excellent Document Automation and Contract Management; FORCS: Offering Paperless Solutions for the eSignature Industry; Truecopy Credentials: Offering World-Class Digital Signature Solutions; and Yousign: Securing and Empowering Enterprises with Digital Signature Solutions.

In an exclusive interview with eMudhra has also been included in the issue. eMudhra is one of the largest Certifying Authorities in India which is headquartered in Bangalore, India. Till date, the company has issued digital signatures to over 40 million customers in India.

While leafing through the magazine, don’t miss out on the Expert’s Insight: Leading by Example and Insights’ Special: Biophilic Design: A Grandiose Architectural Trend to Enrich Workplace.

Browse through and enjoy the read!

Another exemplary company we’ve entitled as Business Beacon is Zoho Corporation, a multinational software company and an umbrella to three significant brands, viz., Zoho, ManageEngine Upama Goswami

BUSINESS BEACON

16 ZOHO CORPORATION VOYAGING TOWARDS ZENITHS OF EXCELLENCE

CXO

SIGNONTHEGO AN EXTRAORDINARY E-SIGNATURE PLATFORM OF FERING AFFORDABLE SOLUTIONS

40

EXPERT’S INSIGHT LEADING BY EXAMPLE

36

INSIGHTS’ SPECIAL BIOPHILIC DESIGN

ARTICLE

S T O R Y C O V E R

08

SIGNIFLOW AMERICAS SEALING THE DEAL WITH TECHNOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY

28 EMUDHRA ENABLING SECURE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

INTERVIEW WITH INSIGHTSSUCCESS

22

COMPANY OF THE MONTH

CONTENTS

26 AXICOS A GLOBAL DESTINATION FOR EXCELLENT DOCUMENT AUTOMATION AND CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

32 FORCS OFFERING PAPERLESS SOLUTIONS FOR THE ESIGNATURE INDUSTRY

34 TRUECOPY CREDENTIALSOFFERING WORLD-CLASS DIGITAL SIGNATURE SOLUTIONS

42 YOUSIGN SECURING & EMPOWERING ENTERPRISES WITH DIGITAL SIGNATURE SOLUTIONS

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Anish Miller Managing Editor Upama Goswami Contributing Editors Abhishaj Sajeev Visualiser David King Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Art & Design Assistant Mayur Koli Co-designer Paul Belin Art & Picture Editor Sapana, Karan Business Development Manager Mary D'souza Marketing Manager Sophie Smith Business Development Executives Sherin, Kelly, Swapnali Sales Executives Anna, Michael, Bhagyashri Technical Head Jacob Smile Assistant Technical Head Amar Sawant Technical Consultants Pratiksha, Aditya, David Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale SME-SMO Executives Gemson, Uma, Manoj Research Analyst Eric Smith Circulation Manager Tanaji sales@insightssuccess.com

September, 2019 Corporate Ofď€ ce Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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CEO & Founder

Cover Story

SignOnTheGO

An Extraordinary e-Signature Platform offering Affordable Solutions

2019's PIONEERING

eSIGNATURE PROVIDERS SOLUTION

TO WATCH

‘‘ ‘‘

S

ignOnTheGo is a Blockchain based e-signature company designed to scale with the needs of its users. Whether you are an individual with minimal e-signature requirements or a major corporation with large teams and complex needs, the company provides an affordable and flexible solution, without sacrificing access to important features.

Users get full-access to our application and it’s features at all subscription plan levels, and there are no hidden/additional fees.

SignOnTheGo is working to revolutionize the eSignature industry by providing a service that will give users the most-efficient process available on the signature market.

your business partners. Also its world-class features help to securely exchange documents and verify the authenticity of these documents through blockchain technology.

Extraordinary Services SignOnTheGo is introducing a negotiation workflow with the ability to modify the terms and conditions that are intended for contract negotiation. If a potential agreement is cancelled, users can retract the agreement. SignOnTheGo adopts blockchain as an additional layer of security. This layer provides authenticity verification for signed documents. The company also provides a Pay-As-You-Go option to single users and small businesses, removing the burden of paying more than necessary.

The core features of SignOnTheGo are: 1. All feature-access 2. Pre-Signature Negotiation Workflow 3. Document Retraction 4. Multiple Roles Process 5. Editing Capability 6. Unlimited Revisions 7. Audit Trail 8. Blockchain Authenticity Verification 9. Multi-Signature Workflow 10. Track and Compare Revisions

Key Features of the App

The Leading Light

The SignOnTheGo’s features helps in increasing efficiency and productivity while collaborating with your business partners. These features help to create, review, edit, track, negotiate terms and conditions anytime; fully execute agreements in near real-time; send custom reminders to

Ray Sylvain, the CEO and Founder of SignOnTheGo is a service-disabled-veteran of the US Marine Corps for over 13 years. For more than 20 years, Mr. Sylvain has been providing superior results at every level in his career. Ray is an exceptional operations executive dedicated to continuous

process improvement in the face of rapidly evolving and changing markets.

In 2007, Ray Sylvain left his position as program manager for SAIC, one of the top government contractors with billions of dollars in annual revenue to start Sylvain Analytics, Inc (SAI).

In 2015, Ray developed the concept for SignOnTheGo, while searching for an e-signature platform to process an NDA quickly with his business partners. After witnessing first-hand the exorbitant costs and poor customer service associated with existing solutions, he decided to do something about it. By 2018, a fully functional, blockchain-based e-signature platform launched out of beta.

The Evolution of eSignature Industry As legislature for e-signature continues to grow and expand globally, the way we engage and access this technology will

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also expand. In the last ten years the definition of a “legally binding signature” moved beyond wet-ink to include signing with the push of a button on any electronic device.

As more business is conducted online, technology companies are challenged with coming up with safe and efficient solutions for consumers to complete their transactions, feeling confident that their data is kept private and their partners and documents are authentic.

SignOnTheGo has already made advancements in this area, leveraging the public Blockchain, Bitcoin, to authenticate executed documents. The company continues to improve and expand its technology to include the latest innovations in safeguarding our users and their partners, so they can feel confident in conducting their business in a secure environment.

Businesses of all sizes will need the best tools to remain competitive in a world where you can complete major purchases from your cell phone. SignOnTheGo will continue to make those tools accessible, to help level the playing field.

Benefits for Clients The users, whether they pay-per-document or for a team subscription plan, enjoy all-feature access.

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‘‘ ‘‘ This includes the Blockchain Verification tools. Currently, there is no other eSignature platform that integrates public Blockchain technology to authenticate the users’ signed documents. For people that don’t want to sign up for a subscription plan, they have the flexibility to pay-perdocument, without the need to commit to a subscription or pay monthly access fees. Also, all of its plans are much more affordable than other eSignature applications in the market.

