Cybersecurity in Saudi Arabia: Mohammed Geoffrey Presents Top E-Signature Platform IndorseSign

Interview with Mohammed Geoffrey, Chairman and CEO at Indorse Services

What are the challenges that you face to boost your business?

The biggest challenge currently is that because this is a new concept, we need to explain by direct selling. We need to show the customers and to discuss with them how to do this part of their business online and remotely rather than how they are doing it now, which is the manual way. They have to understand what each tool is getting them and how they are securing the business using it. There are a lot of companies selling digital signature services around the world, but they care about offering data signature only. We are offering a complete, safe environment. We want to make sure that moving to the new way will be secure and that it will prevent fraud, corruption, etc. Still, each customer we talk to has a different process that he is using in his company and he is following certain ways of conducting business with a customer or supplier. We have to study the case and then present to them what they need to do. Our tool is fit for everyone from government to businesses – small, medium, large – any sector. But, each sector has a different way of processing business.

Are you interested in looking for investors?

If we get investors, we will get more people to conduct more direct sales and we will be growing much faster.

What is the scope of your services and what are your competitive advantages? How do you distinguish yourself from what exists already on the market?

IndorseSign is an advanced digital transaction management platform with content management and process management engines all packaged into one platform to offer the user a complete journey to sign and collaborate with customers, employees, suppliers, etc. This is a complete platform. We have features that our competitors do not have, such as endorsement which is something that we have added to the digital signature world which brings authorization. So, if a company wants to know if this signer is authorized to sign a certain document, how would they know that? Through the endorsement by the head of the company or the head of the department using a digital certificate in the name of the company or in the name of the department, they can be assured that this signer who signed this document is really authorized by the company or by the department to sign that document. Endorsement is assurance for recipients of documents that this document is really signed by the authorized people. Another feature we have is the authorization of a certain user on the platform. Is he authorized to sign on behalf of himself or on behalf of a company? If on behalf of a company, is he as a delegate or is he as a manager? All that information we get from the beginning and we document it digitally so there is proof of this authorization from the start. We have also added authorization in the enrollment of a user and we have added authorization in the document signing itself. These are the two features that we have patents on in the US and Europe.

What is your market?

It can be anywhere in the world, but the most important thing is that there has to be a regulation in that country that supports what we are doing so these documents will be defensible in court. If the country is doing that, then we can work in that country.

What is your product?

In 2014, we said that our product needs content management and process management engines. Should we build these process and content management engines ourselves or should we partner with an already successful content and processor engine? We became an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) for Alfresco which is one of the leading content management companies in Europe and the US. Whatever development is done on that content management is already reflected into our software. We also have our digital transaction management that we developed on top of it. So, we have a very good combination. We are like two companies competing with the rest.

What has been the acceptance in the Saudi market as you have been building this product and evolving for the last several years?

IndorseSign is an advanced digital transactions, content management and process management platform to easily sign, seal and endorse documents.

We started in 2003. The Transaction Act was introduced in 2007. After that, we needed a certificate provider license to do the work which was only introduced in 2020. So, it took 13 years for a commercial certificate authority to be in place before we could start. In 2019, we went to Europe, but for Europe, even that field is still new. They used to sign even with USB tokens and cards. They did not have remote options. I also became part of the CSC (Cloud Signature Consortium) which promotes remote signing. Everything we were bringing to the market was all new and it has to happen for it to be successful and to be convincing to the customer to buy. Now, the whole story is ready for the market.

What has been the clients’ acceptance? What do they say about the product?

They want onboarding of customers remotely. Also, they want to keep all their legal documents digitally. They want to move to the digital world completely. They do not want to sign a document where they send from the branch to the head office, etc., and we are helping them in doing that.

What is your approach to investment?

I have an investor with me right now. I want to prove the point to sell to the bank and get a success story, then try to repeat this 100 times. I need investment to do so. But, I have to prove it the first time.

Are you going to start with the banking sector and then go sector by sector?

We are also working with the trade companies who buy and sell. They have a lot of purchase orders and they deal with small clients such as small grocery stores and they want to digitally do their business with them easily. So, we are trying to cover that also.

What are your current projects or major clients that you have worked with?

We signed with one of the top three banks in Saudi Arabia in July last year. Once they saw how it would change their way of working, they had to build new implementation teams and prepare them. That is why it took them quite a while to come back to be ready for the implementation and also for us to prepare for what they want and what they are looking for because it is a totally new product. I am the first one who implemented the first ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) in the Kingdom here in Saudi Arabia. I know it takes quite a while for the first implementation to go on because there is going to be a lot of surprises and a lot of challenges that you have to move across, etc. So, it is not easy being the first of something.

What is your approach to the customer base?

It is better to talk to the operation people and they are the best in the banks because they are seeing everything and how they can save money for that operation. Currently, we do all the technology. We do not even let anyone touch the code because of security. We install it for them and we maintain it for them. If they are on premise, they only need to prepare the hardware and give us the things. We do most of the work. Actually, in the process of implementation, they do not have much: the operation that they would like to have, the workflows the way that they like, how would they want the document to be archived, how long it is going to be retained, etc.

Has this recent accelerated movement of digitalization been a major push for you?

Of course. At the beginning, when COVID first came, for a lot of people the only alternative was to work from home. Now, if they have the tools to work from home, they would be really happy, they are working, they are completing everything. If they have to go in a car and deliver a document to be signed to a client or to a supplier, then it would be a problem because they are going to be caught and be fined. It is more productive to work from home for them if they have all the tools, Zoom, etc. They can do all the work and the signing they can do through us and the document they can archive into our platform. Actually, even before COVID this would save them a lot of time. We save operation up to 80% in time, money, effort, environment, human life, everything.

Are you afraid that once that you push this service then people can copy you? Is the product difficult to copy?

First, we do have a patent in the endorsement and the authorization. There are a lot of competitors, but we still have very strong engines from Alfresco. The content management that we have is quite high level.

The large competitors that are doing a lower level service, is that not the trend that they will go and extend the level of service that they will provide to feel that they will go and propose that higher level?

We offer on the private cloud and public cloud, but we can offer also on premise. So, if you want it in your premise, we can install it for you. This flexibility makes the customer really happy because whatever ways he feels safe with we can do. If he wants his document on his premise, we can do it. If he wants it on his private cloud where he has administration authority of it, we can do it. If he wants to have it on the public cloud, we can also do it. The price varies, but we will do whatever he likes.

Project yourself into the medium term, three years’ time. What do you want to achieve?

The target is 100 enterprises – small, medium, or large. If I close the 100 within three years, that would be good enough for me to spread all around the world and get more investors to increase the staff that will do the marketing and sales.

What is your inspiration? Clearly, it has not been an easy journey getting a company off the ground, getting a product off the ground, making sure that it is a quality product, doing everything that you have done. What has driven you to keep doing what you do?

I like to help people. If there is something people need, why should you stop? I see that this helps people. So, why should I stop? I want to do it myself and I want to do it perfectly.

ABOUT INDORSE SERVICES: Indorse Services is based in Saudi Arabia. The company aims at improving cybersecurity through its advanced digital transactions, content management and process management platform IndorseSign. The digital signature platform enables users to easily sign, seal and endorse documents. IndorseSign is a member of the CSC (Cloud Signature Consortium), a group of industry and academic organizations committed to building a new standard for cloud-based (remote) digital signatures that will support web and mobile applications and comply with the most demanding electronic signature regulations in the world.

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