Businesses could make thousands by embracing digital contracts

For busy sales professionals, getting deals done efficiently is essential. DocuSign has become a key digital cloud solution for time-pressed and revenue-focused sales leaders. It enables professionals to prepare and manage contracts or sales agreements digitally and, crucially, get deals signed in an instant.

A survey conducted by market research group Forrester found that UK businesses typically see a return on their investment in DocuSign within six months, winning back 90 minutes of handling time for every agreement issued.

In addition, they saved £6.62 in printing and follow-on costs for each transaction. Researchers also found that businesses would save, on average, more than £150,000 over three years by switching to the use of electronic signatures alone.

Andy Champion, vice president of enterprise sales, for Europe, Middle East and Africa, at DocuSign, says the benefits of switching to digital agreements are not purely financial.

“It’s not just about the cost-savings, it’s also about the customer and employee experience,” he explains.

“We see companies that use DocuSign reduce document completion turnaround times from around three weeks to around three days, and often much shorter. It speaks well in a world where we have become used to our every need being fulfilled in an instant.”

DocuSign’s value has been recognised by businesses around the world. At the beginning of June, DocuSign announced its revenues had grown by a staggering 37 per cent in the first quarter of the 2019-20 financial year, compared with the previous year, which is a testament to the product’s growing popularity.

Mr Champion says that the success of the product shows its versatility and growing importance in the business community.

“Whether it is Virgin Holidays, Box or Allied Irish Bank, companies across every vertical are realising the benefits of digitally transforming how they prepare, sign, act on and manage agreements,” he says.

“When you stop for a moment and think about how pervasive agreements are across business, from HR to legal, finance, sales and beyond, the opportunity to enhance agility, speed and digital connectivity is huge.

“It is not surprising that DocuSign now has over 500,000 customers across financial services, legal, real estate, technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, life sciences, the public sector and other sectors.”

While sales professionals will always remain focused on their revenue targets, businesses are now far more aware of their place in the world and the impact they have on the environment.

DocuSign plays its part. By eliminating the need to print contracts, including supplier, sales and non-disclosure agreements, DocuSign has saved the use of some 20 billion sheets of paper since 2003. This equates to the preservation of more than 2.5 million trees. The process of not creating that paper meant a saving of 1.6 million pounds of CO2 emissions.

Like many executives in the modern business world, Mr Champion describes environmental considerations as being close to his heart.

“Irrespective of whether I am speaking with senior executives at some of the world’s leading brands or friends over dinner, the awareness of the responsibilities we all share to the planet and future generations really is front of mind,” he says.

“Against this backdrop, knowing I am working for a company that is already making a huge difference to our environment is something my colleagues and I at DocuSign are really proud of. It gives us genuine satisfaction to know our work is having such a positive impact.”

For more information please visit www.docusign.co.uk