As the company does not rely on third party services to provide access to features like the multi-document send functionality, they are able to keep the costs down.

Everything is built in-house and is native to its platform.

Often times, when they integrate with a 3rd party source, the clients can give up the control of the costs that are associated with that service. These costs are ultimately passed down to the consumer, making the feature an expensive add-on.

They also plan to attend more tradeshows, mainly in the US and Europe, to promote their application in a more personal way. It’s important to listen to what their customers are saying so they can fine-tuned their experience.

SignOnTheGo has done a pretty good job of doing this, as the company has already made so many improvements to the platform just in the first year.

Happy Customers, Happy Words “In my work the most important thing is not to lose the customer, that’s why the most valuable thing for me in the SignOnTheGo application is that I can send documents to the client electronically for signing. Using the templates, I am able to quickly prepare the document and close the deal during a single phone call.”

-- Mark C. “We were looking for an affordable e-signature platform that could also handle our requirements. This app beats all the others in terms of bang-for-buck.

As a user, I would recommend this esigning tool. It looks like one of the best ones that people don’t know about. I really like their features. A lot of hidden ways that make my job a lot more efficient. I definitely recommend this tool.”

-- Giselle B. “Agreed! SignOnTheGo is a true Contender!

We process a lot of documents here. This app makes our daily tasks a lot easier. We also save a lot of money in the implementation and the yearly cost as well.”

-- Irene J.

Obstacles Down the Road “The Most Effective E-Signature App today!

SignOnTheGo’s biggest obstacle is overcoming the consumer mentality that “bigger is better.” The company is so new to the market that not everyone is aware that there is an alternative to the big (and expensive) names out there in the e-signature market. The platform is comparable to anything out there, and according to many of its users, far exceeds existing solutions.

The Promising Future From inception, the main goal of SignOnTheGo is to provide exceptional customer service and a quality product.

They make plans to continue expanding their clientele, as well as continuing to study the market to see what can be brought to the application that will make the users happy.

We generate a lot of documents that need our clients’ signatures. This platform reduces the amount of time it takes to get these documents signed and processed. We could not be happier with the pricing structure as well. Very affordable!!”

– Shelly P.

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Singapore, India, China, Mexico, and United Arab Emirates.

The following interview—between Mr. Raju Vegesna, the Chief Evangelist at Zoho and Insights Success—unveils the essence of the company’s mission and vision along with a few inside details on how the company is an epitome of excellence.

CORPORATION VOYAGING TOWARDS ZENITHS OF EXCELLENCE

I

n our continuous endeavour to seek and exhibit 2019’s Pioneering eSignature Solution Providers to Watch, we, at Insights Success, have come across a prolific list of organizations that ceaselessly strive to deliver innovation and excellence.

However, we strongly believe that across the globe, there are certain organizations that are truly exemplary in the way they conduct business, profound in the way they empower their workforce, and persistently determined in the course towards their vision.

In accordance with this belief, through the Business Beacon feature of this edition, we present to you, Zoho Corporation, a multinational software company and an umbrella to three significant brands, viz., Zoho, ManageEngine and WebNMS. Zoho is the operating system for business, with 45+ apps in nearly every major business category including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting and back office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools.

ManageEngine offers the IT management software suite with over 90+ products and WebNMS is an IoT platform for connected enterprise applications.

Zoho Corporation is privately held and profitable with more than 8,000 employees. The company is headquartered in the United States with additional offices in Europe, Australia, 16 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

We’re sure that by the end of the interview, you’d agree too that Zoho is altogether a different level.

Below are the insights to the interview:

With regards to your organization’s 23 years of market presence, how do you think the eSignature and affiliated solutions market has evolved and what can be expected in the forthcoming years? eSignatures are the modern day alternative to traditional method of signing business documents with paper and pen.

Since, the late 2000s, eSigning was declared legally valid for signing most of business documents and accepted in the court of law in the US, EU, Australia, India, China, and many other countries. The worldwide adoption of digital signatures continues to rise for many reasons including easy collaboration, reduced costs, and accelerated business transactions. Due to this rapid adoption, the digital signature market grew from $1 million in 2006 to $1 billion in 2018.

At a minimum, an eSignature product today should offer SaaS deployment model, support ad-hoc and human initiated use-cases, flexible workflows, and ensure document data integration and validation. Additionally, enterprises expect multi-language support, customization, and integration with their existing apps in-house apps and third-party apps. Our product, Zoho Sign offers all these features and much more in an affordable pricing for businesses and government agencies of all sizes and types.

As more people start to use digital signatures, companies will need to ensure they are complying with local laws and legal validation which could be done through identification based on passports, driver’s license or other legal documents. In the future, blockchain tech will make these VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

Business Beacon digital documents smarter—something resembling an automated computer program. One might call these “smart contracts.”

This market is a fast-growing one and majority of companies, even governments, are going paperless, and Zoho is keeping up with the trends and making sure our customers have the most up-to-date digital signature platform.

Check out our website zoho.com/sign to learn more.

Considering the necessity of adapting to disruptive technological innovations and/or development of cutting-edge digital solutions, how does your organization sustain its competency in the IT market?

Zoho sustains its competency in the IT market by continuously adding and improving our applications. We consistently listen to customers and make sure we are making the changes that they want and need. In addition, we add applications to our bundles without increasing the overall price – making our customers more equipped to run their company without a financial loss. Our pricing is extremely competitive and includes everything a customer would need to run any size business successfully.

Raju Vegesna

Chief Evangelist

We’ve been private, bootstrapped, and profitable for more than 20 years and we attribute much of our success to a pretty simple idea; ‘Do everything as if you are in it for the long term’. We’ve always believed that keeping customers around for the long run was more important than squeezing as much value out of them as we can. This is why Zoho offers free versions of products, that will remain free forever. We noticed that when users enjoy the value from our VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

INSIGHTS SUCCESS | 17

free products, they inevitably try out other products in our suite and become paying customers as they grow.

What obstacles or limitations does Zoho Corp. face while growing, sustaining or retaining its clientele?

As a private, self-funded company, our biggest obstacle to growth is not having the seemingly endless marketing budgets compared to that of our VC-funded and public competitors. With that said, Zoho has profitably grown at an annual rate of 35-40% for the last several years. We have always valued our freedom as a company, which is why we’ve never taken any money. That freedom has allowed us to invest in many technologies and challenge a lot of conventional wisdom. It is why we think we can build a fundamentally better product that cuts through the noise in the market.

“Zoho offers beautifully smart software to help you grow your business.”

Provide a few insights on the company culture and initiatives taken to attain adequate employee satisfaction.

