French Mobile Operator Scraps Paper Based Contracts

French mobile operator, SFR is switching from paper based customer contracts to an electronic version - using an electronic signature service from Cryptolog. The company says that it will be able to make considerable savings in storing and archiving contracts, whilst retaining the possibility of consulting these documents at any given time, even decades after their creation and with a guarantee of validity - something which it believes will prove particularly reassuring for SFRÃ's clients.

For Cryptolog, this new partnership agreement with SFR validates its strategy of proposing a complete range of products, from the advanced electronic signature of documents to the archiving of signed documents.

Like numerous other companies (Internet service providers and mobile phone network operators in particular), SFR was looking for a solution that would facilitate phasing out paper contracts in order to adopt the exclusive use of "e-contracts". SFR wished to reduce the paper-related operational costs, yet retain the same legal value. After having carried out a detailed study of the current solutions available on the market, SFR selected CryptologÃ's package, which was initially deployed in two of its central Paris sales outlets. Following a trial period which lasted for several months during which more than ten thousand contracts were signed electronically, SFR has decided to adopt this solution and it will gradually be phased in throughout all its sales outlets.

CryptologÃ's service is comprised of a special custom made device into which the contract detail is entered. An electronic version of the contract itself is then displayed on the screen so that the client is able to sign it directly. CryptologÃ's software package then performs all the necessary operations to ensure the legal value of the e-documents. The solution not only creates the clientÃ's electronic signature but also signs as SFRÃ's legal entity and provides signature validation, timestamping, and the storage and archiving of digital identities. The client receives a paper version of the contract by post.

"We are tremendously pleased to have been selected by SFR, and very enthusiastic about the prospect of progressively equipping all of its sales outlets with our dematerialisation solutions. This contract reinforces our belief that the expansion of the dematerialisation market is beginning to get under way, and should experience exceptional growth in the years to come," said Alexandre Stern, President of Cryptolog.

Posted to the site on 1st October 2008