Digital transformation is the need of the hour, especially post-COVID-19 outbreak that compelled people to work remotely, and social distancing became the new norm. Leveraging this trend is MSB Docs, a pioneer in smart document solutions, helping large-scale enterprises as well as small entities in going paperless, reducing errors and storing documents. While the DNA of the company is over a decade old, it launched its services in India just over two years back, and is currently among the startups recognized by the Government of India under its flagship Startup India programme. The company serves Indian as well as global giants in several sectors, including life sciences, automobiles, manufacturing etc. MSB Docs also enables hybrid signature solutions in the form of digital and electronic signatures. In India, it has introduced an Aadhaar-specific signature solution. MSB Docs recently partnered with one of the world’s leading vaccine giant for the manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine. Arjit Bhargava, Vice President – Global Business Development, MSB Docs, speaks more about the company, its offerings and the current trend of digitization in India, in a conversation with Ramesh Kumar Raja. Excerpts:

How document digitization at an enterprise level is different from mobile-based apps?

Document digitization at an enterprise-level needs adherence to different laws and regulatory standards. For instance, in India our services adhere to the provisions specified under IT Act 2000. We are also compliant with ESIGN Act (USA), eIDAS (EU), FIPS 140-2, SOC2 and SOC3. We further comply with the highest security standards such as ISO 27001, EU-US Privacy Shield and SSAE 16, we are also compliant with FDA 21 CFR Part 11, EMA, IT Act 2000 and HIPAA.

Usually, with mobile-based apps, there is reliance on third-party platforms, whereas we are a one-stop solution for any scale of documentation. At an enterprise level, it is the large-scale industries that go paperless, whereas mobile-based apps are more relevant for smaller entities.

Which industries are more into document digitization? Please share market insight

Life Sciences, Pharma, BFSI, Healthcare and other regulated industries are more into document digitization. However, players in education and real estate are also gradually shifting to smart document solutions. Internationally, we offered complete documentation solution to one of the first developers of COVID-19 vaccine, while in India we have catered to BITS Pilani and Apollo Hospitals. Large-scale enterprises, as well as SMEs from across regulated industries, are leveraging smart documentation and eSigning solutions, though the penetration is yet to increase.

Where are the digitized documents stored and how strong is privacy if Aadhaar and Pan cards of a person are digitized by your platform?

Digitized documents are stored on the cloud in the most secure manner. For instance, we offer digital documentation needs to meet the most demanding regulatory compliance, including FDA 21 CFR Part 11, EMA, IT Act2000 and HIPAA compliance that are required for e-signatures and digital signatures across the globe. The documentation is tamper-proof and there’s a secure audit trail and validation package through an in-built document validation system, which lets you authenticate the signature’s digital ID certificate status and document’s integrity without putting manual effort.

We have in place Aadhaar Signature, wherein any Indian citizen having a valid Aadhaar card and a mobile number registered to it can easily sign documents. To sign a document, signers need to enter Aadhaar number, upon which they would receive an OTP on the registered mobile number for the signature to get done. All documents signed via MSB hold the highest standards for security and are compliant with different laws.

How/Can a small business like a smartphone retailer, kiryana store etc can utilise your solution?

We offer enterprise-level smart documentation and eSigning solutions. Such enterprises have a huge volume to be documented digitally and needs to adhere to specific guidelines and laws. We are primarily a B2B-based platform, catering to large-scale and SME industries.

What kind of pricing do you have for document digitization? Please share the volume for your plans.

We have a dynamic pricing in place for scale-hungry organisations, on both yearly as well as monthly basis. Through our different packages – Professional, Enterprise and Custom – one can choose what services they want to avail. One of our offerings is a Private Cloud, which is a single-tenant hosted environment dedicated to a customer’s systems and data. The cloud is hosted on AWS or Azure data centre at a location of customer’s choice. We also offer HSM Integration for advanced security through Hardware Security module-based PKI integration.

The ‘Professional’ package fits the budget of small organisations needing the most advanced features but no customization, ‘Enterprise’ package fits the bill in case of minor customization like selection of defaults, dashboard or email footer customization. Apart from this, we have a ‘Custom’ package, which is appropriate for enterprises that need major customizations and add ons such as White Label Branding, Team Collaborations via Team Room, External App Integrations, Web Forms etc.

Can your service be integrated in the apps of your clients like a hospital or school/ university? How it can be useful?

Yes, our services can be integrated in the apps of clients. Apollo Hospitals integrated their HR software module through MSB. Discharge summary automation, integrated with the hospital’s existing EMR system. All discharge documents and reports are automatically generated and routed, enabling doctors to review, edit, update and approve documents by adding additional instructions or comments. The documentation is then pushed back into the EMR system through an HL7 A03 message – optionally with a signed XML message. The doctors can carry out the actions on their mobile phone while patients benefit from a shorter wait time, resulting in higher bed-turn rates and saving for the hospital.

Certainly, integration into native app adds to the ease of doing things. However, there are limitations as well, therefore, many enterprises prefer using our host platform.