We have created an end to end paperless platform to create mobile enabled forms quickly.
Idea
The SignTech paperless platform (which is live and market ready in live Beta service) allows the instant creation of paperless mobile forms that can be completed and seamlessly signed by end users on any device. It is currently patent pending.
Companies or individuals can upload forms in their current format (e.g. MSWord, PDF, JPEG etc.) and have the forms converted into paperless mobile forms for completion on smartphones & tablets with a real touch screen signature signing facility and direct data integration back into their system or any system of their choosing (soon to include CRM systems such as SalesForce.com).
The technology includes a web based platform that distributes the forms to users on 3 mobile apps (Andriod, iOS & Windows Phone).
The time to create the mobile app forms has been reduced from weeks to hours, at a fraction of the costs of other methods.
A self service algorithm is scheduled to be developed allowing use on ALL devices including laptops and PCs.
In today’s mobile dominated environment it is said that SmartPhone and Tablets (mobile) has overtaken PCs and Laptops in terms of numbers. By 2017 it is predicted that mobile penetration will be between 94% – 98%. Companies are in a rush to incorporate mobile in the data capture and business processes.
The SignTech platform speeds up the process of creating data capture (with signature and PDF technology) to just a few hours using the SignTech app.
This is an industry game changer and places a significant threat to companies such as DocuSign, EcoSign etc. that currently have a very large monopolised market share. They only focus mainly on the signature and signing aspect, whereas SignTech Forms provides an end to end solution and makes it easier for end users to adopt (therefore creating a user demand aspect).
The impact on organisations is that they can have their field sales staff go to customers and complete sales order forms, inspection forms etc. all offline and synchronise back to their legacy systems at their convenience.
This opens the floodgates to go paperless for organisations that would otherwise not be able to afford their own personalised mobile app for their staff and customers to use. With the developments planned the platform would allow each company to have their very own mobile app (or the SDK in their existing apps) all for a low subscription fee). We have brought the costs right down to as little as £4.99/month – reducing the cost barrier.
From a non-business end user perspective they can have all their completed forms in one place on their device and with the auto completion facility they do not have to re-enter the same information such as their name, DOB, address etc.
With the integration plans we have into products such as MS Word and Office, this would create a direct link from word documents right through to the paperless app.
Initial R&D phase, development and go live with the Beta products & service have been completed.
– Completed the R&D phase.
– SignTech Forms paperless platform created and in live Beta.
– iOS app live (2 versions – phone and tablet).
– Android app live (2 versions – phone and tablet).
– Window Phone app live (phone version only).
– There are approximately 700 forms created on the platform (300 live public forms).
– Pilot SalesForce API integration created (demo available)
– Awarded top 5 big idea in the Elance competition and presented at Google offices in London – January 2014.
– Received £15,900 of cloud hosting funding from Rackspace.
– Pilot with Neopost UK and exploring potentially becoming a sales partner (Neopost have 80k customers in the UK and 750k customers globally) – whilst no guarantees we clearly have our foot in the door.
– Currently in the top 2 organic positions on Google for “Paperless Business Forms” when searched in Europe.
SignTech will make money from this idea from a number of income streams:
– Subscription service to small organisations at a low cost (starting from £4.99/month through to £49/month). Organisations with specific needs will be quoted individually. This is the main basis of the monetisation as we build the user community and take up at a very low cost B2B price point.
– Enterprise services where an organisation would like to customise their process will include professional services to help scope and implement a bespoke solutions as well as specifically priced subscription fee.
– For larger organisations who would like the platform there will be a Platform as a Service arrangement where the platform is implemented for their use only on their systems.
– Once a critical mass is achieved the mobile apps (which are currently free) would be monetised by having the public pay to download it and with some in app purchases.
– Where relevant advertising via the mobile apps to promote green, sustainable business practices.
– Once the patent applications are granted there would be a licensing fee.
– SDKs are planned to be developed and charged to companies willing to use it on a per device basis. Furthermore developers would help push the sales by implementing the SDK when creating relevant apps.
– The website has been built for international expansion hence there are 4 regions and 4 languages currently included. New regions can be included immediately due to the scalable nature of our solution design.
– The medium to long term would include a re-seller model where individuals could become paperless solutions re-sellers by adding their existing customers onto the platform.
– Finally, when the self-service module is implemented anyone would be able to use the system.
Proceeds will be used to build the core team as well as achieve the following results:
– Develop and implement the SalesForce API integration module. This would open the customer base to the millions of people already using SalesForce.
– Develop & implement a Sugar CRM API integration module.
– Upgrade the platform to allow the same functionality on the mobile apps to be made available on a responsive design so all features can be achieved on touch screen laptops and PCs (which are quickly becoming the norm).
– Devise and begin the implementation of an on-line sales strategy to boost sales.
– Development of the Android and iOS SDKs to allow the service to be used in existing mobile apps.
