Roederer : insurance brokers

Electronic signature of contracts : The Roederer Group signs with Universign

In order to streamline their customer’s experience on the websites presenting their products, the insurance broker opted to make use of the Universign’s SaaS solution for the signature section of their subscription process. The reward: shorter processing times for their files. 

“With regard to the electronic signature, and more generally when it comes to processes, it’s important that the demand for change comes at least as much from the field as it does from the executive offices.” Hamza El Yaagoubi, Roederer Marketing Director, is also responsible for the digital transformation of this insurance broker, the fifth largest actor on the French market and the largest in the Grand Est region. 

A demand from sales representatives and back office teams

And he knows what he’s talking about, as his career in IT allowed him to experience the first waves of e-business, therefore developing his awareness of the specific issues of digitalisation and authentication. “At Roederer, two populations in particular have played a leading role,” he explains. “On the one hand, we have the sales representatives, who always want to ensure that the experience of their prospects, and later customers, is as seamless – and, therefore, as integrated – as possible. And on the other hand, there are the back-office teams, who spend a lot of time transcribing files filled in manually by customers, with the risk of errors in re-entering this information”. 

The introduction of the electronic signature within the subscription process was aimed primarily at the general public, even though they only represent 5% of the group’s turnover. The Roederer Group and their 220 employees work for over 20 insurance companies, supplementary health insurance companies and pension funds, primarily aimed at a corporate clientele, through their partners. “It was nevertheless very important to demonstrate to them the reality of our ongoing digital transformation, through the success of this complete digitalisation process for subscriptions.” To do so, the online process takes customers through the various stages of obtaining quotes, choosing their insurance plan, subscribing, and finally signing the contract and any associated documents (subscription form, information sheet, etc.) in PDF format. If the customer requires any additional information, they can also contact an advisor by phone. 

A process to be thoroughly reviewed

The first months of the project were marked by the search for a purely technological response to the issues surrounding signatures. “We realised quite quickly that this wasn’t the right approach, because it forced us to adapt our practices to the tool, without asking ourselves the right questions.” These questions concerned such important issues as the speed, timing and the even the form of the PDF documents to be signed. This is especially relevant when the regulatory context is particularly dense: for example, when asking a future customer to commit to a SEPA direct debit authorisation. 

The project requires a mapping of the targeted customer journey

It was at this point that the Roederer Group turned to Universign, who offer a remote SaaS solution and who above all, according to Hamza El Yaagoubi, had developed an advice and support service for clients looking to ensure the best experience possible… for their own clients. “This truly allowed us to analysis the initial situation, by mapping out the process and looking for a target system to orchestrate the various online subscription stages, by organising the presentation of documents to be signed at the right times.” 

Just ten days for integration

Among other strengths, the availability of APIs within the publisher tool made technical integration a particularly speedy process, according to the marketing director. The configuration phases lasted only a dozen days, followed by the orchestration of the customer journey and the adaptation of interfaces. 

The relevance of the solution ultimately implemented owes much to the fact that the levels of certification (see box, editor’s note) offered by Universign were well-suited to the needs of the Roederer Group. “In this case, we opted for the first level, which does not require any identity document to be presented. There is a switch from our site to the signature process, managed by the publisher, through which the signatory’s consent is obtained and an SMS confirmation is delivered to them with the passwords which will allow them to finalise their subscription.” 

Legal departments had no reservations

For all those who may be surprised at how quickly this decision was taken with regard to security levels, Hamza El Yaagoubi offers two explanations. “We took the time to consult with lawyers and, of course, with Universign.” The marketing director goes on to highlight the developing uses for both the general public and within companies, which tend to downplay the transition to the electronic signature. “After carrying out our analysis, we believed that the level of security offered provided us with the most streamlined customer journey.” What’s more, their chosen technical solution includes the storage of signed contracts, with evidentiary value. 

The Universign business model is based partly on subscriptions and partly on pay-per-use plans. As such, the Roederer Group can continue to develop their online subscription, based on customer feedback and its recorded performance. “We didn’t establish any comparison point with the previous situation, but a gain of around 15 to 20 minutes in file processing times appears realistic to us today.” And there’s still work to be done! After launching digitalised subscription on three public websites (including Mutuelle2Santé and Les Frontaliers) the next development will target self-employed workers and directors of VSBs, with the TNS-Assur service.