Zoho is a unique company in many ways and our culture is no different – we have never done things like other companies, and that won’t change. When people are hired at Zoho, they aren’t constrained by the roles they are hired into. We have had developers become content writers, support staff get into product management, and product specialists turn into brand evangelists.

In an era where job descriptions demand buzzwords and years of experience or a top college, we’re proud to say that Zoho’s employees are unconstrained by prior experience.

We rarely scour resumes and we most certainly do not exclude people from roles, based purely on lack of prior experience.

This is also seen through Zoho University, a program where we bring high school students into 9-12 months of training that emphasizes on English, Math, and Programming. Many entrants have never touched a computer before, often for lack of opportunity. By the end of their training, successful graduates receive the opportunity to join various Zoho product teams. Zoho University currently has two locations in India, and we will be building one in Austin, Texas as well.

Could you list out the most growth-deteriorating challenges for your organization till date?

To get to the bottom of this question, I think we should 18 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

make clear that we’re not obsessed with growth for growth’s sake. We’re obsessed with building a company for the long term that improves the lives of our customers and employees. This can’t be done at unsustainable, breakneck speeds. We might miss out on some talent with fancy degrees because of this. But that’s okay, because those people might not like it here anyway. For example, 15% of Zoho employees don’t even have college degrees. 800 of our employees have come through Zoho University, which we’ve been running for the last 10 years.

With Zoho University we find high school kids who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and teach them software development. We pay them a stipend, so they don’t take on any debt, and at the end of the program we give them a job.

Some grads have gone on to become supervisors and managers and lead product teams. We can’t reduce a program like this to a growth number, nor would we want to.

What does the future hold for Zoho Corp. in terms of internal as well as holistic development?

We’re going to continue to do what’s gotten us here: stick to our values and convictions. We believe technology companies should invest in R&D and build products. As we create new efficiencies, we’ll pass that value to the customer, as we always have. And we’ll ensure we do this in a way that puts people first and avoids the burnout you see happening all the time. It’s difficult to see the future, but we think it’s looking bright.

At the Helm of Progress Raju Vegesna has been at Zoho since the company’s founding as AdventNet in 1996 and now holds the position of Chief Evangelist. When Mr. Vegesna started, the company was creating online applications as just an experience, but the team eventually saw the potential in web applications and continued to develop and invest in the products.

Mr. Vegesna helps lead many teams across all the products and is one of the key people responsible for developing the strategic direction of the Zoho Suite. Zoho would not be where it is today without Mr. Vegesna and his dedication and passion for the company.

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INSIGHTS SUCCESS | 19

SIGNIFLOW AMERICAS

SIGNIFLOW AMERICAS SEALING THE DEAL WITH TECHNOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY

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WE CAN PROVIDE A FULL SAAS PLATFORM OR WE CAN BE AN INVISIBLE ENGINE BEHIND SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS. WE BELIEVE INNOVATION AND FLEXIBILITY ARE ESSENTIAL FOR BUSINESSES TO THRIVE

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22 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

T

he eSignature industry is evolving really fast and the concern with data privacy and security is growing as the industry evolves, as we can see with the rise of different security policies, whether industry focused (like PCI, FICA, KYC, etc.) or regional such as the GDPR in the European Union, LGPD in Brazil, Patriot act in the US, and many others. Digital processes assist companies to become more efficient, decreases bureaucracy and time related to paper processes and is safer, as digital signatures are not merely images but a cryptographic process that cannot be cloned, copied or tampered with. With a focus on digital security, and of course their profits, we can definitely expect a massive adoption of digital processes and the total digitization of the industry in the upcoming years.

VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

Company Of The Month

Laila Robak Founder & CEO

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INSIGHTS SUCCESS | 23

SigniFlow Americas is an independent company, 100% woman owned business located in New Hampshire, United States, that holds the exclusive trade rights for SigniFlow in the American Continents.

hardware and software solutions and are optimally positioned to provide a secure, committed support infrastructure to its American customer base.

The Leader of Significance

With a rich history of innovation dating back over 90 years, PBSA (formerly known as Pitney Bowes SA) is a leading customer communications company, offering software, equipment and services to help companies improve operational efficiencies and connect with their customers in more meaningful ways. Together, SigniFlow Americas and PBSA understand both 24 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

Laila Robak, the Founder and CEO of SigniFlow Americas, is indeed a leader of significance. She studied Computer Science at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and continued her education at Southern New Hampshire University where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in General Studies with a concentration in

International Business. She has successfully completed a modest catalogue of continuing education courses and obtained certifications in Identity and Access Management, Cyber Security Fundamentals, Computer Forensics, Business Management, and several other subjects.

She began her professional career in the IT field 14 years ago as a Programmer and Graphic Designer for her University before advancing to positions with companies such as the COPPETEC Foundation and IBM. In 2012, she became the Vice President of VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

Latin America and the Caribbean for GlobalSign, a tech company specializing in cloud-based identity services. She was the Director of Partnerships at DigiCert, Inc. also in the identity services industry and has broad knowledge of the digital security and digital identity industry. She started SigniFlow Americas in 2018 bringing a new flexible concept of e-signature to the American Continents, contributing to the increase of efficiency and security in the industry including hospitals, universities and multi-national companies, among many others by adding to the already successful platform features and processes required by the American market.

Overcoming the Obstacles The biggest challenge is the brand awareness; certain brands have been present longer in the American market and are therefore more well known.

What many do not know is that in 2013 SigniFlow (PBSA) started developing the workflow software in Microsoft .Net which incorporated the CoSign digital signature technology from Algorithmic Research (ARX). When DocuSign acquired ARX in 2015, the SignFlow solution was already almost two years in development, the changes made by DocuSign following the acquisition did not attend to the budgetary needs and requirements of flexibility their customers had.

Therefore, they decided to end the relationship and started what today is the SigniFlow platform; flexible, more cost effective and allowing multiple types of deployments, including cloud based, local and a hybrid of both.

Extraordinary Benefits for Clients First and foremost, efficiency is the key factor clients look for when using the services of a company. There is no VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

time spent printing, mailing, commuting, notating and waiting.

When you use SigniFlow, from the generation of the document to its signature can take as little as five minutes.

Second, mobility can be a proven factor for client satisfaction. You can sign a document anywhere and from any device as SigniFlow has total compatibility.

Third, and the most important factor, is security. Digital signatures involve a cryptographic process that cannot be copied, duplicated or tampered with. You can also set your own security protocols, including network policies and user’s permissions, such as downloading, emailing and accessing documents.

Additionally, all documents have legal validity: integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation.

