Docusign is moving beyond e-signature and turning to artificial intelligence to help tackle its next big problem, something it calls the "agreement trap." It's launching a system designed to convert all business agreements into valuable and actionable data. At the heart of the company's so-called intelligent agreement management (IAM) sits three components: a workflow builder called Maestro, an app center to leverage third-party services and Navigator, a functionality transforming text into structured documents.
In a blog post, Allan Thygesen, Docusign's chief executive, describes the platform as being for "end-to-end agreement management that we believe will be the first entrant in a new intelligent agreement management SaaS category." In other words, it's bringing together all the components of agreements, helping organizations understand contracts, Master Service Agreements (MSA), Statement of Works, amendments, etc. and establishing a process around them.
Though Docusign is unveiling its newest product today, the company has been working on IAM for some time. However, it doesn't envision just one IAM to rule them all. Rather, the company says there will be multiple versions, starting with an IAM for customer experience and sales, launching this summer in the U.S.
A $2 trillion problem
Every business deals with agreements in some form, which are easy to manage when starting. However, at some point, companies wade through hundreds of thousands of these transactions, which is challenging for those with a large staff. And there's no central unit where these agreements are stored because no system of record exists. Different teams manage their files differently, from HR and procurement to sales and marketing. How are these companies supposed to run their businesses efficiently when there's a proliferation of agreements but no way to consolidate and extract value from them?
Dmitri Karkovsky, Docusign's chief product officer. Credit: Docusign
According to Dmitri Krakovsky, Docusign's CPO, companies are cobbling a hodgepodge of applications together. "There are processes from tools from different vendors, a little bit of self-written stuff, and some [system integration] is involved," he says. "And they put together this process that sort of holds sometimes but often has a lot of gaps, has big pieces, and doesn't really connect. And because of that, there's this disjointed, inflexible, expensive, hard-to-implement process."
The toll this effort takes results in what's called business value leakage. One study commissioned by Docusign estimates this costs companies around $2 trillion in lost economic value worldwide each year. Companies developing these agreements also lose an average of 25,000 hours (or more than 1,040 days) annually.
To Krakovsky, consequences of using such a duct-tape approach mean "agreements don't renew on time, you don't understand your obligations to the other party or the other party doesn't deliver to you what they said they would, you spend so much time and negotiate it so hard, do you even get it? Do you even know if you got it? Do you deliver what you're supposed to deliver? That's a fundamental problem. It's all spread around, not connected, smart, analyzed, or intelligent."
Docusign's IAM seeks to overcome the "agreement trap," something costing businesses $2 trillion in lost economic value each year. Credit: Docusign
The three parts of Docusign's IAM
Docusign's solution contains three core components that help companies of all sizes create, commit to and manage agreements. It plans for the platform to serve businesses of all sizes. But, when it launches in May, Docusign's IAM will be accessible to organizations with up to 10,000 agreements.
Docusign Navigator
This central repository stores, manages and analyzes all of an organization's agreements. AI converts these documents from unstructured to structured data, allowing users to quickly run queries and access vital information.
Docusign IAM Navigator. Credit: Docusign
Navigator uses various models. Docusign declined to provide specifics but shared that it takes a hybrid approach, combining its own models with third-party large language models (LLMs) before utilizing retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to extract data and ensure it delivers accurate results to users.
As Krakovsky explains, Docusign Navigator is analogous to how we used maps 20 years ago. "Maps back in the day were paper maps. And then MapQuest came about as sort of the first digital version of a map. You could chart a course and get directions for a drive. Then you had to print it out and take it with you. That whole thing evolved to a huge degree. Why? Because Google primarily, but others as well, introduced the underlying structure underneath this map."
"All of a sudden, maps came alive and enabled this rich set of services," he continues. "First, it was turn-by-turn directions and real-time traffic. But if you think broader, it's changed many industries. Now you have points of interest or route optimization for trucks...EV vehicles use it for range planning now...So these and thousands of applications all depend on this rich and structured information layered on top of the map. And we will do the same with agreements."
Docusign Maestro
Docusign IAM Maestro. Credit: Docusign
With Maestro, organizations create customizable agreement workflows that are fine-tuned to their needs without writing a line of code. While Navigator stores and analyzes the data, Maestro establishes the pipes where the information is sent. Docusign claims custom workflows can be configured in minutes, blending its capabilities in e-signature, ID verification and data verification with third-party apps (some foreshadowing for the next component).
Companies want processes for sending out agreements that ensure they are returned signed and quickly. Krakovsky explains that Maestro lets Docusign customers "design, optimize and improve" a professional-looking checkup flow without needing to be a development project. Using a drag-and-drop method, different parts and pieces can be connected and work right away.
App Center
Docusign IAM App Center. Credit: Docusign
The final piece is a third-party marketplace, similar to what you see with any major software provider (e.g., Salesforce's AppExchange, the App Store, Google Play Store, etc.). However, for Docusign, "the main idea is it helps you easily discover, install and connect apps that can expand the range of the solution across the whole agreement lifecycle." Some apps supported at launch include Stripe, Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint, Mimeo, Quik, ServiceNow, Dropbox and Prisidio.
At launch, "a few tenths" of applications will initially be available.
The IAM Line
Starting out, Docusign is releasing three versions of IAM: one for sales teams, another for customer experience and a third one for those who want to build their own solution.
IAM for Sales: Sales teams can close deals faster by generating smart contracts and integrating the agreement process with their CRM system
IAM for Customer Experience: Product managers can create professional-looking and frictionless agreement experiences designed to improve conversions
IAM Core: This is tailored to teams not using an "IAM for X application" looking to customize their own solution. It is used to design agreement management experiences, build custom apps on top of them, or use an app from the Docusign marketplace.
Three more versions are planned for later, including ones targeting procurement, human resources and financial services.
Overcoming content management competitors
While Docusign claims it's defining a new category, some might question if the company isn't just competing in the same space as Dropbox and Box. Krakovsky pushes back, saying, "As much as it's a content problem, it's also a content in the specific domain problem." Elaborating further, he points out that existing "vendors in the space focus on bits and pieces" of the agreement process. "We wanted to go after this because, time and time again, we talked to customers, and what we hear is that they want the problem solved end-to-end, not that them having to cobble together a set of stuff to solve it." He boasted Docusign's 1.5 million customers and more than 1 billion agreements it processes afford it a competitive advantage over its peers.
Robert Chatwani, Docusign's president and general manager of growth, echoed the argument. He says the company's ability to understand signatures and agreement data, combined with its AI data models and "specialized knowledge of how to interpret and help customers with agreements," makes it "uniquely qualified and has a massive advantage over a traditional content management or storage company."
Docusign says its IAM portfolio will be available in the U.S. starting in late May with other major markets coming later this year.