e-Archive your original documents

In your company, you use information or documents in electronic format. These documents may be derived from hard copy originals (e.g. following a scan), or be generated directly in electronic format (e.g. a PDF document).

Our product is designed for you if you are required to keep these hard copy documents because they are originals and because you have to comply with a requirement to keep these hard copy original legal documents (for a certain duration).

If this is the case, it is also highly probable that, for practical reasons within the company, you work every day in parallel with electronic 'copies' of these documents (hard copy originals).

It is more than likely that this gives rise to operating costs and costs associated with keeping hard copy originals because:

  • you have to pay for archiving paper although in practice, working with electronic copies would suffice in your organisation ;
  • you have to pay for every search for an original hard copy document.

Do e-Archiving solutions resolve the problem?

To a very small degree: the solutions on the market for archiving or electronic backups do enable electronic scans or electronic documents to be stored, but they are not originals whose integrity and authenticity can be proved; this is all the more true for long-term storage.

The e-Origination product for your documents

  • transform your hard copy originals into electronic originals, so you do not have to keep the hard copy original ;
  • guarantee the integrity and authenticity of documents in a legally recognised and irrevocable manner ;
  • directly generate legally recognised electronic originals ;
  • keep the integrity of your archives. Keep legally recognised electronic originals as a replacement for paper archives ;
  • reuse and keep your electronic document flows and electronic files in PDF format, if you have them in your organisation ;
  • reuse and keep your archiving systems and backup systems (with or without encryption), if you have them in your organisation. In this sense, you retain the freedom to decide whether to store your electronic documents internally or externally with a third party.

How does our product work?

The way the product works is based on two technologies connected to the electronic signature so that the following cryptographic properties can be applied:

  • Making the document unmodifiable. In this context, to use an analogy from the world of paper, the signature acts as a wax seal bearing the owner's stamp. It is impossible to make even the slightest amendment to the document, while still preserving legibility and usability. The proof of the integrity of the document is thus assured.
  • Making the authenticity of the document indisputable. The combination of the electronic signature and the use of a (certified) timestamp make the source of this document non-repudiable and legally indisputable.
  • A periodic iteration of the signature (re-timestamping) of the original archived documents guarantees long-term legal preservation, which is indisputable and accepted in a court of law. This process is automatic and requires no manual intervention in the archives.
  • The eID Company provides the client(s) with the certificate(s) necessary to perform these electronic signature operations. Therefore, the client does not have to worry about any highly technical prerequisites.
  • It operates automatically and the client has the choice of obtaining a dedicated infrastructure.

The advantages of the product

A solution for eliminating the costs of maintaining and archiving your original legal papers.

For example: storing 1,000 boxes of A4 at a cost to you of €100 a year, plus the one-off costs of searching for and delivering a specific document from the archive becomes => storing signed documents on hard disks at a cost to you of €33 a year, while eliminating the one-off costs of searching for and delivering documents.

A solution for reconciling electronic document flows (your workflows) and original documents.

This reduces the costs of exchanging and sending originals. For example: searching for an original document in paper archive no. 123, getting someone to find that original, making a true copy of it, and replacing the original in the paper archive becomes => searching for the original electronic PDF instantly and sending it as an attachment to an email …

A greener and more environmentally friendly solution, enabling a further reduction in the handling and production of paper.

We dovetail and easily integrate with your current archive provider, if you have one.

To find out more about this product, or to request a specific study of your situation, contact us here.