Nurturing a Rich Culture SigniFlow has a very talented team of engineers and industry experts who collaborate across borders to ensure that all customers have the best experience. As Gartner has pointed out in its Top Insights for every C-Suite Executive report, the future of the industry is digital. They have seen that the market has become a lot more approachable to the idea, not only to facilitate processes but also to create environmental awareness, which has been so highly promoted by industries and governments across the globe.

Future Perspective “Our goal is to assist decreasing the bureaucracy of current processes, by helping companies throughout their digitalization journey, decreasing costs, increasing efficiency and convenience and at the same time increasing environmental awareness by decreasing the use of paper, ink and others that contribute to deforestation and pollution”, Laila affirms about the future roadmap of the company.

INSIGHTS SUCCESS | 25

AXICOS

A Global Destination for Excellent Document Automation and Contract Management

“We’ve developed a suite of easy to use, practice-proven software products, including Carizma for contract life-cycle management.”

Bernd Kottke, CEO & Co-founder

H

eadquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Axicos was founded in 2007 by senior executives with extensive experience in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and IT solutions. The company has a whollyowned subsidiary in Ludwigshafen, Germany. It also has a network of independent legal tech consultants that can support its customers if they wish.

Carizma First-the Signature Product The company has developed a suite of easy to use, practice-proven software products, including Carizma First for automated document creation, Carizma for full contract life-cycle management, and Carizma QM for management of regulated documents such as SOPs. Carizma is in use in over 50 countries worldwide.

Carizma First enables non-experienced users to create high quality, compliant documents,

26 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

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2019's PIONEERING

eSIGNATURE PROVIDERS SOLUTION

easily and quickly, while leaving the responsible department in full control.

Carizma First can be used as a standalone system or as a seamlessly integrated add-on to Carizma.

Carizma is an easy to use software system that manages the entire contract life-cycle – from first negotiations all the way to contract expiry many years later.

It facilitates the collection and provision of relevant information and documents, supports the collaboration among different users and monitors due dates, contractual obligations, and risks.

Contracts can be signed using eSignature, based on DocuSign or FP Sign.

The Charismatic Duo Bernd Kottke and Barbara Staehelin are the Co-founders of Axicos and have been working together for over 10 years. To be more precise, Bernd Kottke holds the position of CEO and Barbara Staehelin is the Chairman of the company.

Based on their experience in the industry, the duo decided to develop a software that tames the complexity of managing B2B contracts in organizations. They knew that it was important to put the user front and foremost. Too many enterprise systems are too time-demanding, too complex and too expensive. Both the leaders wanted to build software that would quickly help users do their job better, not just improve control by their managers.

Early on, the leadership decided to grow the company organically,

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avoiding the risk of overselling to meet short-term demands by external investors.

Beneficial Products and Solution Establishing and managing B2B contracts often involve many different parties – in- and outside the company.

This can be a complex, even frustrating process. There is value in accelerating the administration of this process, so the contracting parties can concentrate on what matters most to them: the content of the deal.

When the contract is freshly signed, the involved parties are mostly clear on what is expected from them. But as time goes by, this institutional knowledge is easily lost. Team members change on both sides. And suddenly, it becomes necessary to prove that you’ve been compliant with the contract … if you are reading this, you probably have suffered the consequences of such a situation: it is a huge and painful process to re-gain trust with a B2B partner after such a crisis. The only way to avoid such crises is by taming the complexity of contract management.

Obstacles and Preventive Strategies Axicos is a self-funded company and they are growing at a rapid pace. “We are interested in finding more “smart” resellers – people who offer consulting services to our clients to help them establish new processes. They do that on their own account and our role is limited to that of software vendor”, Barbara Staehelin, the Chairman of the company asserts. Further, she says, “We used to have a problem addressing the needs of smaller companies without own IT departments. Recently we’ve invested in making our software available in Microsoft’s Azure SaaS

TO WATCH

store. We are proud to be one of the first such companies to be represented there – the cloud-based service makes it easier for us to expand our client base.”

The Current Scenario of eSignature Industry eSignature is just a building block in contract lifecycle management for Axicos leaders. That is why they work with two vendors which they can integrate depending on clients’ preferences. Both DocuSign and FP Sign lessen the administrative burden of signing documents and shortens the time needed to push contracts through complex organizations.

In the daily business of automating contract creation in companies, Axicos is experiencing increasing demand for eSignature solutions.

Initial clients were very large companies who had large budgets and own IT departments of significant size. More and more, the company is also seeing demand from smaller companies with less in-house know-how on these topics.

“Thanks to our cloud-based offerings wan can also serve these clients. They are often innovative companies that have gotten to a certain stage in their development. They have large potential, and we hope to grow together with them”, asserts Barbara.

Future Prospects “We are very excited to be in the middle of widespread adoption of document automation and eSignature solutions – so we believe our future is bright!”, concludes Barbara in an inspiring note.

INSIGHTS SUCCESS | 27

eMudhra

Enabling Secure Digital Transformation

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ounded in 2008, eMudhra is a leading identity and trust service provider that is recognized by Gartner and IDC in multiple reports, including Gartner’s 2018 Market Guide for User Authentication, IDC’s Semi-annual Software Tracker for Identity and Digital Trust Category, and most recently, as an honourable mention in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Access Management. eMudhra is one of the largest Certifying Authorities in India which is headquartered in Bangalore, India. Till date, the company has issued digital signatures to over 40 million customers in India. We approached Arvind Srinivasan, SVP, Strategic Initiatives & Global Markets, eMudhra for an exclusive interview with Insights SuccessQ: Give a brief overview of your organization and the services and solutions you offer?

A: eMudhra is an organization focused on enabling an integrated digital society by building a framework around Identity and Digital Trust. In this pursuit, eMudhra started as a Certificate Authority in India to provide digital identities in the form of digital signatures, to the enterprise and retail market.

Over the years, the organization has evolved to provide solutions that not 28 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

only enable the creation of such digital signature certificates, but also offer applications that support the use of digital identities to build a trust framework, thereby allowing society to embrace paperless initiatives and improve security in a digital application ecosystem.

Recently, eMudhra has expanded globally and spans over 38 countries through a partner ecosystem with 6 global offices across 5 continents. In line with this growth, eMudhra is on its path to becoming a Globally Trusted Certificate Authority to be able to extend its solutions to a wider audience.

Q: Give us a brief overview about the featured person(s) and their contribution to your prestigious company and its success.

A: I’m a graduate in finance from Rutgers University. I completed my postgraduate studies in the same field from the University of Michigan. I am the head of the global markets business at eMudhra and SVP focusing on strategic new initiatives in addition to managing the global markets portfolio.

I started the global markets business and have been instrumental in eMudhra presence across 5 continents over the past 3 years.

I have helped set up, grow and manage the global operations, channels, and manage key relationships with various

regulators of different countries. I have also been instrumental in bringing a global perspective to eMudhra’s offerings and help eMudhra compete as a solution vendor in the global playground.

