Easy
Time-saving, paper-free processes without media interruptions, for employees, students, partners and suppliers.
Switch Sign
Switch Sign gives you your electronic signature – it’s easy, quick and legally binding. Employees, students, participants and suppliers expect straightforward digital processes without media interruptions. Switch Sign reduces the time you spend concluding contracts, approvals and other agreements from days to mere minutes, which in turn saves you effort and costs.
Universities are using Switch Sign to eliminate the time-consuming handling of paper documents such as orders, enrolment confirmations, purchasing contracts, official documents and research agreements.
It accelerates these processes, ensuring maximum flexibility and control, and doing away with contract conclusion delays resulting from late signatures.
Is your institution still collecting signatures the old way? Switch to Switch Sign today and sign documents with your electronic signature – it’s easy, quick and legally binding. The service runs on all modern browsers and devices with no additional software hardware or plug-ins required.
The benefits of Switch at a glance
Quick
All parties can access the current document within seconds and sign it with just a few clicks.
Efficient
More efficient processes help reduce your administrative workload.
Legally binding
Accepted standards for greater legal security.
Secure
All data is processed in data centres in Switzerland under the control of Switch.
Independent
You can sign your documents from any place and device, at any time.
Software as a Service
Switch Sign is a software as a service solution, so it’s easy to integrate into your organisation. The intuitive user experience works across all modern browsers and devices, with no additional software, hardware or plug-ins required. With the Switch edu-ID integrated, you don’t need special user accounts for users or admin.
Technology provider – Certifaction
The technology behind Switch Sign is operated by Certifaction, a Swiss software start-up based in Zurich. Its e-signing solution completely safeguards its users’ privacy and is already being used in over ten countries.
Simple, professional or qualified signature
The federal law on electronic signatures – ZertES – and the EU regulation eIDAS distinguish between different quality levels. These differ in terms of applications and validity.
Switch Sign distinguishes between simple electronic signatures (SES), advanced signatures (AES) according to ZertES and qualified electronic signatures (QES) according to ZertES and eIDAS. In addition, the professional electronic signature (PES) is an unregulated alternative with increased evidential value. Users are identified for this purpose via Auto-Ident, which is also a component of Switch Sign.
A qualified electronic signature with Switch Sign meets either the requirements of the federal law on electronic signatures – ZertES – or the EU regulation eIDAS.
| Simple electronic signature (SES) | Advanced electronic Ssignature (AES) | Professional electronic signature (PES) | Qualified electronic signature (QES) | |
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| Application | Documents where written form is not required, with minimal liability risk | Documents where written form is not required, with minimal liability risk | Documents where written form is not required, with low liability risk | Documents where written form is required or with high liability risk |
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Roles and functions
Admin
Points of contact for Switch for anything related to Switch Sign.
- Admins can activate Switch Sign for members of their own organisation with just a few clicks.
- Report functions provide an overview of service use.
- They are responsible for 1st-level support for local users and escalate support cases to Switch Sign’s 2nd-level support.
User
They are responsible for managing documents, in particular for downloads and archiving signed documents.
- Users can upload documents and assign them to signatories within and outside of their own organisation with just a few clicks. They start the signature workflow.
- They monitor the ongoing and completed workflow status in Switch Sign to issue reminders to signatories who have not yet signed.
Signatories
They are responsible for providing the signature and its significance in the context of the signed document.
- Users send emails to invite signatories to sign documents on the Switch Sign platform; where necessary, users guide signatories through an identification and signature process.
- They then download fully signed documents from the platform.
What makes Switch Sign unique
Integration of the Switch edu-ID
Your Switch Sign authentication uses the Switch edu-ID.
Privacy by Design
The service is operated with minimum data sharing in data centres in Switzerland.
Switch Community
Networking with relevant contacts in the education, research and innovation community.
Digitalisation hotspot
Collaborative development of the service roadmap by the community, and a user forum which provides inspiration for further digitalisation projects in the university sector.
Annual savings of EUR 150,000
The University of Tartu, Estonia has a student body of 18,000. When the university interacts with students, it relies entirely on electronic signatures rather than pen and paper. To great success – the uni’s administration department estimates that this saves them EUR 12,190 per month.
Diego Tres
Community Account Manager
Laurent Combe
Community Account Manager