Mobile apartment reservation
Electronic signature implementation at Echo Investment
Digital transformation of real estate
Echo Investment is Poland's largest developer, operating in three sectors of the real estate market: residential, retail and office. The company has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 1996. Throughout its 25 years of operation, it has already completed 89 residential projects with nearly 10,000 apartments in major Polish cities.
Digitisation of housing reservations
One of the key elements of a developer's residential sales process is the signing of a reservation contract during a face-to-face meeting with the customer. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic state and the introduction of restrictions in March 2020, the possibility of physical contact at the sales office was severely limited. Therefore, in order to maintain business continuity and ensure the safety and comfort of buyers, Echo Investment needed a solution to digitise the apartment reservation process. It was to provide full mobility and the ability to sign documents anywhere and at any time. Therefore, Echo Investment decided to cooperate with Asseco, which was responsible for the implementation of a biometric signature along with the SimplySign electronic seal.
Biometric electronic signature and trust services
The goal of the project was to introduce a biometric electronic signature for Echo Investment representatives to confirm reservation contracts with customers. Work began with designing the new process and selecting the appropriate IT tools to support its implementation. It was decided that Echo employees would sign contracts on a tablet with a biometric application, and their signatures would be confirmed with the SimplySign electronic seal.
The digitisation of reservation contracts was based on Anasoft's Signatus platform, operated using mobile devices. The implementation of the project also required the integration of biometric solutions into Asseco's trust services environment, while providing a modern way to protect and ensure the integrity of processed information. QR codes were used to quickly configure mobile devices.
The implementation was carried out by five Asseco experts, who carried it out at lightning speed. As a result, as early as March 2020, just after the declaration of a state of pandemic and the lockdown, Echo Investment's employees were able to carry out their professional duties unhindered.
The project to digitise reservation contracts is a continuation of the cooperation between Echo Investment and Asseco that began in 2019. Its result was the use of SimplySign signature in the process related to the acceptance of apartments by customers, which provided the company with full mobility in this area. The digital version of the acceptance documentation has helped reduce the paper document workflow and shorten the process of apartment acceptance by 40%.
Echo Investment, the first developer in the market to implement such solutions, plans to digitise more processes, which will reduce the need for personal confirmation or collection of paper documents.
Thanks to the implementation of a biometric signature along with the SimplySign electronic seal, the process of reserving an apartment is done remotely. A customer interested in buying it can make an appointment with an advisor online. If he or she makes a choice, the developer's representative signs the electronic reservation agreement by providing a handwritten biometric signature with a stylus on a tablet screen. The buyer agrees to the terms of the transaction by transferring the reservation fee. The entire procedure takes place without leaving home. Signing reservation documents digitally and securely began in March 2020, with the launch of the new tool.
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Remote conclusion of reservation contracts
- Moving this reservation process from closed offices to vendors' homes
- Maintaining business continuity and capacity.
- simplification of formalities
- reduced time of reservation contract conclusion
- trust and confidence of customers
- 1 month of project implementation
- 5 Asseco specialists involved in the project
- ~50 employees gained access to the solution
'Biometrics technology is a simple and secure solution that we particularly appreciated in the era of pandemics because it saves time, simplifies the paperwork and makes it possible to reserve an apartment without visiting the sales office. The details of the contract are established between the advisor and the buyer during an online meeting. The advisor then affixes a biometric signature at a designated location using the Signatus app. Biometrics dramatically increases the credibility of the digital contract, allowing Echo's client to make the down payment required to maintain the reservation for their dream apartment without risk. This technology has been well received by our customers: several of them have already used it on the first day of its operation.'
– Dawid Wrona, Sales Director at Echo Investment's residential department.
"The goal of the project was to make the process of reservation of apartments by customers as efficient as possible. We wanted to provide them with the highest level of service, and make it easier for employees to carry out their professional duties without leaving their homes. That's why we decided to cooperate with Asseco Data Systems, which enabled us to digitize reservation contracts."
– Mariusz Sękalski, CRM Leader, Echo Investment
'The service uses qualified and biometric e-signature technology. Signing documents directly on a smartphone is enabled by a special app, which allows both a handwritten biometric e-signature and a qualified e-signature. The process is further secured by a qualified electronic seal. This ensures that the purchaser receives a document that is legally effective.'
– Artur Miękina, Key Projects Sales Director in the Security and Trust Services Division of Asseco Data Systems.