Since 1920, the construction company has formed the heart of the organisation. The 350 employees of De Nijs are jointly responsible for the development of various construction projects. Around thirty projects are run simultaneously, both independently and together with partners. For the construction projects, this modern builder combines old-fashioned reliable craftsmanship with innovative developments, in which the environment and sustainability play an important role. The two B.V.’s, M.J. de Nijs and De Nijs Castricum handle private construction, management, and maintenance. In addition, the organisation runs a carpentry factory where its own window frames and other wooden elements are produced to ensure top-quality standards.
As a specialist in inner-city construction of large and small, often complex projects, obtaining the required signatures per project became almost impossible. The signing process could take up to three weeks. De Nijs has been using ValidSign’s signing solution since November 2018, and process optimisation was the primary reason. The signing process for various business procedures was very cumbersome.
Within the construction sector, one often deals with complicated signing processes because there are always multiple parties who do not work at one and the same location, who must agree for an agreement to be reached. Bastiaan de Geus, Application Administrator at De Nijs, explains: "Previously, a document was drafted, printed, and placed on the desk of the first authorised signatory for signing. The documents remained there for a long time and then, after internal signing, had to be sent by email to the external signatories. After external signing, they had to be manually archived. Fortunately, this is no longer necessary."
"I think it is fantastic that the board of directors can also sign the necessary documents from home after working hours."
The solution
De Nijs found ValidSign through a competitor-colleague who was already using the solution. "We realised that the signing processes within the company could be made more efficient," says Diane Naber, Administrative Employee Purchasing.
At the time, ValidSign’s digital signature solution was chosen for its user-friendliness and the existing integration with the document management system Docstream. "Thanks to the connection, documents are immediately archived in the correct location in Docstream after signing and can easily be viewed afterwards," says De Geus. The signing solution has ensured that contracts are closed faster because authorised signatories anywhere in the world can sign and return the necessary documents the same day. As a result, weeks have turned into days or even hours. This shortens the distance between the executive secretariat, employees working on location, and office staff. "I think it is fantastic that the director can also sign the necessary documents at home after a long working day," says Naber.
Shortly after implementation in the Purchasing department, more departments within De Nijs followed. The solution is now also used by the executive secretariat for signing subcontractor agreements, and the ICT department has user agreements signed via ValidSign.
Reliability and transparency
"ValidSign’s signing solution is spreading like wildfire within De Nijs," says De Geus. An important reason for this is the full legal validity that the solution offers. Multi-million euro contracts are regularly closed by De Nijs, for which this is of essential importance. For the board of directors, this was therefore a requirement. The wet signature is replaced by a digital signature without changing its strength.
In addition to reliability, De Nijs can also offer transparency to partners and clients with ValidSign by incorporating their own corporate identity into the ValidSign platform. This was visualised and implemented immediately after purchasing the solution.
A future with ValidSign
Digital signing with ValidSign is indispensable for the future within De Nijs. Once the settlement statements can also be signed with ValidSign’s solution, it will most likely spread across the entire company. This is because business leaders with enormous reach within the organisation will then also start working with ValidSign. Multiple integrations will then need to be developed because various programmes are used within De Nijs.
"This will certainly happen in the near future, which will ultimately lead to complete digital signing within our organisation," says De Geus.
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