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In this guest blog post, Erika Sperekas, Sr. Partner Marketing Manager at Docusign, examines the consequences of patchwork agreement workflows and explains how system integrations can streamline processes and create better experiences for businesses.
No matter which line of business you work in, you will probably have to deal with agreements at some point. Agreements are everywhere throughout an organization: sales contracts, offer letters, account openings, invoices, and a lot more. They contain details about dollars that change hands, products and services that are delivered, and relationships your business has with important parties.
However, the process most teams use to manage agreements is broken. Organizations have long struggled to deal with the negative effects of patchwork agreement workflows. By combining disjointed tools and applications not meant to manage documents, teams end up requiring employees to manually transfer information from one system to another. That lack of a centrally connected platform hinders productivity, creates bottlenecks, fragments information, and restricts access. Contracts still get done, but there’s a lot more time and pain than there has to be.
These disconnected processes frustrate employees, slow down business, introduce unnecessary risk, and erode value. They also isolate critical data points and prevent the free flow of information across important pieces of the technology stack. In total, Deloitte and Docusign calculate that outdated agreement processes cost businesses nearly $2 trillion in global economic value every year.
To solve that problem, teams need a better way to create, commit to, and manage agreements. They need to connect the systems and processes used to manage agreements to the systems and processes that run the business. The ideal solution is a well-integrated tool that is accessible to all parties in the agreement workflow. It should be full of tools built specifically to manage agreements digitally, reliably, and securely.
Integrate critical technologies to simplify common workflows
In the last decade, investments in customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, and human capital management technologies have proven valuable in improving the efficiency of data-driven processes, like quote-to-cash and hire-to-retire. Somehow, the agreements that document those activities have remained largely untouched.
Today, the average company uses 976 applications across the organization, but only 28% of those applications are integrated. That means teams spend way too much time doing disconnected work or toggling back and forth between systems. System integrations are necessary to digitize processes across your organization and create better experiences for employees, customers, and partners.
Docusign and Microsoft are industry leaders and natural integration partners when it comes to connecting agreement systems to common workflow systems. By connecting Docusign data to data within Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform applications, we’ve created a simple way for customers to transform their agreement process. An integrated system will offer more opportunities to automate common agreement steps and expand agreement collaboration to include people on more devices, in more locations, and using a broader range of applications.
“Through our partnership with Microsoft, we are revolutionizing the way organizations do business,” said Janine Grasso, Docusign GVP Partner Development & Alliances. “Docusign's integrations with Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot for Sales harness the power of AI to drive intelligent automation and innovation, leveraging Power Platform plug-ins and Microsoft Copilot Studio. Meeting people where they work, these integrations empower organizations to accelerate revenue, reduce risk, and create better experiences from the agreements that run their business. Together, we're not just streamlining processes; we're redefining what's possible in the digital era.”
With Docusign’s suite of Microsoft integrations, customers can support the lifecycle of any agreement process without requiring employees to copy and paste data or manually transfer a document from one tool to another. That means faster, simpler workflows for employee onboarding paperwork, sales order forms, legally binding contracts, procurement RFPs, internal forms, and more.
Microsoft customers leveraging Docusign will see an instant increase in the speed of their agreements. Today, 76% of successful Docusign eSignature transactions are completed in less than 24 hours and 41% of them are completed within 15 minutes!
Integrating Docusign with Microsoft also offers a more robust and productive experience for Copilot for Microsoft 365 users. That connection makes it easier than ever for business users across HR, procurement, legal, finance, and more to instantly access information from other corporate and third-party data sources. As your team makes plans to analyze and integrate more data as part of a forward-looking AI strategy, that network of connected data sources will be even more important.
“Our partner Docusign delivers comprehensive solutions that use AI to streamline agreement workflows and enhance collaboration within the Microsoft products people use every day,” said Yvonne Muench, Sr. Director of Marketplace & ISV Journey, Microsoft. “We're excited that Docusign offers these solutions via Azure Marketplace, simplifying the complex landscape of business tools and empowering our mutual customers to achieve their goals more effectively.”
Making the most of existing investments
Microsoft customers can access the Docusign integrations today on AppSource or purchase Docusign in the Azure Marketplace. It’s the easiest way to leverage their existing Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) to purchase Docusign and access our robust suite of integrations.
With the ability to buy directly from Azure Marketplace, you can ensure a simplified procurement and invoicing experience without new vendor onboarding—allowing you to realize the value of our joint integrations quickly!
