neunerhaus helps homeless, 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. In three neunerhaus residential buildings as well as assisted living with Housing First and Mobil, more than 1,000 formerly homeless and homeless people are cared for and advised every year. Around 6,000 people are cared for at the neunerhaus health centre every year.

Organization Name:
Neunerhaus

Short description of the project:
Digital transformation of signature processes and thus significantly reduce the administrative effort. This allows the organization to make its internal processes more efficient and free up more time for direct social work with homeless and poverty-prone people.

Why sproof sign:
“We have to use our scarce time resources in administration particularly consciously – the digital signature is a great improvement here.”

How did the decision to introduce the digital signature come about?

Due to our organizational structure, most of the documents we sign require signatures from two people. Until 2023, there were signature folders that were carried from A to B – and a lot of administrative effort: Lead time had to be planned for signing, and there were regular inquiries from colleagues about documents and their status in the signature process. Then everything had to be scanned by hand and additionally archived in paper form. We have to use our scarce time resources in the administration particularly consciously – here it was obvious that there was room for improvement. In addition to the location-independent nature of signing, the decisive factor was above all this saving of time and ecological resources for printing, in-house mail, obtaining signatures and scanning paper documents. Another incentive was the easier signing and management of HR-related documents for our employees.

How important is digital transformation for neunerhaus?

Most employees at neunerhaus work directly with people, e.g. in social work or in the health sector. In connection with the digital transformation, we are primarily concerned with the topic of digital inclusion – first and foremost the inclusion of our users, as an employer, but also the skills of our employees to keep pace with digitization and to be able to use digital signatures – this is being demanded by more and more bodies or facilitating official channels.
In recent years, we have digitized numerous processes in our support processes, such as in management, human resources and controlling. A key driver here was the coronavirus pandemic, which further accelerated this change. Another important factor is our claim to handle our human resources with particular care and to use them as effectively as possible. Digitalisation supports us, especially in HR work, in promoting both efficiency increases and innovations. Digital tools and personal contact complement each other perfectly. A concrete example from HR work: The digital signature of a new service contract is always combined 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.

Dr. Stephan Gremmel, Managing Director

What criteria were decisive for you in your search for the right e-signature provider?

When looking for the right e-signature provider, several central criteria were decisive for us. Costs came first, as we need to use our budget efficiently as a non-profit organization. Equally important was ease of use: the solution had to be not only intuitive to use, but also offer features such as batch signatures and a clear dashboard to streamline our workflows. In addition, essential functions such as adding annotations, placing signatures in multiple places in the document, and setting signature sequences were essential. We were also looking for a web-based solution that was easy to integrate and would ensure 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 gives us an extra level of security. Forgery protection was also a decisive factor in reliably ruling out manipulation. In addition, customer support should be available at all times without incurring additional costs for each contact. We have seen all these requirements fully fulfilled at sproof.

For which use cases is the digital signature used?

The digital signature is used at neunerhaus in a variety of use cases, especially for contracts and other important documents that require a fast and legally secure signature. This includes contracts with external partners, payment requests, budget approvals, and other business-related documents that need to be signed by senior management. Since June 2024, the digital signature has also been used for personnel-related documents, such as service contracts, supplementary agreements, employment confirmations, and certificates for employees.

How did the integration of the cloud work?

The integration of the cloud solution went smoothly and efficiently. To make the transition as easy as possible for all employees, we have created internal instructions that explain step-by-step how to sign documents via sproof. We in the management also dealt intensively with the process at the beginning, but in the meantime the new processes have become very well established. Thanks to sproof’s clear structuring and intuitive user interface, we were able to easily integrate the digital signature into our existing workflows.

What standards does an organization like neunerhaus have in terms of security, compliance and data protection?

As a social organization that works with sensitive data of many people, neunerhaus has the highest standards of security, data protection and legal compliance. In particular, the protection of personal data 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. Requests are processed quickly and solution-oriented, and the system is continuously developed based on user feedback. The user-friendly and intuitive interface makes it much easier to use on a daily basis. 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.

Are signature workflows used for your use case?

Yes, in some areas, such as senior management and human resources, we are already using signature workflows in isolated cases. 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 relatively new implementation, we are still at the beginning of fully integrating these workflows into our work processes.