The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is the kind of “black swan” event that is disrupting countless aspects of business and life around the world, and the produce supply chain is not exempt. The Fusionware team wanted to find a way to limit person-to-person contact to prevent the virus from spreading. That meant changes to how members of the produce supply chain document all production, processing and distribution steps to facilitate full traceability while maintaining COVID-19-compliant touchless solutions.
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For years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, electronic signatures have been used to verify interstate commerce, thanks to the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act. The E-Sign Act provided rules to satisfy regulatory requirements around e-signatures. But in most systems, a physical signature is still required — commonly drawn with the finger or a stylus on a tablet or smartphone.
Fusionware has made it possible to eliminate that kind of physical touch altogether.
A no-touch system to solve the problem for the produce supply chain
“A lot of companies have everything running through a mobile device, and in order for the system to work at a place like a shipping office, every truck driver has to touch the pen or screen to sign for that load. But with COVID-19, we can’t do that,” said Fusionware President and CEO Creg Fielding. “Fusionware was faced with creating a 100% real-time e-signature system that would maintain the necessary health and safety standards but still provided full traceability.”
Fielding’s Fusionware team developed a “no-touch” process every member of the supply chain can use to provide the necessary authorization while still maintaining social distancing. “There are regulations around legal documents that you have to follow in order to meet e-signature guidelines, and our platform is compliant,” Fielding said.
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How touchless e-signatures work
Once a user transfers ownership to the next member of the supply chain in the Fusionware dashboard, the system sends a text message to the latter with a mobile web link to a digital signature pad. This enables the user to sign on to their own device, eliminating the need for personal contact.
The COVID-compliant e-signature system is permission based, meaning no data is shared from the Fusionware system unless the individual user allows it. Optimized for mobile, the system enables users to sign remotely from anywhere, making it more convenient for Fusionware customers in streamlining personal touchpoints in the supply chain without physical contact.
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