Continue reading...
No matter which line of business you work in, you will probably have to deal with agreements at some point. Agreements are everywhere throughout an organization: sales contracts, offer letters, account openings, invoices, and a lot more. They contain details about dollars that change hands, products and services that are delivered, and relationships your business has with important parties.
However, the process most teams use to manage agreements is broken. Organizations have long struggled to deal with the negative effects of patchwork agreement workflows. By combining disjointed tools and applications not meant to manage documents, teams end up requiring employees to manually transfer information from one system to another. That lack of a centrally connected platform hinders productivity, creates bottlenecks, fragments information, and restricts access. Contracts still get done, but there’s a lot more time and pain than there has to be.
These disconnected processes frustrate employees, slow down business, introduce unnecessary risk, and erode value. They also isolate critical data points and prevent the free flow of information across important pieces of the technology stack. In total, Deloitte and Docusign calculate that outdated agreement processes cost businesses nearly $2 trillion in global economic value every year.
To solve that problem, teams need a better way to create, commit to, and manage agreements. They need to connect the systems and processes used to manage agreements to the systems and processes that run the business. The ideal solution is a well-integrated tool that is accessible to all parties in the agreement workflow. It should be full of tools built specifically to manage agreements digitally, reliably, and securely.
Integrate critical technologies to simplify common workflows
In the last decade, investments in customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, and human capital management technologies have proven valuable in improving the efficiency of data-driven processes, like quote-to-cash and hire-to-retire. Somehow, the agreements that document those activities have remained largely untouched.
Today, the average company uses 976 applications across the organization, but only 28% of those applications are integrated. That means teams spend way too much time doing disconnected work or toggling back and forth between systems. System integrations are necessary to digitize processes across your organization and create better experiences for employees, customers, and partners.
Docusign and Microsoft are industry leaders and natural integration partners when it comes to connecting agreement systems to common workflow systems. By connecting Docusign data to data within Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform applications, we’ve created a simple way for customers to transform their agreement process. An integrated system will offer more opportunities to automate common agreement steps and expand agreement collaboration to include people on more devices, in more locations, and using a broader range of applications.
“Through our partnership with Microsoft, we are revolutionizing the way organizations do business,” said Janine Grasso, Docusign GVP Partner Development & Alliances. “Docusign's integrations with Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Copilot for Sales harness the power of AI to drive intelligent automation and innovation, leveraging Power Platform plug-ins and Microsoft Copilot Studio. Meeting people where they work, these integrations empower organizations to accelerate revenue, reduce risk, and create better experiences from the agreements that run their business. Together, we're not just streamlining processes; we're redefining what's possible in the digital era.”
With Docusign’s suite of Microsoft integrations, customers can support the lifecycle of any agreement process without requiring employees to copy and paste data or manually transfer a document from one tool to another. That means faster, simpler workflows for employee onboarding paperwork, sales order forms, legally binding contracts, procurement RFPs, internal forms, and more.
Microsoft customers leveraging Docusign will see an instant increase in the speed of their agreements. Today, 76% of successful Docusign eSignature transactions are completed in less than 24 hours and 41% of them are completed within 15 minutes!
Integrating Docusign with Microsoft also offers a more robust and productive experience for Copilot for Microsoft 365 users. That connection makes it easier than ever for business users across HR, procurement, legal, finance, and more to instantly access information from other corporate and third-party data sources. As your team makes plans to analyze and integrate more data as part of a forward-looking AI strategy, that network of connected data sources will be even more important.
“Our partner Docusign delivers comprehensive solutions that use AI to streamline agreement workflows and enhance collaboration within the Microsoft products people use every day,” said Yvonne Muench, Sr. Director of Marketplace & ISV Journey, Microsoft. “We're excited that Docusign offers these solutions via Azure Marketplace, simplifying the complex landscape of business tools and empowering our mutual customers to achieve their goals more effectively.”
Making the most of existing investments
Microsoft customers can access the Docusign integrations today on AppSource or purchase Docusign in the Azure Marketplace. It’s the easiest way to leverage their existing Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) to purchase Docusign and access our robust suite of integrations.
With the ability to buy directly from Azure Marketplace, you can ensure a simplified procurement and invoicing experience without new vendor onboarding—allowing you to realize the value of our joint integrations quickly!
Continue reading...