About our client

Decathlon is a manufacturer of sports equipment and a chain of large sports shops with over 1,000 points of sale all over the world. The first Decathlon shop was opened in 1976 in France, whereas in Poland the first shop was opened in 2001 in Targówek, a district of Warsaw. Decathlon Polska not only has physical shops, but also has the largest e-commerce shop in its category in Poland. Decathlon manages all stages of its activity: from research and development, to production, logistics and selling sports equipment.

Needs

• to streamline business and consequently opt for eco-friendly solutions,
• to eliminate paper and reduce costs,
• to support local solutions,
• to find an intuitive e-signature platform (which supports qualified signatures).

Solution

By implementing the electronic signature, Decathlon hoped to increase the effectiveness of signing agreements and documents, taking into account the fact that the signing parties are often far away from each other. And this goal was achieved. The company wanted to eliminate paper, save time and reduce costs (although the costs were not the main factor affecting the decision). Expectations were fulfilled when the Autenti electronic signature was implemented.

"After two and a half months of using the platform, we have already signed tens of documents on it. A major benefit of using it is definitely the possibility of tracking the document signing process – we know who signed the document and for whose signature we are still waiting. Thanks to the solution offered by Autenti, we have significantly reduced the need to print documents and send correspondence in a traditional manner. We have accelerated the process of archiving documents, for example by limiting the number of documents that need to be scanned. We save time and our organisation is slowly going #paperless, even though we have a long path ahead of us. Moreover, using the platform led to a cost reduction – we save on printouts, paper, envelopes and shipment", says Marcin Wawrzyniak, an attorney-at-law and Manager of the Legal Department of Decathlon.

Importantly, the solution offered by Autenti was also welcomed by Decathlon’s customers. Marcin Wawrzyniak sums it up as follows:

"Our employees warmly welcomed the Autenti electronic signature. They say that the process of signing documents electronically is quick and smooth. They like the fact that the signed document is sent to their email address straight away. Our business partners are sometimes surprised that we want to sign an agreement electronically, without a traditional printout and with handwritten signatures, even when the written form is not required in a given case. We are trying to change this situation and explain everything. I must admit that in most cases it is effective. I think that when it comes to electronic signatures, there is still a lot to be done with regard to people’s attitude towards the subject. Electronic signatures guarantee the safety of business transactions. My dream is for business entities and administrative bodies to stop thinking that an agreement is always invalid or does not produce legal effects if it does not have a company stamp and a handwritten signature. I hope this will change soon."