– Patenting application costs and fees.
– Improvements to the mobile apps for individual device licensing as well as upgrading the UI & workflow design.
– Build the team for the next phase of growth.
Market
The overall target market is effectively any organisation or individual that uses paper or uses forms in one way or another – which is a very wide range. However we have narrowed the market down to small organisations that cannot afford to create their own bespoke paperless solution or mobile apps and would require a SAAS solution where there is no requirement for a large upfront cost.
The overall market we are concerned with is the Enterprise Content Management market. This market was US$5.11bn in 2013 and set to grow to US9.32bn by 2017.
When we look at different segments they include the likes of Real Estate industry (letting agents etc.); field sales people or workers such as gas safety engineers that complete forms when they go out to see a customer and then have the written information re-entered into their system when they are back at the office.
Another key market include the likes of banks where they have a lot of application forms to be completed. For example the mortgage regulations in the UK changed earlier this year (2014) and Santander have embarked on a project to have a paperless solution for their mortgage application process. The SignTech platform would be a potential solution.
A report by our potential US sales partners identifies a large base of independent businesses and SMEs as a prime target to require such a low cost solutions. This includes estate agents for data capture and signing contracts when at a property, field sales agents, insurance claims assessors etc.
There appears to be a gap in the market in terms of: a) providing a ‘conversion’/form creation service that allows users to complete and sign forms, b) that are also integrated directly to company’s databases from a data perspective, and c) at the speed this is achieved by the prototype during the research phase.
The market we are dealing with can be broken down to:
– Medium-to-Large Corporations/Organizations where SignTech will be sold to corporations and organizations that have deployed “Enterprise Content Management” (ECM) systems.
– Partnerships and reseller arrangements with ECM vendors selling Enterprise Content Management systems. By partnering with them we will be able to reach the thousands of existing clients that these ECM vendors already serve. Our product is a natural fit and extension to the ECM market.
– Independent business are operated by small companies, many of them run by individuals. While these firms are very small and do not use ECM systems, there are advantages to them. .
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Reaching the market is where we currently are now as a company. The approach is to target SMEs through ‘growth hacking’ techniques used by the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook. This will involve a mixture of partnering with established organisations that have customers and complimentary products where the SignTech solution can be included as one of the products in an existing suite of products/services.
To reach the lower value and high volume market segment that include independent businesses there will be a significant amount of growth hacking. This would include a campaign of blogging, social media, PPC and other SEO type activity to come out on top especially in search engines.
Free webinars would be conducted to show people how to go paperless and offer a discount for using the SignTech platform in order to bring them to the service and upload their first set of forms.
A series of industry specific exhibitions and marketing in industry specific media would allow specific focus on how each industry can go paperless using the SignTech service. For example the approach used in the below video that targets letting agents.
A major part of the spend of the investment involves building a sales and marketing team to devise and implement a sales and marketing strategy. This would also involve hiring external contractors in low cost regions to embark on telesales campaigns on a global scale. For example telesales companies in the Philippines would be engaged to target specific regions including Europe and America in order to talk customers through the process online and get them to sign up online whilst they are on the phone.
Whilst SignTech Forms have a number of competitors such as the likes of DocuSign and EchoSign on a large scale as well as Formotus and Gocanvas on a smaller scale it is evident that none of the competitors competes with SignTech Forms on a like for like basis. The SignTech Forms solution is an end to end solution that starts with the creation of a form right through to the completion and data integration of the form’s information as well as allowing for signatures to captured remotely. Effectively SignTech Forms solution brings all the other competitor’s features into one place – hence making it a more attractive and robust proposition.
In addition to the features SignTech Forms rates highly from a speed and a price perspective.
To further increase market share and protect against further developments that competitors may be considering SignTech Forms would be equipped with a generic API facility that will allow the generation of specific integration APIs to any new system that is introduced to the market. This would allow the rapid response to customers needs and ensure SignTech Forms is one of the first to integrate with other systems that come available.
There are a number of features and services that are along the product/service development plan that will keep the SignTech Forms solution ahead of the curve. This includes the development of an algorithm to automatically generate mobile forms from any source.
Furthermore with the patent applications in flight, this would provide further protection and help safeguard organisations that may want to emulate the unique service provided by SignTech Forms.
Finally, the medium to long term strategy is to partner to with a larger organisation for the dual purpose of engaging and acquiring more customers but also for long term strategic acquisition.
Team
Update
We would like to thank all our current and potential investors for their investments and making the first week of the campaign a success.
We still have some way to go and very much appreciate you spreading the word by sending out our link to anyone you think may be interested –https://www.seedrs.com/startups/signtech-forms
As our way of saying thank you we shall provide you exclusive advanced release of the next version of the SignTech App (currently scheduled for July), which allows you to import and complete any forms/PDFs (even those that have not been previously converted on the SignTech Forms platform)