oneworld: the First Alliance to Enable Corporate Customers to Complete Sales Contracts Electronically

We have some exciting news: oneworld®, the leading quality airline alliance, is claiming another alliance first by becoming what is believed to be the first of the global airline groupings to enable corporate customers to complete contracts electronically with electronic signature from DocuSign.

Until now, sales agreements between oneworld and multinational corporate clients were drawn up following traditional industry procedures - on paper and requiring signatures in pen and ink by representatives of the customer and all the alliance member airlines participating in the deal.

That meant printing multiple copies of documents and sending them by courier from one head office to another, from continent to continent.  As a result, it could take weeks for a single contract to be signed by all participants with postal costs alone totaling up to $1,000 each time.

Now the alliance has reached an agreement with market-leading electronic signature company DocuSign that enables the entire process to be handled securely via internet links.  DocuSign was already being used by oneworld member American Airlines for sales contracts.  Now DocuSign's electronic signature solution is being adopted for oneworld alliance global sales contracts too.

Greater Speed and Efficiency in the Sales Process With Electronic Signature

oneworld Manager Global Sales Eileen Yeager shared thoughts regarding the value of electronic signature from DocuSign (emphasis ours):

This new system will enable us to work a great deal faster and more efficiently, for the benefit of our customers, our businesses and the planet, as we will no longer need to print all that paper and then courier it around the world. It is a completely secure procedure that meets all legal requirements and enables us to provide an even better service to our clients - another breakthrough benefit from the world's leading quality alliance that we know our customers will really value.

The alliance's first contract completed using this new system is with international mining group Rio Tinto, a truly global company with a significant worldwide travel spend.  This contract required authorizing signatures from the multinational's Procurement head office in Brisbane (Australia), travel buying unit in Paris (France) and from sales executives from the oneworld member airlines in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

Rio Tinto's Global Head of Procurement Scott Singer shared thoughts from the signer perspective:

Being able to complete our contract with oneworld electronically has made this whole process so much more efficient. We manage more than 50,000 Rio Tinto suppliers worldwide and we greatly value innovative solutions such as this that help us to streamline processes and improve our effectiveness.

oneworld was the first global alliance to enable passengers to transfer between flights operated by all member airlines with the convenience of electronic tickets and the first to sell any alliance consumer fares via the internet. Enabling corporate customers to complete contracts electronically via esignature is demonstrative of oneworld's technological leadership.

We're pleased and excited to provide oneworld with the electronic signature services for their global sales contracts.