- MEETAxel Baudach
- OCCUPATIONManaging Director
- INDUSTRYEnvironmental Services
- Size1-10 employees
Meet Axel Baudach
Axel Baudach was the managing director (until 2024) of Klosterwald Verwaltungs GmbH in Austria. Founded in 2019, the company operates currently seven woodland cemeteries across five states, making it one of the country’s leading providers of natural burials.
What does Klosterwald do?
Klosterwald offers woodland burials as an alternative to traditional cemeteries. Families can choose a tree as a final resting place, with burials carried out in biodegradable urns. Two-thirds of our clients choose a tree as part of a pre-planning effort. “Our concept meets modern needs: families often live far apart and cannot maintain traditional graves. A woodland cemetery provides a sustainable, dignified place of remembrance – without ongoing maintenance,” Axel explained.
How does Klosterwald do it?
At Klosterwald, life continues even after death. The company offers an alternative to traditional cemeteries by enabling burial in an ecologically protected forest. Ashes are placed in biodegradable urns and laid to rest beneath the chosen tree. Over time, the tree naturally absorbs nutrients from the enriched soil. "This creates a living memorial for friends and family to visit over generations," Axel explained.
The initiative now spans about seven forests, with over 4,000 trees and 40,000 trees across Austria. Every Klosterwald tree is numbered, given a name plaque, and inventoried with the GPS coordinates. A centralized administration works with local teams to manage more than 320,000 inventory items—all made possible by the company's on-site administrative staff.
Klosterwald partners with select forest owners, giving those owners a way to lease their land with a sustainable cause.
The Problem
Before using Zoho Sign, Klosterwald's contract process was slow and costly. The company manages around 2,500 private clients per year, using four-page lease agreements for burial spaces. The toughest challenge was expediting manual paperwork. Contracts were manually created, printed, mailed, and often revised multiple times. "A single contract and invoice cycle took 20–27 days to complete.", shared Axel.
"It began with capturing relevant forest data on paper. From there, contracts were manually created in Microsoft Word, printed, and sent off by mail—a process that could take up to three days. Clients typically received the contract within four to six days. They would then review, sign, and return the paperwork, which could take another week or two, depending on their response rate. If there were errors in the contract, this would delay the process even further. Once signed contracts were returned, the Klosterwald team would generate and mail out invoices within a couple of days. Finally, client payment would arrive via bank transfer within a week." , said Axel.
"To make matters worse, the postal service in Austria is slow, expensive, and unreliable," Axel noted. About 20% of postal deliveries were lost, adding costs of around €10 in stamps per transaction. Plus, documents were hard to track, resulting in frequent customer service inquiries.
The company also struggled with customer communication and user experience. Common errors like missing client signatures on contract copies or incorrect family details caused delays and frustration. This not only slowed down turnaround time but also made the experience more inconvenient for clients, the majority of whom are between 55 and 80 years old.
The Solution
Zoho Sign helped Klosterwald save €7,638 and become the most efficient cemetery in Austria.
With Zoho Sign, Klosterwald fully digitized its workflows. “Zoho Sign was a huge step forward for us. It solved everything—quality, traceability, and speed. Most of our clients are 65+ and even they find it easy to use,” said Axel. Due to its simple interface, clients find the app easy to use—"we have had almost no questions," Axel added. It's also easy for the team to quickly edit and recall documents when needed.
Now, Klosterwald's operations move three times as fast, with Zoho Sign as a significant part of the workflow. Client data captured in the forests are digital right from the start. Contracts are created and sent for e-signature within 1 day. Clients return signed copies quickly—within a couple of days and on mobile phones—after which the team creates an invoice. Payment is typically received faster now, in about three days.
"The best part is that we can track every step of the process now," said Axel. The team can see when a client opens a document, set reminders, and see the total time it takes to complete signing. Zoho Sign has also opened up a new service offering: after contracts are signed, they are automatically sent to clients and their family members for storage.
Benefits and ROI
"We are proud to tell you that more than 90% of our contracts are now signed using Zoho Sign," Axel shared. "We love that the staff has complete control over the process and that it is easy—even for our staff above 67 years of age!" The team is able to sync their work across PCs, mobile phones, and tablets, so document management and signing can be completed on the go. The signed copies are also automatically distributed to clients, family members, and internally to their our accountants, streamlining and automating the entire workflow.
"Most importantly, the cost advantage is unmatched," he added. Klosterwald has saved €7,638 in interest in the first year alone, since making the switch. When reflecting on the team's digital tools, Axel concludes, "Zoho Sign has had the biggest efficiency impact so far in terms of process quality, effectiveness, and transparency to all stakeholders. Our processes thrice as fast as before now!"
Looking Forward
Zoho Sign was a key catalyst in boosting Klosterwald's growth and efficiency. Now, Axel looks forward to using more Zoho Sign features and benefiting from them.
Still unsure? Try our Enterprise-version for free for 14 days to learn why Axel chose Zoho Sign.
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