How Natural Catastrophe Insurance of Iceland eliminated lengthy processes with e-signing.
An Introduction
A sudden volcanic eruption on an island called Heimaey off the southern coast of Iceland in 1973 brought attention to the need for proper nationwide insurance coverage for natural disasters. So, in 1975, Natural Catastrophe Insurance of Iceland (NTI) filled the gap in the market for coverage available relating to the realities of living on a geothermally active island in the North Atlantic.
Coverage for fire became compulsory for all buildings in the country, and additional coverage became available for damage caused by avalanches, earthquakes, rock slides, floods, and yes - volcanic eruptions.
In providing this kind of coverage, NTI handles a wide range of contracts and policies to manage that require careful handling, signatures, and data entry into management systems. Contracts that involve board members, suppliers, and customers can quickly become time-consuming when signatures are required on paper.
NTI knew that a faster, more efficient option would be digital. When determining which solution would be right for their needs, security and efficiency were the main factors. The right option would provide an easy way to collect signatures and cut work time, all in a secure online environment.
An alternative to paper signing
Like most companies in the insurance industry, NTI regularly handles a wide variety and volume of paperwork that is important not only to company operations, but also to keeping in line with regulations, policy changes, meeting minutes, as well as all of the customer-facing documentation required for providing comprehensive insurance coverage.
The types of contracts that NTI manages have traditionally required paper-based, in-person signing that involved organizing separate meetings - resulting in additional time spent by multiple individuals just to finalize a document.
“The signing of contracts usually called for a special signing session, where there was nothing left to do with the contract other than to sign.”
While the insurance industry is not known for being particularly progressive when it comes to technology and adopting digitalization, NTI recognized that there must be a better way to manage the large volume of paperwork and the time spent in collecting signatures - both on the part of the company and the customer.
Adopting a solution that would make it easier to digitalize contracts, as well as offer electronic signing of documents would be a game-changer for the company - allowing for remote signing, secure contract access, and easy identity authentication.
A faster, easier road to digital trust
Working with contracts, Word and PDF documents still reign, often confined to a particular device or at most in a shared drive. When it comes to sharing contracts or making any changes, attachments added to emails quickly get messy and confusing. Especially when adding signatures into the equation.
Traditionally, signatures need to be done in person. With technology has come alternatives to this - from printing off, signing, and then scanning and emailing a document, to very simple signature solutions such as with Apple’s Preview feature. Yet these lack the same ability to confirm identity that would be obvious with a face-to-face signature.
Collecting signatures on documents that include sensitive or confidential information adds another layer to this difficulty. But NTI needed a better option for getting board members to sign off on meeting minutes (often involving important decisions about company operations) as well as customer contracts.
They discovered Taktikal’s Drop & Sign solution - a simple way to instantly change a PDF to a digital document that can then be securely shared with the option of adding verified electronic signatures with the use of authentication measures. This changed what was necessary for the once tedious and time-consuming signing process.
“...there is a significant advantage of being able to sign electronically without having to hold a special "signature meeting". Contracts are generally completed and reviewed before being called for signature. It is therefore a great time saver not to have to drive to the end of town for one signature.”
NTI changed the way the contract and signature process worked by implementing Drop & Sign, freeing up time and adding security to the handling of documents as well as easily confirming the identity of a signee, remotely.
As the world becomes more and more digital and remote work becomes more common, this process has helped the business stay up to speed and help customers as well as staff feel secure. It has also minimized the time needed to attend to documents and signing.
With this kind of result, it’s perhaps not surprising that NTI has been looking into how Taktikal can make a difference in other parts of the business and planning for additional future usage.
“We are currently working on the implementation of a new claims system where electronic signatures will be part of the system so that our customers can accept assessments with electronic signatures quickly and securely. It was a simple choice for us to decide that Taktikal would handle the electronic signatures in the new system.”
As an insurance company, a lot of trust is placed in NTI to provide comprehensive coverage for a variety of potentially devastating natural disasters that can occur in the sometimes turbulent Icelandic landscape.
Building trust happens through reliable, secure, and transparent company operations. With the massive shifts to mainly digital interaction with companies, establishing trust can face obstacles relating to new technology, as well as other factors such as ease-of-use and cybersecurity measures (secure websites, identity authentication).
Recognizing the importance of building digital trust, NTI chose Taktikal to create digital trust when implementing new solutions that aim also at improving workflow efficiency.