With digital transformation among the top strategic objectives on executive priority lists everywhere, DocuSign, Inc. announced a strategic global partnership with IBM designed to advance digital trust across organizations of every size and industry by embedding eSignature and Digital Transaction Management (DTM) functionality into IBM’s software and services.
DocuSign is working with IBM Cloud – which has a global footprint of 47 data centers – to provide customers with fast, easy and automated access to public, private and hybrid cloud services. The companies will also make DocuSign API’s available through Bluemix – this offers customers and developers the chance to develop and embed eSignature and Digital Transaction Management (DTM) functionality within IBM’s Cloud platform.
The news comes during the DocuSign MOMENTUM ’16 conference in San Francisco, just as the company announced 125% year-over-year customer growth in the DocuSign Global Trust Network – which now includes more than 225,000 companies and more than 85 million users generating nearly one million transactions per day.
“Over the past twelve months, every C-level executive I’ve spoken with has had digital transformation among their top three strategic priorities – and for many, it’s number one,” said Keith Krach, chairman and CEO, DocuSign.
“For companies to make this shift, they must embrace change, lead their organizations through the necessary cultural evolution with quick wins, and use technology to make the digital transformation as quick and easy as possible. Strategic partnerships like the one we are announcing today with IBM will go a long way to advance digital trust in the inevitable move to digital business.”
The strategic global partnership between IBM and DocuSign sees the companies combining their strengths to help enterprises manage digital transactions more quickly and easily. It will also advance DocuSign’s mission of digital trust by bringing the company’s eSignature and DTM functionality into a series of IBM’s services and software offerings. This includes many of IBM’s 100 MobileFirst for iOS apps – such as those for the banking, retail and telco industries – to help people transact anything, anytime, anywhere, on any device securely.
IBM plans to collaborate with DocuSign on a range of Business Process Services solutions to help increase accuracy, speed and compliance for customers in industries such as home mortgage origination and procurement. Users of IBM solutions for human resources and Enterprise Content Management are also expected to benefit from the DocuSign integration.
“The transformation of any company – large or small – into the digital era is a methodical one that cannot be executed overnight,” said Inhi Cho Suh, general manager, IBM Collaboration Solutions, who joined DocuSign at MOMENTUM ’16.
“Cloud offers a way for companies to get started with digital in an agile way, quickly delivering tangible value as they step-up to long-term digital transformation. While companies might be moving assets to the cloud or leveraging near-real time technology to gather insights into what their employees worry about, there is an inherent analog issue when it comes to business processes that require authenticated signatures. This transformation is rapidly changing and through this strategic global partnership, IBM and DocuSign intend to help enterprises accelerate this process.”
The IBM strategic partnership adds to the list of partners on the DocuSign Global Trust Network – some include BBVA, Comcast, Dell, Deutsche Telekom, EBDI (the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board), FedEx, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) Inc., Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co., Ltd. (MKI), the National Association of REALTORS, NTT Finance, Recruit Holdings, SAP, Salesforce, Telstra and VISA.