Six years with Signable: How Anritsu’s eSignature needs evolved
Anritsu is an established global technology company supporting industries such as telecommunications, food inspection, and environmental testing. Headquartered in Japan, with around 5,000 employees worldwide, the company provides specialist testing and inspection equipment to businesses around the world.
With teams operating across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), straightforward processes for managing agreements help Anritsu support its customers and make everyday tasks easier for employees.
Finding the right fit for a global business
Before 2020, HR was one of Anritsu’s teams managing a particularly manual process. Employment contracts were printed, scanned, and emailed to candidates, adding several administrative steps to getting documents signed.
“We looked at what was on the market, and Signable was the one that ticked the most boxes.”
Why Anritsu chose Signable
Anritsu compared the eSignature providers available at the time, with price and functionality among its key considerations.
Signable met those requirements and became Anritsu’s chosen eSignature platform in 2020.
Ease of use has remained particularly important as more teams have adopted the platform. With a central IT function supporting different business units across EMEA, new Signable users need very little additional support.
“That’s what I like about Signable. It’s really straightforward. Users watch a five-minute training video, and then I never hear anything from them. From my point of view, that’s perfect.”
And Signable didn’t remain an HR-only tool for long.
From employment contracts to equipment lending
Today, Anritsu uses Signable for contract-related documents across HR, finance, and regional operations.
One of its more unusual applications goes beyond the standard contract process:
Anritsu lends demonstration equipment to customers and manages bookings through an internally developed system. Each loan requires a signed agreement, so the team connected Signable directly to its booking system using Signable’s Application Programming Interface (API).
“We managed to get it working so that, within the demo booking system, it automatically sends the Signable documents to the customer to sign, and they come directly back into the demo booking system.”
Less time spent managing signed documents
One of the clearest benefits for Anritsu has been the reduction in manual work involved in getting agreements signed.
Employees spend less time scanning documents, managing email exchanges, and manually archiving completed agreements.
By simplifying these everyday tasks, Signable helps Anritsu save employees time and improve efficiency across its teams.
“Signable is definitely one of the tools that helps us be more efficient in our daily work. Instead of scanning, emailing, getting documents back, and archiving them, it does it all. The time-saving part is key from a business point of view.”
When Anritsu needed QES
As Anritsu’s use of Signable grew, so did its signing requirements.
Its legal team began requesting Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES). Initially, demand was too low to justify introducing another solution. But as requests increased, finding a way to support QES became a priority.
Around the same time, Signable was developing QES functionality to support customers with more specific signing requirements.
The timing couldn’t have been better. Just as Anritsu was considering how best to accommodate these requests, an email arrived from Signable confirming that QES was in development.
“We were just about to choose, and then this email popped up in my inbox from Signable saying, ‘We are working on it.’ Perfect timing, absolutely perfect.”
For Anritsu, the announcement meant it could continue using a familiar platform, as Signable was expanding its capabilities to support the evolving needs of businesses like theirs.
With QES now part of Signable’s offering, businesses can manage a wider range of signing requirements within one familiar platform.
A lasting fit for Anritsu
What began with employment contracts has expanded considerably since 2020.
Signable now supports different teams across Anritsu’s EMEA operations, including its equipment-loan process, where agreements are automatically sent for signature and returned to its internal booking system.
As Anritsu’s signing requirements have changed, Signable has continued to meet the needs of its teams.
Six years on, Signable has become an established part of Anritsu’s contract processes:
“Especially from a contract point of view, we can’t live without it now. That’s for sure.”