Customer Spotlight: EzyAccounts finds super-fast path to signing up franchisees

EzyAccounts is growing fast, bringing on new franchisees every day. Growth seldom comes without a challenge, and for EzyAccounts it was the pain of finalising franchise agreements. Oliver Hunt, Co-Founder & Executive Director at EzyAccounts shares how digitising helped remove friction- and cost - from this process.

Can you tell us more about EzyAccounts?

 EzyAccounts provides bookkeeping and business advisory to a growing network of franchisees. Many of these are senior accountants who’ve exited the corporate world to grow their own businesses. We set them up with training and the systems they need, then help them to acquire clients.

We go beyond traditional bookkeeping and work closely with our clients to understand their strengths. We can then identify opportunities for them to become more profitable and efficient.

How does eSignature help you to help franchisees?

The world of franchising is heavily regulated and we need to jump through a lot of hoops just to get deals signed. One of these is a two-week waiting period between the time we share the terms of the agreement with an applicant and the time we invite them to sign. So we would share the terms, and then print and bind the final agreement, sending it out as the two weeks came to a close.

There was a lot of pressure to get the timing right. If the agreement was received and signed too soon, it would be nullified. If it was lost or delayed, it could put the deal at risk.

When we discovered DocuSign’s eSignature solution, we saw the opportunity to digitise this process – making it easier for everyone and improving compliance.

What does the signing process for new franchisees look like today?

We now send franchise agreements to applicants in the DocuSign app on the very day they’re eligible to sign. The digital documents are typically signed within two days at which point we receive an alert that the deal is complete. It is fast and seamless compared to the old way of doing things, where we would be chasing signatures and checking the mail for two weeks.

Doing things digitally is much easier for applicants too. They no longer need to track down a third-party witness or find time to scan in documents. DocuSign is the witness! When they’re ready to sign up, it’s easy for them to do it.

What other benefits are you seeing as a result of using DocuSign?

We’ve reduced the time it takes internally to manage franchise agreements, by an average of four hours per document. We’ve avoided the need for new headcount and saved an estimated $750 per agreement.

Of course, the key benefit is the ability for franchisees to sign up faster. Taking on a franchise can be a life changing decision. We find that those who take the leap want to start making plans right away.

What’s next for EzyAccounts when it comes to digitisation?

 We want to transact without paper wherever we can and have already started using DocuSign for renewals. Next, we will explore embedding digital signatures into our accounting processes.

To experience how easy it is to use DocuSign, try our interactive demo.