Q: How do you think the eSignature and affiliated solutions market has evolved and what can be expected in the forthcoming years?

A: The eSignature market has grown significantly over the past few years.

With the adoption of Digital First initiatives in large enterprises, global focus on climate change powering paperless office initiatives, and the very ease and efficiency driven by digital workflows, eSignature solutions have found themselves at the centre of many organizational roadmaps.

In the coming years, we can expect the growth to continue in many developing markets. There is still plenty of room for adoption in various government and enterprise sectors and we are constantly observing regulations across various industries and geographies embracing the technology to empower transformation in an effective and forward-looking manner.

Q: What are the benefits gained by your clients/users from your products, solutions, and services?

A: Though we are a niche player within the Identity and Digital Trust VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

Interview with Insights Success

“Our customers benefit from being able to transform themselves or their organizations to operate and compete effectively in an increasingly digital world.”

space, we offer a wide variety of offerings within this niche. For those users of our eSignature platform, they benefit from cost savings, time savings, and ease of operation. Clients of our Identity and Access Management suite are generally larger organizations and benefit from greater peace of mind powered by high levels of security (thus lower risk) around their stakeholder identities and application access.

In general, we can say that our customers benefit from being able to transform themselves or their organizations to operate and compete effectively in an increasingly digital world.

Arvind Srinivasan SVP, Strategic Initiatives & Global Markets, eMudhra

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Q: Considering the necessity of adapting to disruptive technological innovations and/or development of cutting-edge solutions, how does your company sustain its competency in the IT market?

A: We find ourselves on the other end of the table when it comes to disruptive technological innovations. Our offerings, especially on the enterprise side of things, are quite disruptive. We constantly study global regulations, compliance criteria, and competitor landscape to ensure INSIGHTS SUCCESS | 29

Other prominent awards include:

that our solutions remain cutting edge and evolve to address the needs of tomorrow.

To this end, we have a dedicated R&D team (emLabs) that works on nextgeneration initiatives like Blockchain, IoT Security and Trust, and mobility.

Q: What obstacles and/or limitations do you and your company face while growing, sustaining or retaining its clientele?

A: One of the biggest challenges in our growth path, specifically at a global level, is the disparity in technological advancement across different geographies which often results in inadequate regulation to promote Digital Adoption in such countries.

However, we are part of many relevant global bodies from various United Nations Bodies to region- specific initiatives to drive awareness and spur adoption of Digital Technologies not solely for our growth, but for the betterment of society in general.

Q: What does the future hold for your company in terms of internal as well as holistic development?

A: Continuing our upward trajectory of growth, we aim to expand our reach and venture into new territories. To this regard, we have already laid the 30 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

foundation through 6 global offices and a channel network spanning nearly 40 countries. Further, some of the products that we offer have also undergone relevant upgrades to support multiple languages and regional business nuances. We are planning to strongly focus on expanding our footprints in Latin America and Europe in the coming year.

With an aggressive global agenda, strong solution suite, and optimal positioning, we are one of the few Indian product companies making an impact on the global digital transformation space.

Q: Would you like to highlight any awards, accolades or testimonials your company has achieved throughout?

A: We are a leading identity and trust service provider that is recognized by Gartner and IDC in multiple reports, including Gartner’s 2018 Market Guide for User Authentication, IDC’s Semi-annual Software Tracker for Identity and Digital Trust Category, and most recently, as an honourable mention in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Access Management. We were also named among the top PKI solution providers across the world by a research report published by the Insight Partners.

• ‘The Software Innovation Solution of the Year,’ award at the Indian ISV Awards, 2019 • ‘20 Most Promising Tech Solution Providers for Government & Public Sector -2019,’ award by CIO Review India • ‘The Most Innovative Brands to Watch-2019,’ award by Business Connect India • DXC Insurtech Award as well as the People’s Choice Award at the Insurance Conference hosted by DXC Technology • ‘The Top 10 Security Solutions Providers – 2018,’ award by Banking CIO Outlook • ‘20 Most Promising Digital Transformation Solution Providers – 2018,’ award by CIO Review Q: Any advice for the budding entrepreneurs in your industry?

A: Our industry is certainly in a growth phase. However, our offerings are focused on identity, security, and digital trust. As a result, quite often, it is not only the product or solution being sold, but rather, the element of the trust itself in the organization, people, and the solution.

My advice to any new entrepreneurs in the industry would be to ensure that their application reaches a substantial level of maturity and build an approach model that would enable the client to trust in the overall experience and organization and not just in the application. Needless to say, the other main piece of advice would be to stay current on the compliance criteria and industry standards and ensure that the ‘need’ of the solution is meticulously mapped to the use case and position accordingly.

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FORCS Offering Paperless Solutions for the eSignature Industry

“We always believe in working with other solutions vendors in delivering the best solution to our customer” 32 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

Park Mi Kyung, Co-founder

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rganizations worldwide are shifting away from paper and moving into digital transactions. eSignature is helping organizations improve and speed up their business activities. Today, eSignature solution providers offer more benefits than just electronic signing itself. Research by P&S intelligence shows that the eSignature market will grow by 39% by 2020.

FORCS provides enterprise-grade paperless solutions to help organizations transform digitally. Over 4000 happy customers worldwide have increased revenue and productivity after going digital with FORCS. FORCS eSignature is one of the popular features among its customers; data such as date, location, pen pressure, and the number of strokes are captured to ensure the credibility and legality of an eDocument.

The wide range of solutions of FORCS includes enterprise e-Form, electronic document and enterprise reporting.

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organizations worldwide. The company’s operation spans across Asia and Europe with offices in Korea (HQ), Singapore, Japan, and Belgium to reach out to customers more effectively.

The Dynamic Leader Park Mi Kyung is the Co-founder of FORCS. She developed FORCS enterprise software. Her responsibilities include the management and development of FORCS enterprise solutions. She is very much involved in the evolution of the IT industry in Korea. In 2017, she was elected as the chairman of the Korea Digital Content Association and devoted her time to researching and proposing new policies to the Government.

She is also the President of the Korea Venture Business Women’s Association; supporting women’s start-ups. Mi Kyung is also the director of the Hi-Seoul Brand Company Association, recognizing high-quality and competitive SMEs. Throughout the years, she has been contributing her time and experience in advancing the IT industry and the growth of women entrepreneurs.

The Outstanding Features for Clientele Benefit FORCS’ core software OZ e-Form allows anyone without coding skills to build powerful e-Form in minutes. The architecture of OZ e-Form is scalable and extensible for global operations, making it easy for organizations to integrate with existing systems and databases.

