JK Group reduces inter-office travel and boosts operational efficiency with Signeasy

The Company

As the #1 tanning bed supplier for professional salons worldwide, Ergoline has provided year-round sunshine to the masses for over 30 years. Owned by JK Group, a global specialist in developing and distributing wellness products, Ergoline's production facilities, logistics center, administration, and technical customer service team are all located in Windhagen, Germany. We spoke with Petra Stahl, the Head of Administration at this location, to learn more about how her team's workflows have evolved with Signeasy.

The Challenge

With 28 years at Ergoline under her belt, Petra Stahl is no stranger to the paperwork rodeo. Not only is she the head of administration and personal aide to the finance director, but she is also in charge of building operations and fleet management.

Before getting acquainted with Signeasy, Stahl's main paperwork woes were related to collecting signatures from the management team. Ergoline has three different locations in Germany, so the team is dispersed: the CEO is at one location, the director of finance is at another, and so on.

"If all managing directors needed to sign a document, someone would have to drive around and collect them manually," explained Stahl, resulting in a wild goose chase that took three to four days each time. The cherry on top of the cake was the fact that these directors are frequently on the road (or in the air), making an already cumbersome process even more so.

She was also dealing with a fairly large obstacle regarding signature validity since the bank would not accept scanned signatures as a wet ink equivalent. This roadblock required her to either use snail mail to send documents to the bank, or hand-deliver them herself – so Ergoline had to find a better way.

The Solution

Ergoline started off with 3 Signeasy users: Stahl, her CEO, and her boss. Shortly after implementing the software, they realized how helpful Signeasy could be for the entire management team, so they expanded to 15 seats. Signeasy is currently being used by managing directors, board members, personal assistants, the CEO, and the R&D department.

But the progress train didn't stop there: Ergoline is planning to expand its use of our software to other areas of the company next year! Here's why the company is so satisfied with its new eSignature-powered workflow.

Staying connected via mobile

Since their managers travel frequently, Ergoline needed a way to facilitate on-the-go document signing. Now, higher-ups can sign off on important paperwork from trains and even airplanes thanks to Signeasy's mobile app, significantly reducing turnaround times. “It’s the easiest way to get signatures done on time,” said Stahl.

Meeting stringent industry standards

Before Signeasy, Stahl had no way to deliver authenticated signatures to the bank: To work around these limitations, she had to either mail the necessary documents or physically deliver them to the bank, which required a significant amount of time and energy. Now, thanks to Signeasy’s downloadable audit trail, for some procedures (certain transactions still require handwritten signatures in Germany!) Stahl saves time by simply emailing the signed documents to the bank with the audit trail attached – all from the comfort of her desk!

Bridging external gaps

As the individual in charge of fleet management, it's up to Stahl to oversee the operations related to company cars (there are currently around 60 vehicles that belong to the fleet).

Signeasy's impact is twofold in this situation: not only can she get the green light for new leases by collecting her superiors' signatures digitally, but she can also send purchase orders to the dealership via email instead of driving over 300 miles (500km) to deliver them in-person.

Outstanding customer care

Stahl maintains an excellent relationship with Signeasy’s customer support team. “My boss and I, we are always happy, because if we have a question, it’s always answered within 1 day,” she said. “We are super happy with you and your support.”