Pixid: e-processing for the world of temping
Temporary employment generates thirty million documents each year, with the need to optimise and accelerate transactions between the different parties a high priority. Pixid has turned to OpenTrust to provide its 3000 users a much sought after solution for electronically exchanging temping contracts and other administrative documents. This move to e-transactions has resulted in a marked reduction in both contract processing time and administrative costs, with integrity guaranteed by secure electronic signatures.  To date, over 80 000 contracts and other extremely sensitive documents have been electronically exchanged, signed and filed via the platform.

OPENTRUST: providing a modular solution
In a single project, OpenTrust SPI has been actively providing Pixid business processes with electronic signature, timestamping and proof management services for several months and ensures compliance with the European Electronic Signatures Directive 1999/93/EC concerning e-signatures and trust in the digital economy.

The modules SPI Sign and SPI Security Server, Common Criteria certified, provide Pixid with client-side signatures, signature validation and proof management functions. SPI Viewer is used to manage and store proof files that are then legally archived by interfacing with a third-party archiver. Electronically signed contracts are then encrypted prior to archiving.

The Pixid team found the middleware approach particularly attractive, as Marc Mouttet, Director of IT, explained: “Implementing an application capable of meeting both current and future needs was extremely important to us. We needed middleware with an infrastructure and components capable of providing services to all future applications.”

Positive Results
Pixid has already experienced excellent return on investment: in the very first year of production, the e-platform saved customers over 3 million Euros when compared to traditional paper processing methods. Other positive factors include improved productivity and reduced administrative time and costs.

The e-platform is a unique and standardised system where operations are centralised. “Just imagine how long it takes to sign 50 contracts by hand! You have to read them, initial them and sign them… Mass signing of contracts is now possible with electronic signatures. Dozens of contracts can be initialled and signed in a single operation,” adds Mouttet.

Transactions are secured via authentication of signatories, whilst electronic archiving guarantees the integrity and confidentiality of data exchanged via the platform.

“Pixid’s e-platform is a first-class example of the ROI that can be expected from large scale implementation of electronic signatures,” enthuses Olivier Guilbert, CEO of OPENTRUST. “The global and multi-application approach to electronic signatures and associated proof will enable companies to carry out long-awaited projects for paperless processing and e-transactions that have, until now, been too difficult to implement due to poor technology.”

About Pixid
Founded in November 2004 by temporary employment leaders Adecco, Manpower and Vediorbis; Pixid is the European Temporary Employment Industry’s solution for electronically exchanging and managing contracts and administrative papers.  Backed by PRISME, the French union for temporary employment, and acknowledged by the European Commission, Pixid is based in France (Courbevoie) and comprises 20 collaborators. This optimized solution for securely exchanging information via an internet platform has been operational since April 2005 and is used by temping agencies, large corporations and small startups.
For further information: www.pixid.fr