Shares of DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) jumped more than 4% this week after the announcement that the company and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) have expanded their strategic partnership to offer innovative solutions and enable customers to prepare, sign and manage agreements in the cloud.
Accelerating Transformation
Companies and organizations were required to decisively advance their digital transformation efforts following the coronavirus outbreak in order to stay competitive in their respective markets.
To help them accelerate that transformation, Microsoft and DocuSign teamed up to develop innovative integrations and features that allow customers of those companies to collaborate and manage agreements in the cloud, from anywhere in the world.
“Microsoft is critical to our vision of streamlining the agreement process for our customers, wherever they get work done. With so much of the world getting work done in Microsoft’s applications and cloud services, we are thrilled to be deepening our relationship with Microsoft to jointly deliver on the promise of the anywhere economy,” said Dan Springer, CEO of DocuSign.
By expanding its partnership with DocuSign, Microsoft improves its ability to help its customers incorporate “agreement processes directly into the flow of work,” said Judson Althoff, EVP, and CCO of Microsoft.
The two companies will work together to simplify the process of collaborating on agreements and focus on improving productivity and efficiency, Althoff added.
The partnership further deepens Microsoft’s relationship with DocuSign as its customer and partner. The move will also reinforce the existing integrations across products like Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform to enhance the automation of contract processes.
Some of the new integrations and capabilities announced as part of the latest partnership expansion include:
- DocuSign eSignature for Microsoft Teams – an integration that enables staff to receive real-time notifications on agreements awaiting signature directly in Microsoft Teams. Furthermore, the two companies plan to expand this integration even further to include new features such as live signing during Teams meetings.
- DocuSign eSignature for Microsoft 365 – This is an existing integration that allows enterprises to share, sign, and track documents through apps like SharePoint, Outlook, and Word. DocuSign intends to release a revamped user interface for this solution later this year, as well as built-in dashboards, and automatic data sync features across SharePoint and eSignature envelopes.
- DocuSign CLM for Microsoft Word – a solution that allows users to use a legal clause library and a risk scorecard through Microsoft Word.
- An integration dubbed DocuSign eSignature for Power Platform, allows clients to develop automated signature workflows via Microsoft Power Platform.
- And ultimately, DocuSign eSignature for Microsoft Dynamics 365, enabling sales teams to finalize the deals faster and providing them with improved visibility into the signing process. DocuSign will also roll out enhanced user-interface features to further increase sales teams’ productivity.
Moreover, the two companies also plan to increase the use of each other’s solutions within their own business operations. As such, Microsoft will use multiple DocuSign solutions such as the DocuSign eSignature and CLM to improve the contract management and e-signature workflows.
Similarly, DocuSign will adopt Microsoft’s Power Platform to bring automation to numerous processes including payroll processing, payables management, and staff experience. The company will also adopt Microsoft Azure in other geographical markets, in addition to Canada and Australia.
Summary
DocuSign shares are up almost 5% this week after the company expanded its strategic business partnership with tech titan Microsoft. The company is due to report its Q1 earnings latter this week while JMP Securities analyst Patrick Walravens reiterated his Buy rating on DOCU stock. His price target of $180 suggests the DOCU stock price could potentially double in 12-month time frame.
