The Government of Indonesia calls on people to implement physical distancing in public spaces to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Many local companies have responded to this call by imposing work-from-home (WFH) policies for their employees. To support and protect business continuity during this challenging time, PrivyID, a Jakarta-based digital signature service provider, offers their service free from charge for a month.
Based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 29 2020, the spread of COVID-19 caused by the COVID-2019 virus has infected over 600,000 people and claimed more than 30,000 lives worldwide. The pandemic has prompted WHO and governments around the globe to impose quarantine or at least urge its citizens to stay at home as an attempt to contain the virus spread within the society. In Indonesia, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has extended the emergency period of the Coronavirus outbreak until May 29, 2020. Businesses that operate in the country are encouraged to instruct their employees to work from their own home as opposed to coming to the office. However, work-from-home policy presents another challenge in itself, especially for companies who have to conduct their transactions by sending or signing documents.
PrivyID, Indonesia’s first legally-binding digital signature service provider, has recently launched a program to help Indonesian companies respond to this challenge called “Tanda Tangan #dirumahaja” (Translation: Sign Documents from Home). Companies that register through the site http://wfh.privy.id are exempted from the registration fee of Enterprise account. An Enterprise account is a digital document management solution that is designed by PrivyID to help businesses of all scales navigate their business more efficiently.
Once registered, Enterprise account can be accessed by up to 10 employees. Users of this account can then use the platform to share and digitally sign internal documents without limit. For external documents, PrivyID provides 100 balances that can be used to collect 100 electronic signatures. The program will run through April 2020 and is applicable for both companies who are new to PrivyID’s service and all of PrivyID’s existing clients.
“As a company, we would like to contribute as much as we can to help the Indonesian economy and to minimize the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak. Digitally signing the documents is also helpful to provide a better protection for all of us, as it helps many of us avoid paper documents,” said Marshall Pribadi, CEO of PrivyID.
A research from the National Institutes of Health USA stated that the Coronavirus can last up to 24 hours on the surface of inanimate objects made of paper. Furthermore, face-to-face meetings or personally delivering paper documents will also increase the risk of spreading the virus.
Marshall also added, “This country has helped us a lot. Ever since our beginning, subsidiaries of state-owned enterprises, MDI Ventures of Telkom and MCI of Bank Mandiri have put their belief in us and support our causes. There’s no better time for us to return the favor to our country”.
MDI Ventures, the venture arm of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (Telkom), also expressed their support for the program. “We are optimistic that PrivyID’s program could assist the Indonesian government in reducing the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.” said Sandhy Widyasthana, COO & Portfolio Director of MDI Ventures. He concluded, “Digital signature and digitized document management solution helps businesses to maintain their productivity, as the technology enables us to process our business anywhere with our devices”,
