ABB AG signs securely and compliantly with e-Sign Agent and TRUST2GO

The initial situation

When the company's own legal manager expresses doubts as to whether the company's digital signature processes will be legally compliant in the near future, there is an urgent need for action. This is what happened at the Austrian subsidiary of ABB AG, an international technology company with almost 110,000 employees and an annual turnover of 26 billion euros.

A "classic" IT project

What had happened? Legislative changes in the areas of identity verification, data protection and documentation had gradually undermined the solution previously used. Although the tool came from a renowned software provider, the way in which electronic signatures were applied, authenticated and documented was no longer legally compliant. "We therefore had to find and integrate a solution for legally valid digital signatures within a very short space of time," explains Gerhard Koller, Head of Information Technology at ABB AG in Austria.

The international technology group ABB AG implemented a legally compliant and easy-to-use solution for digital signatures from Austria within a very short space of time.

"The solution does what it should, is easy to use and the whole process is actually quite simple. In addition, the costs incurred are actually moderate and the support from r>it was very customer-friendly," says IT manager Koller, explaining his company's choice. "As a quick-to-use solution was required to sign documents from the local file system, we recommended our client-side e-Sign agent to ABB for applying the signature," adds rit Managing Director Romana Klaus-Rohr.

Client-side signature and 2-factor authentication

With the ABB signature solution, the signature data is applied on the client side using r>it's e-Sign agent and integrated into the documents (pdf files). Authentication - i.e. proof that the signatory is actually the signatory and not someone else - is carried out for each signature using the two-factor authentication method now familiar from online banking, either in the SMS TAN procedure or via the TRUST2GO app for smartphones using PIN entry, fingerprint or facial recognition.

Rollout for 150 decision-makers

Initially, the new signature solution was only intended for members of the Executive Board and authorised signatories of ABB AG. However, due to the positive experience and ease of use, the management soon decided to make the tool available to all 150 decision-makers authorised to sign.

With the qualified signature, ABB has the highest possible level of security. This is actually intended for documents with legal requirements and a high liability risk. However, there is no reason why other documents should not be signed at this high level. The high level of security does, however, require users to be clearly identified.

In order to shorten the processing time, ABB decided to use the video identification procedure via web browser only in exceptional cases and accepted r>it's offer of support. r>it Managing Director Klaus-Rohr visited the customer with a colleague, scanned the passports of the 150 new users, recorded their data, checked their identity and confirmed it to Globaltrust.

Introduction of the digital signature IS an IT project

"That was an unusually high level of customer support for us," says IT manager Koller, pleased with this support. All in all, ABB is very satisfied and proud to have chosen the right solution with r>it and TRUST2GO. Not to mention the speedy implementation in just two months. Gerhard Koller's constructive advice to companies with similar requirements remains: "Really make the introduction of digital signatures an IT issue. Even if we have found the optimum solution for us, it can't be implemented on the side."