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the omnichannel experience for their customers to transact effectively and efficiency. And this is where its paperless technology brings the customer journey to the next level.

Banking processes involving opening a new banking account, on-boarding a new customer, or even making changes to existing accounts can be enhanced by replacing paper forms with e-Forms. With this digital transformation, both customers and employees benefit from the time and costs saved from the streamlined processes.

Harnessing Disruption 60% of the Korean paperless market is currently using FORCS paperless technology. FORCS has created a whole new paperless working culture in Korea. The enterprise solutions can be implemented across industries, enhancing business processes, and changing how services are delivered to the customers. FORCS R&D team is continuously researching and developing new technologies to adapt to changing consumer behavior.

An upgraded version of OZ e-Form was launched last year, providing more features for organizations to collect customer information seamlessly and securely. In addition, the company has advanced to developing artificial intelligence to enhance the e-Form to work and react like humans. The strategy in sustaining competency in the IT market is to be proactive in finding out customer needs than staying reactive.

Eliminating the Obstacles Growing competitions from indirect competitors are fighting for market share in the paperless market.

However, the unique selling point of OZ e-Form helps the company to overcome this as competitors lack the

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technology it offers. Another challenge is that customers want a comprehensive system, while FORCS only provides just one part of the system. This is where its partners come in to build an integrated system for its customers with their e-Form solution incorporated. Over the years, FORCS has built a strong relationship with its partners to ensure they stay updated on its technology.

“We always believe in working with other solutions vendors in delivering the best solution to our customers,” asserts Park.

Awards and Accolades For the diligent effort of FORCS employees, FORCS has been awarded the “Excellent R&D (Quality Control)” by the MSIT (Ministry of Science, ICT). Also, they have received a presidential citation for being the “Best Model SMEs” and the “Best SMEs with work-life balance” in Korea.

Future Road map FORCS aims to be a leading global software company in providing paperless technology. To achieve this goal, FORCS steadily invest in R&D and emphasizes on “Transform Digitally by Going Paperless”. We aim to expand to the US market in the next five years.

FORCS is also well-known for being one of the best companies to work for in Korea. Our policies ensure that all employees get a fair and equal opportunity in career advancement. We emphasize gender equality and work on fostering employee relationships.

Mi Kyung believes in a work-life balance working environment with employees benefit programs in place to ensure a healthy working environment.

After all, “Happy Employees Make Happy Customers”!

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“We work with our clients to identify a need that our solution can help fulfill and then we give the best possible service to them, often exceeding expectations”

TRUECOPY CREDENTIALS

Offering World-Class Digital Signature Solutions

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ruecopy Credentials is based out of Pune and was launched in 2012. It is a leading provider of digital signature solutions catering to several hundred customers across India. The client base includes educational institutes, Finserv companies, and corporates in a wide variety of sectors such as manufacturing, automotive, electronics, mines and minerals, FMCG and real estate. The clients use the TRUESigner suite of solutions to go paperless in their business processes such as invoicing, issuing purchase orders, credit debit notes and so on.

TRUESigner can easily integrate into any ERP/CRM/Legacy system to enable a seamless signing process thereby saving time and money in the process. The stand-alone version allows users to bulk sign PDF files easily and quickly. The solutions provided by Truecopy are compliant with IT Act 2000/2008 and GST regulations as well.

The Visionary Leader Sonia Soman is a Co-founder and CEO of the company.

Passionate about her vision for a paperless world, Sonia believes that digital signatures are key enablers of it. She is responsible for the company’s strategy and customer 34 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

Sonia Soman, Co-founder & CEO

acquisition. The company has recorded a multi-factor year on year growth since its inception under her leadership.

Digital signatures offer a secure way for last-mile digitization of business processes. More and more organizations are realizing the benefits in terms of efficiency and savings. Digital signatures are also backed by law and regulations across many countries in the world.

This will lead to greater adoption across departments in any organization. Whether you wish to execute contracts online or issue offer letters, receive acknowledgments or inbound documents, digital signature solutions will help you get there. In an ideal world, there would be no printing and signing of paper documents.

Signature Solutions of Truecopy TRUESigner solutions fulfill all your real-time signing requirements. The signature solutions the company offers are: TRUESIGNER WEB TRUESigner WEB is intended for Browser-based signing and integrates into the client’s Web applications.

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How it works - TRUESigner WEB can be invoked directly from your web-page/ javascript.

- Document signing is triggered from the browser at the press of a button.

- Works with all commonly used browsers - Signed document is returned to your web-page.

Benefits: - Seamless integration of signing capability into web-apps.

- Sample integration code allows you to get started in minutes.

TRUESigner Enterprise – Automated Signing of PO, GST INVOICES, CREDIT NOTES TRUESigner Enterprise is an on-premise Digital Signature system that integrates into your ERP / CRM / SAP / Oracle / Navision for real-time signing of documents.

How it Works: - TRUESigner Enterprise is available as an on-premise solution or as a dedicated hosted solution - API that facilitates easy integration into your existing IT systems SAP / ERP / MIS - Real-time DIgital Signing can be initiated from multiple locations - Works with all Signature types including HSM based signatures.

Benefits: - Ideal for companies with multilocation signing with many signers - High availability, failure-free design for mission critical applications - Unique, highly secure design that ensures security and traceability.

TRUESIGNER DSC – Digitally Sign with your USB Token TRUESigner DSC facilitates signing of single or bulk documents with any existing DSC (USB Token) VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

How it works: - GUI-based “Select and Sign” capability for single document or multiple documents with DSC - Command line capability for single document or multiple documents with DSC Benefits: - Existing DSC token can be used to sign document singly or in bulk - Also integrates into your ERP/ Tally/ CRM - Feature rich – Has numerous features that meet all common requirements related to document signing TRUE Esign The TRUE – eSigner is a service that allows you to incorporate Adhaar-based eSignatures into your applications.

How it Works: - A Single Aadhaar eSign API for all your applications - Complies with all regulations associated with Aadhaar eSignatures - Choose an ESP in real-time.

Benefits: - Work with multiple ESPs with single API - Better compliance with Regulations on data confidentiality.

- Reasonable pricing per eSign - Better up-time Benefits for Clients Truecopy offers signatures that are compliant with the law of the land,100% compliant with GST, IT Act 2000, eIDAS and such regulations.

Truecopy offers last-mile automation in their business processes, secure bulk signing capabilities, and savings in terms of time and costs. Signing is enabled directly from their ERP/MIS/CRM systems. Truecopy also fulfills the clients’ mission-critical signing needs. Solutions will be

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compliant with the e-invoicing regulation from GST that is expected to be implemented in the new year.

Sonia asserts, “We work with our clients to identify a need that our solution can help fulfill and then we give the best possible service to them, often exceeding expectations. Our understanding of the market and our technical capabilities together help us stay ahead in the game.” Further she proclaims.

