International SOS improves e-signature processes for critical documents at Assistance Centres with Docusign

As a leader and pioneer in global health and security management, International SOS is passionate about promoting workforce resilience and saving lives. The organisation has a team of 13,000 security, medical, logistics and digital experts across 1000 locations and 90 countries, with a range of services designed to safeguard workforces against health and security threats. This includes developing customised preventative programs to protect staff and providing immediate response to medical or security-related emergencies.

The organisation provides timely, accurate and actionable insights as well as assistance to its subscribers through its 27 Assistance Centres globally. While this critical service is constantly growing, it was restricted by time consuming manual processes for obtaining signatures that were potentially open to errors.

A need for simplification

Subscribers receiving services of International SOS' Assistance Centres need to provide a range of documentation, including medical information release forms and consent forms that contain personal information.  These forms were previously emailed to customers, who would then have to print them out, physically sign them and scan them, before sending them back through email.

Customer service executives would then retrieve the forms from email and load them into the organisation’s case management system for future reference.

“It was a manual process which was inefficient, time-consuming, and open to errors,” says International SOS Head of Enterprise Business Applications for Medical & Security Assistance Services, Sureshbabu Padmanabhan. “It was also not user-friendly for our subscribers as it could lead to longer turnaround times.”

Recognising a need for change, a few of its Assistance Centres started using Docusign as a standalone tool to help manage this process. While this led to some improvements, documents still had to be manually loaded into the case management system, taking more time than necessary.

Creating one powerful, unified process

To streamline its processes and drive benefits for all 27 Assistance Centres, International SOS engaged Docusign to seamlessly integrate eSignature into its case management platform.

“We chose Docusign as it is an industry leader in e-Signature solutions and they were also able to meet our strict data privacy requirements, and security and compliance standards,” Suresh says. “We were already successfully using Docusign in many of our business lines, so it was the natural decision.”

API Integration with International SOS’ case management system provides a streamlined user experience for both staff and customers. It allows customer service teams to send forms to subscribers directly from the organisation’s case management system, without having to use multiple software platforms.

Once signed by subscribers, the documentation is automatically loaded as a record into the system, which staff can easily access when needed.

Giving time back to work that matters

With Docusign directly integrated into its case management workflow, International SOS has one standardised method of obtaining signatures for all subscribers.

The organisation estimates the new process reduces the time it takes to prepare and send the forms for signature by up to 65%. As the customer service executives can manage the entire process from the case management platform where signed forms are loaded automatically, they now have more time to spend on protecting and saving lives.  The organisation also estimates that the new process reduces the time for subscribers to sign the form by up to 80% and provides greater convenience to e-sign them on the go. 

“We’ve received a lot of great feedback from our teams,” Suresh adds. “They’ve noted that the system is working well, and the process is much more efficient. They’re also impressed with the tool's level of integration with our case management system, which has made things a lot easier.”

As an organisation committed to providing quality assured services, International SOS constantly reviews all aspects of its service provision to ensure it reaches the high standards that its clients expect. Docusign eSignature gives International SOS a simplified sign-up process to obtain signatures from subscribers faster, which can be critical when it comes to protecting and saving lives.