Since 1920, the construction company has been at the heart of the organization. The 350 employees of the Nijs are jointly responsible for the development of various construction projects. Around thirty projects are run simultaneously either themselves or together with partners. For the construction projects, this modern builder combines old-fashioned reliable craftsmanship with innovative developments, in which the environment plays an important role. The two companies, M.J. de Nijs and the Nijs Castricum provide private construction, management and maintenance. In addition, the organization runs a carpentry factory in which its own window frames and other wooden elements are produced so that it can be sure of high quality.
As a specialist in the field of inner-city building large and small, often complicated projects, obtaining the necessary signatures per project became almost impossible. The signing process could take three weeks. Since November 2018, de Nijs has been using validsign’s sign solution and process optimization was the primary reason for this. The signing process of several business procedures was very cumbersome. Within the construction sector, complex sign-up processes are often involved because there are always several parties that do not work in the same location, agreeing to an agreement. “Bastiaan de Geus, Application Manager at the Nijs explains: Previously, a document was drawn up, printed out and placed on the desk of the first sign competent for signature. The documents remained for a long time and had to be sent by e-mail to the external signatories after internal signing. Which had to be archived manually after external signing. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be anymore.”
“I think it’s fantastic that the management can sign the necessary documents from home even after working hours”
The solution
De Nijs joined ValidSign through another construction company that is already using the ValidSign solution. “We realized that the signing processes within the company could be made more efficient,” said Diane Naber, Purchasing Administrative Officer.
At the time, validsign’s digital signature solution was chosen for its user-friendliness and existing integration with the Docstream document management system. “Documents are archived in docstream immediately after signing and are easy to see afterwards,” says De Geus. The sign-up solution has made contracts concluded more quickly because drawing powers can still sign and return the necessary documents on the same day, the same day. As a result, weeks change into days or even hours. This reduces the distance between the management secretariat, the employees working on site and the office staff. “I think it’s fantastic that the director can sign the necessary documents at home even after a long working day,” says Naber.
Shortly after implementation in the Purchasing Department, more departments within the Nijs followed. The solution is now also used by the Executive Secretariat for the signing of subcontractor agreements and the ICT department has user agreements signed via ValidSign.
Reliability and transparency
“ValidSign’s sign solution spreads like an oil slick within the Nijs,” says De Geus. A major cause of this is the full legal validity that the solution offers. Millions of contracts are regularly concluded by the Nijs for which this is essential. This was a requirement for the management. The wet signature is replaced by a digital signature without changing its strength. In addition to reliability, the Nijs with ValidSign can also offer transparency to partners and customers by inserting its own corporate identity into the ValidSign platform. This was visualized and implemented immediately after the purchase of the solution.
A future with ValidSign
Digital signing cannot be imagined for the future within the Nijs. Once the checkout states can also be signed with validsign’s solution, it will most likely spread throughout the company. This is because business leaders with a huge reach within the organization will work with ValidSign. Several integrations will then have to be developed because different applications will be used within the Nijs. “This will certainly happen in the near future, which will ultimately lead to full digital signing within our organization,” de Geus said.
