2022-03-03
SimplySign: Fast and convenient with full control of your business
What are the benefits of using SimplySign qualified electronic signatures in the construction industry? Marek Jasiak, President of the Management Board of NBQ, a company specializing in construction investment services, talks about how it supports cooperation with the public sector and how it helps to comply with the law.
What does NBQ do?
We provide services covering all key areas of construction project preparation and execution. Our specialists perform investor supervision, act as a substitute investor or contract engineer, manage projects and advise investors. Our team includes nearly 30 professionals.
What do you use electronic signatures for?
Primarily for signing correspondence, including bids in public tenders. The Public Procurement Law (PPL) requires the use of an electronic signature. We make about 70-80% of our investments in this market, so e-signatures are used by us a lot.
60% of the documents I sign are bids and related documents, the rest are mostly official matters and day-to-day correspondence related to the management of the company. I sign a total of several pieces a day. I use an electronic signature whenever I can replace a paper document with an electronic version. A trusted profile is an alternative, but it is less convenient than SimplySign.
Selected projects of NBQ company. Source: https://nbq.pl/inwestycje/
How many e-signatures do you use and why did you decide to use this tool?
Three signatures have been used by the NBQ team for four years now, the fourth, SimplySign has been used by me for a year. We started using them in business out of a need to comply with the requirements of the law both covering management boards of companies and the manner of making bids in tenders, but they are also a great convenience in day-to-day correspondence.
Is compliance the only benefit you see from using electronic signatures?
The use of e-signatures has allowed us to remain in our key market and strengthen our position. But the list of benefits is much longer. Using SimplySign as an example, I can say that its use is very convenient and that is why I use it often. I save time and often money. I make myself more flexible, if I need to, I can send an electronically signed document by email at 11:30 p.m. without being restricted by office hours. My document still has the correct date and meets the Client’s criteria.
I see more and more companies doing the same, for example signing correspondence, which we are more and more often using digitally instead of on paper. Even in communicating with the authorities, which even today can require faxing documents. Fortunately, regulations have mandated the equivalence of correspondence signed with a qualified electronic signature to traditional correspondence – and we use this extensively.
Why did you choose SimplySign?
It supports my mobile style of work, which results from the profile of our business – realization of investments throughout Poland. Instead of having to carry and remember about a flash drive, I use a smartphone that I always have with me. I can sign documents at any time regardless of where I am, even abroad. If I do not have my computer with me – I sign ready-made letters sent from the company on my phone. Fast and convenient with full control of my business even when I am away from the office.
How did the SimplySIgn installation go?
Efficiently and seamlessly. The helpline consultant was very helpful and calmly dispelled my doubts and answered my questions.
Would you recommend using SimplySign to other entrepreneurs?
I will answer briefly – yes, because of the speed, ease and reliability of handling key documents for the company that require the boards’ signatures. In particular, I see a specific target group in our construction industry that should be very interested in e-signatures.
By this I mean architects, who are mostly creating documentation in digital form right now. However, they do not electronically sign their designs. And there are tens or hundreds of these in each construction project. The regulations require a signature on a plan – the author is responsible for it. Perhaps this is due to fear or lack of knowledge about the capabilities of tools like SimplySign. I for one would like to encourage them to take a closer look at these tools.
When receiving electronically signed designs, the investors, the contractors and the officials gain confidence that this material has a responsible author. Investors do not require it, so designers do not do it. It may have been more complicated and expensive in the past, but today it no longer is. They do not do it because they are not aware that it is that simple. I encourage them to become interested in such a solution, because many institutions, including recently, for example, the Main Construction Supervision Office has started accepting many applications electronically.