“If you consider markets like India, there is still a learning curve involved for clients before they fully understand the utility of digital signatures and how it benefits them. This means longer sales cycles and greater effort in closing the deal. Our solutions are easy to integrate and use. We have created easy-to-understand materials (videos, presentations, case studies and FAQs) that clients find very useful. Our experienced sales team is also well-trained in anticipating questions and addressing them satisfactorily.

This helps shorten the sales cycle significantly.”

Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs “There are two things I would like to say - It is good to have a great idea, it is even better to get customer validation before building a business around it. Early customers go a long way in building your credibility in the market and give you the affirmation to continue down this path of bringing your idea to reality. Secondly, as the founder, it is your job to acquire the first 50 customers before you delegate that responsibility. This way your sales team can get the confidence that your idea sells”, Sonia Soman concludes. www.truecopy.in

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Insights’ Special

Biophilic Design:

A Grandiose Architectural Trend to Enrich Workplace

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he serene view of greenery, the murmuring sound of a fountain, the refreshing sound of raindrops tickling on the glass…don’t they feel quite soothing to your soul? Yes, they do. This is because it’s our inherent connection with nature and its beauty.

First introduced by Edward O. Wilson in 1984, the term Biophilia denotes the eternal bond of human with nature. Every living soul has an innate urge to connect and engross with nature and its beauty.

Biophilic design is an innovative way to adopt the beauty and freshness of nature into workplace which inspires us to work, learn, and grow. This can be seen as a conscious inclusion of environmental bliss into our workplace and fuel our productivity with its alluring presence.

A Few Statistics on the Impact of Concrete Work Atmosphere An environment devoid of nature and fresh air can never inspire good health, productivity, or positive approach to work. A suffocating office atmosphere results in poor performance, absenteeism, shrinkage in work time and increased cost of money.

According to research carried out by Harvard Business Review, 47 percent of employees feel tired or very tired due to an absence of natural light at

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work and 43 percent feel gloomy for the same reason.

Here’s a statistics: According to Interface, in the USA, absenteeism costs employers an average of $2,074 per employee, per year.

In the UK, work-related stress accounts for 35% of ill health and 43% of absenteeism, costing organizations an estimated 29 billion pounds per year.

Apart from giving an aesthetic look to the office, the Biophilic design improves employee well-being bringing natural environment to the workplace which leads to better performance.

Fading Light of Nature and the Appealing Reasons to embrace Biophilia The ceaseless wave of modernization is going to alienate us from our mother nature. Yes, our modern day dreams have revealed its poisonous teeth.

According to a report by UN, the recent social and economic changes have resulted in detaching more people from nature than ever. The report also indicates that currently 55 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, which is going to reach 68% by 2050.

Looking at such statistics, we can believe that Biophilic design is going to be our savior in the time of growing urbanization. The introduction of natural elements in the workplace will be proved hugely beneficial as the stress-related sickness at work increases. The Biophilic design will not only intensify the appearance of the office, it will result in some more creative, cheerful, and pro-active staff too. So here are some ways to incorporate Biophilia in your office. Read on!

Five Smart Ways to Incorporate Biophilic Design in Workplaces 1. Visual Elements: Visual elements help in reducing fatigue and rejuvenating stressed minds. Exposure to green color creates a positive impact on creativity level of the employees. Both real and artificial plants are resplendent choices.

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The Biophilic effect of green leaves does magic in reducing unpleasant symptoms such as headaches, or the general feeling of being unwell as they reduce dust, mold, and CO2 levels.

2. Auditory Elements: Natural sounds hasten the process of healing and psychological restoration by 37% as compared to city noises or silence. Soothing sounds of water or wind are really bliss to an active mind. Natural auditory elements like chirping sounds of birds, cascading water or slow instrumental music can be some of the wonderful add-ons.

3. Olfactory Elements: Fresh flowers, plant oils and fruit essences are some highly recommended diffusers to calm an active workplace. Quite opposite to regular temperature and ventilator system in offices, Biophilic design mirrors outdoor variability while giving occupants individual control.

4. Thermal Variability: With the sun, wind, rain, and air pressure time spent outdoors is constantly changing temperatures contrasting to the constant blast of air conditioners inside the office. The Biophilic design incorporates intuitive HVAC units that mimic the weather outside when it’s pleasant and regulate the temperature 5. Light Variability: Natural light conditions are always at a flux just like the dynamic natural temperature. The natural circadian rhythm shares a strong bond with the changing light. A Circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. (Wikipedia) Being consistently exposed to harsh artificial lighting interrupts this rhythm causing fatigue, boredom and insomnia.

Apart from these, flowing water installations such as fountains, water walls, and constructed streams are also highly recommended for spacious offices.

Redefine and rejuvenate the office decorum with a splash of Biophilia and keep yourself ahead of the sophisticated ladder of success.

- Upama Goswami VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

Leading by Example E

verything starts and stops with you, the founder or CEO of the business, the person who everyone looks to when it comes to setting an example. As the leader of your company, your job is to inspire the people around you to push themselves and, in turn the company, to excel in everything they do. To do this, the leader must show the way by doing it themselves, by walking the walk and talking the talk.

Warren Bennis was an American scholar and organizational consultant. He is widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of leadership studies and is known to have created the famous quote “Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing.”

As the leader, you know that keeping your team together, working towards a common goal, getting them to support and help each other is your job. If you succeed, they will succeed; morale will rise and more success will follow.

There’s almost nothing worse for company morale than leaders who follow the “Do as I say, not as I do” philosophy. When this happens, the loss of enthusiasm, energy and goodwill among staff is like watching a tyre deflate with frustration, cynicism and mistrust replacing any positivity that previously existed.

No matter what the situation, double standards, where people do one thing, and then say another is always a recipe for a disaster. It can be very destructive. If this has ever happened to you, I am certain the feelings that you remember are of deep frustration, a sense of disappointment and total let-down. It can be energy sapping and very hard to break out of once it has happened.

As a leader you know that you have a responsibility to your team. They look to you for guidance and strength; it is the essence of what being a leader is. And a big part of your responsibility is to lead them with and by your own actions.

So, why is it so important and what happens when you fail to do this?When you lead by example, it is the creation of the art of the possible. People can look at you and say, 40 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

“Well, if he is willing to do it, then so can I.” When you set the tone of any activity, you become a source of inspiration and you make it easy for others to follow you.

This brings me on to Trust. It is the inevitable by-product of having done your job as a leader well. Trust takes time to nurture and build. But, when you stay true to your beliefs, to your core principles and when you keep your word your staff will know. Consequently, your team will follow your lead. They will put their trust in you, even when things are tough in a business. By opening yourself up to your team and showing them the way, the odds are that they will follow you anywhere.

