neunerhaus helps homeless and uninsured people to find their way back to a self-determined life - no matter how bumpy the road may be and how many steps it takes. Every year, more than 1,000 formerly homeless and homeless people are supported and advised in three neunerhaus residential buildings as well as with Housing First and mobile assisted living. Around 6,000 people are treated at the neunerhaus health center each year.
Portrait
**Organization name:**neunerhaus
**Brief description of the project:**Digital transformation of signature processes, thereby significantly reducing the administrative workload. This enables the organization to make its internal processes more efficient and gain more time for direct social work with homeless people and people at risk of poverty.
Why sproof sign:"We have to use our scarce administrative time resources particularly consciously - this is where the digital signature is a great improvement."
Dr. Stephan Gremmel, Managing Director
How did the decision to introduce the digital signature come about?
Due to our organizational structure, most of the documents we sign require the signatures of two people. Until 2023, we had signature folders that were carried from A to B - and a lot of administrative work: lead time had to be planned for signing, and colleagues regularly asked about documents and their status in the signature process. Everything then had to be scanned by hand and also archived in paper form. We have to use our scarce time resources in administration particularly consciously - it was obvious that there was a need for improvement here. In addition to the fact that signing is independent of location, the main reason for this was the saving of time and ecological resources for printing, internal mail, obtaining signatures and scanning paper documents. Another incentive was the simplified signing and administration of personnel-related documents for our employees.
How important is the digital transformation for neunerhaus?
Most employees at neunerhaus work directly with people, e.g. in social work or in the healthcare sector. In the context of the digital transformation, we are particularly concerned with the topic of digital inclusion - primarily the inclusion of our users, but as an employer we are also concerned with the skills of our employees to keep pace with digitalization and use digital signatures - this is required by more and more bodies or facilitates official channels. In recent years, we have digitalized numerous processes in our support processes, such as in management, in the HR department and in controlling. A key driver here was the coronavirus pandemic, which has further accelerated this change. Another important factor is our aspiration to handle our human resources with particular care and use them as effectively as possible. Digitalization is helping us to promote both efficiency gains and innovation, particularly in our HR work. Digital tools and personal contact complement each other perfectly. A concrete example from HR work: we always combine the digital signature of a new employment contract with a personal appointment to sign the contract.
We have to use our scarce time resources in administration particularly consciously - the digital signature is a great improvement here.
What criteria were decisive for you when looking for the right e-signature provider?
When looking for the right e-signature provider, several key criteria were decisive for us. First and foremost was cost, because as a non-profit organization we have to use our budget efficiently. Equally important was user-friendliness: the solution not only had to be intuitive to use, but also offer features such as batch signatures and a clear dashboard to optimize our workflows. In addition, essential functions such as adding annotations, placing signatures in multiple places in the document and defining signature sequences were essential. We were also looking for a web-based solution that was easy to integrate and guaranteed full legal validity.
Another must was data protection and strict compliance with the GDPR. sproof guarantees that all data is stored on European servers, which provides us with an additional level of security. Counterfeit protection was also a decisive factor in order to reliably rule out manipulation. In addition, customer support needed to be available at all times without incurring additional costs for every contact. We found all of these requirements to be fully met by sproof.
For which applications is the digital signature used?
Digital signatures are used at neunerhaus in a variety of applications, particularly for contracts and other important documents that require a quick and legally secure signature. These include contracts with external partners, payment requests, budget approvals and other business-relevant documents that need to be signed by the management. Since June 2024, digital signatures have also been used for personnel-related documents, such as employment contracts, supplementary agreements, work confirmations and certificates for employees.
How did the cloud integration work?
The integration of the cloud solution went smoothly and efficiently. To make the changeover as easy as possible for all employees, we created internal instructions that explain step-by-step how to sign documents via sproof. We in the management team also dealt intensively with the process at the beginning, but the new processes have now become very well established. Thanks to sproof's clear structure and intuitive user interface, we were able to integrate the digital signature into our existing workflows without any problems.
What security, compliance and data protection requirements does an organization like neunerhaus have?
As a social organization that works with the sensitive data of many people, neunerhaus has the highest standards in terms of security, data protection and legal compliance. The protection of personal data in particular is of the utmost importance, as the basis of trust with our employees and partners must be maintained.
What do you particularly like about sproof sign?
We particularly appreciate sproof's excellent customer support. Inquiries are processed quickly and in a solution-oriented manner, and the system is continuously developed further based on user feedback. The user-friendly and intuitive interface makes daily use much easier. The "Academy", which can be accessed directly in the account, also offers helpful support to quickly familiarize yourself with the functions. Overall, sproof sign makes a significant contribution to increasing efficiency and simplifying our work processes.
Do you use signature workflows for your use case?
Yes, we already use signature workflows in some areas, such as management and the HR department. These workflows have proven to be particularly helpful for recurring processes, such as signing service contracts or business documents. However, due to our size and the relatively recent implementation, we are still in the early stages of fully integrating these workflows into our work processes.
