Send, receive, and manage your eContracts from SwiftCloud!
SwiftCloud is much more than just legally binding electronic signature – it’s a complete eContract management system to streamline your sales. In minutes you can go paperless, streamline & automate workflows, and move your contracts to the cloud where it’s securely accessible 24/7 from any device, backed up, and ready for collaboration.
SwiftCloud eContracts can help increase revenue, reduce costs, save time, and systemize compliance.
eContracts can be any mix of PDFs or responsive device-formatted text bundled into an envelope, or standalone, and can be integrated with payment flows or invoicing.
eContract details like price, payment terms, client’s name can be pre-filled a variety of ways via simple web interface, API sessions from other software, web-forms, or from within SwiftCRM, the CRM systems built into SwiftCloud. SwiftCloud’s eContract system also has dozens of contract templates, and you can create your own templates that only your company can see.
Let’s dive into a complete e-Contract life cycle.
For simpler sales in which you want to instantly generate an eContract, SwiftCloud now as a powerful “sessions” sales collaboration system that allows you to grab or clone a template, modify it if needed, then start filling in customer data right on the fly. Data fields can be locked (say, for price or terms) or unlocked (such as the spelling of the client’s last name). eContracts can be reviewed real time and you can have a signed legally binding contract before you’re even off the phone – no more chasing things down or weeks of back and forth, or client’s dealing with printer hassles or fax machines.
Most sales doesn’t start with a contract, but instead starts with a sales conversation on the phone or in person for higher dollar amounts. Marketing and sales gather info about the client and the contract is customized prior to sending out. If you have an existing CRM or contacts management system, this data could be exported or connected via API, which is how software systems talk to each other. If you don’t have a CRM already, you can simply start gathering data about this potential sale directly into SwiftCloud’s contact manager and CRM.
Once a contract is generated (usually in minutes, and potentially in seconds in real time during a phone conversation) the e-Contract can be signed online with legally binding e-signature. If you need deeper collaboration, documents can be discussed online with multi-channel discussion tools, files can be updated anytime including in real time, and portions or fields assigned to a given party based on role such as buyer or seller, or employer and worker.
Any signed eContract typically generates a PDF copy that gets emailed to you and stored online in SwiftCloud’s collaboration workrooms, a shared cloud based drive space with communication tools. A copy for the signer(s) is usually sent out with a customized message, branded with your logo and colors. All signer activity can be accessed through a portal, branded with your company logo and colors.
Getting your eContract set up is easy. In most cases, simply upload your contract as a Word doc and our system will convert it to HTML which you can then start to edit through the easy online editor. Simply replace underline portions with shortcodes using the easy shortcode generator, or grab snippets of code from the free templates library. We also have fully done-for-you setup options available.
SwiftCloud’s eContract system can be used for procurement and managing of RFPs, can help you streamline your sales team and standardize compliance, can reduce risk by disallowing modifications to contracts by staff or clients, and so much more.
Don’t take our word for it – ask us for a personalized demo, or take a risk-free test drive today and try it yourself. We’ve built this out of necessity for clients like you.
Personalizing an e-Contract
You’ve got a few options to personalize any contract, and which is best for you depends on how much you need to customize.
- “Small” – if, say, 98% of the contract is the same for everyone, and you need to customize just a few fields, the best option is using shortcodes and variables, which can look editable OR not editable. For example, by making “price” and “delivery_date” as variables, you can easily define them without having to modify the actual source.
- “Medium” – if you need blocks of text that turn on and off, one easy way to do this is using if-then branching logic. This can make it very easy to design one contract with blocks of text that get displayed or hidden based on options – say, for example, if a client wants installation or does not want installation, and if they do want installation, you need to add a few pages of text, but the underlying logic is a single yes/no option, this may be best for you.
- “Large” – if you need each contract to be very customized, such as larger business contracts with individualized terms, or legal forms that are somewhat common but contain variances (say, a Divorce decree) then leveraging templates may be the best option for you. Either of the above methods can be used to generate a quick starting place, then if needed, you could easily clone a snapshot copy and then modify it further.
Where can the input variables for an e-Contract come from?
Options for data source include…
- Manual input using the “Sessions” system. This is common for sales for example – a client calls in, you start a contract in seconds while the client is on the phone, start filling in variables, and can get a signature before they’re even off the phone, or at least have it sent to them via email or SMS. Contract Sessions are automatically saved into that client’s branded portal, so they can log in and resume the session, further correct the doc(s) if needed (i.e. spelling of their last name, delivery address etc)
- API (Application Programming Interface) – this is how software talks to each other. Other systems can “push” data into SwiftCloud to generate eContracts, and then SwiftCloud can automatically push data back such as a URL of an e-signable doc.
- Mail Merge from CSV data. This is scheduled but less common, if you need it just let us know and we’ll finish it up.
- POST or GET – this is a simple URL-driven or HTML form driven system that’s easy for web developers to integrate.
- Need something else? Contact our support team.
More questions:
What is an e-Contract?
An e-Contract is as the name implies a contract formed electronically, usually online. Basic contract law stipulates a basis and consideration i.e. what’s being provided and the price or compensation for it. Rules for the formation, basic terms, and governance of an eContract are a foundation of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act in the United States, while similar laws exist for many countries throughout the world.
Are e-Contracts binding?
Yes, as part of the federal E-SIGN act of 2000 in the United States; similar laws exist in most countries worldwide now.
Further reading