Good leaders drive their people forward with energy, excitement, vision, inspiration and trust. A team without trust in their leader will see poor productivity, higher absenteeism and greater staff turnover. Enthusiasm may disappear and the team may fall apart. The vision you’re trying so hard to make happen will lose its appeal, all because your team doesn’t trust you anymore.

Good leadership takes real strength of character and a firm commitment to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason …..even if it is hard. This means doing what you say, when you say it. If your team can’t trust you, you’ll never be great and you wont succeed. It’s like running a race with your shoelaces tied together. If your team knows that you’ll also do whatever you expect from them, they’ll likely work hard to help you achieve your collective goal.

Great leaders have changed the world because they lived by their own example. They made accomplishing great things the norm and not the exception. So, if you ask a colleague to do something, make sure you are willing to do it yourself. Make sure you set the example. Look closely at your own behaviour. Show respect to others and that respect will be returned. If you want people to listen to all opinions and points of view, make sure you listen yourself. We were given two ears and just one mouth for a reason!

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Expert’s Insight

About the Leader Rob Leslie is the Founder and CEO of Sedicii. Rob is a serial entrepreneur has a successful track record of establishing and growing businesses to considerable scale.

Sedicii was founded in 2013 and has won over 15 technology and innovations awards to date including, most recently, the BBVA Open Innovation “Fintech for Future” Award. BBVA is the oldest and largest Fintech Innovation Program in the world and has highlighted Sedicii as “the start-up with the greatest potential to transform the financial sector in the next 10 years!” Sedicii has developed a patented zero knowledge proof protocol to help people and businesses prove their identities in real-time without compromising their right to privacy.

Rob is a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer for his work on the zero-knowledge proof protocol and has spoken at Davos on cybersecurity, digital identity and other technology issues affecting the world’s economies.

Prior to Sedicii he co-founded Kyckr (ASX:KYK) which is now listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and provides organisational identity services for KYC & AML services to banks and other regulated financial institutions across the globe. Rob was also part of the original management team in Dell Japan that established and grew the business to almost 300 employees and $300M turnover in its first 4 years.

Rob Leslie Founder & CEO

Sedicii

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“Streamline your teamwork and give your customers the best eSignature experience, with Yousign”

Yousign Securing and Empowering Enterprises with Digital Signature Solutions

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Signature software offers a wide array of benefits more than just the convenience of electronic signing itself. Electronic signatures have been helping enterprises improve and speed up their operations for almost three decades now.

Yousign is an eSignature solution provider which helps connect businesses with their clients, companies with their employees, and move their business forward. Millions of progressive businesses choose Yousign to secure and power their agreements and other important documents. We approached them for an exclusive interview for our magazine Insights Success with Luc Pallavidino, the CEO: Q: Give a brief overview of your organization and the services and solutions you offer.

A: Antoine Louiset and I Co-founded Yousign in 2013.

Headquartered in Caen, France, Yousign offers an easy to 42 | INSIGHTS SUCCESS

Luc Pallavidino, CEO & Co-founder use, legally binding eSignature solution for all documents.

All over Europe, teams of all sizes and in all sectors approve, close and sign the documents they need to drive their business.

We also provide a powerful API that allows you to build the best eSignature experience for your team and your users.

Q: How do you think the eSignature and affiliated solutions market has evolved and what can be expected in the forthcoming years?

A: The electronic signature market is vast and very competitive. Estimated today at €1.1 billion worldwide, it is growing at an annual rate of 30%.

Investors look closely at this market, and we regularly see movements of buy-outs, partnerships, and alliances.

Q: What are the benefits gained by your clients/users from your products, solutions, and services?

A: First of all, from a legal point of view, we are certified and comply with the eIDAS regulations. It means that in Europe, most of the documents signed with Yousign are valid in all VOLUME - 09, ISSUE - 5, 2019

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the Member States of the European Union. You can imagine how much this simplifies exchanges.

Our customers particularly appreciate the simplicity and accessibility of our solutions. No need for months of training or integration, everyone praises the ease with which they were able to use the Yousign electronic signature very quickly in their companies.

Q: Considering the necessity of adapting to disruptive technological innovations and/or development of cutting-edge solutions, how does your company sustain its competency in the IT market?

A: We are in constant contact with leading companies such as ours. We share our knowledge and think about how to bring more simplicity and security to the way contracts are validated and concluded. We also recruit experienced and passionate profiles, whether in security or product design.

Q: What obstacles and/or limitations do you and your company face while growing, sustaining or retaining its clientele?

A: First of all, old habits. Printing documents and signing them with a pen are still bad reflexes in many companies. Fortunately, in all organizations, we always find people who want to move the lines and refuse the status quo. We are looking to exchange with these people as soon as possible. If you find yourself in what I am saying, contact our company at hello@yousign.com, we can surely think together about how to improve everyday processes.

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Q: Could you list out the most growth-deteriorating challenges and your preventive strategies against them for your organization to date?

(Talent acquisition/infrastructure/or anything apart from the above question’s response) A: Recruitment has been a sensitive issue. In the past, it took us a long time to decide, because, with the lack of experience, we were reluctant to recruit this or that profile, simply because we had difficulty setting our priorities. So, we spent time refining our vision, structuring our current team so that we can move forward quickly today.

We have also set up a transparent internal salary scale that is very competitive to attract the best and allow them to work within a clear framework of trust. Open positions are available on jobs.yousign.com.

Q: What does the future hold for your company in terms of internal as well as holistic development?

A: We are continually recruiting talented people who can contribute to the achievement of our mission. Our team wants to build a new way of working together by eliminating paperwork while simplifying the way documents are signed.

We have launched into the German, Spanish, UK, Italian, and Dutch markets because there are thousands of

companies in Europe that are struggling to validate agreements legally easily.

We want to understand how to support them and do it in the best possible way.

Our ambition is to build a European leader.

Q: Would you like to highlight any awards, accolades or testimonials your company has achieved throughout?

A: We have received a security visa granted by ANSSI, which has enabled us to reassure our customers about the robustness and reliability of our solutions. ANSSI is the national authority for the security and defense of information systems in France.

Q: Any advice for the budding entrepreneurs in your industry?

A: In our industry, I don't know, but in SaaS in general, yes. In bulk: talk to your users early, surround yourself with the people you like to build an incredible product, don't be afraid to partner and focus on your mission.

About the Author: Luc Pallavidino, the CEO and Co-founder of Yousign is a payment systems engineer. He is passionate about helping thousands of companies in Europe to simplify the way they work. Deeply human, this mission only makes sense to him if it is carried out with a team he loves and appreciates.

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