DocuSign Agreement Actions: The Benefits of an Automated E-Signature Solution

If you’ve recently signed a new client or hired a new employee, you’re probably familiar with the laundry list of tasks waiting for you on the other side of every signed document. Signatures are in, and the agreement is sealed. Your work is done, right? 

Not exactly. Depending on what department you’re in, you may still need to:

• Store similar types of documents such as all W-4 forms in the same central repository.
• Export data from signed contracts into spreadsheets for analysis.
• Trigger next steps such as routing agreements to legal, finance, manufacturing or service teams.

If your organization relies on a traditional, manual agreement management process, putting every piece of this moving puzzle into place isn’t easy. Fortunately, there’s an easier way to manage your agreements—one that can help you save time and cut costs with just a touch of your finger.  For many organizations, DocuSign eSignature is the first step to transforming agreement processes. Now administrators can automate common post-signature tasks with predefined actions using DocuSign Agreement Actions.

By offering a simple way to automate the final steps of the agreement process (post-signature),  Agreement Actions can condense the flurry of time-consuming, post-contractual tasks into a single, easy-to-manage system that promises more efficient and more profitable operations for your business. 

When to use Agreement Actions

You’ve prepared your document, it’s been signed by all stakeholders, and now it’s time to act. Agreement Actions cover a multitude of functions that can save you time, eliminate errors, and speed up your processes. These functions generally fall into one of three categories:

• Archiving documents to predefined cloud storage providers.
• Exporting data for reporting and analytics needs.
• Routing agreements to additional stakeholders/starting workflows. 

Learn more about the benefits of each automated action for your agreement management process. 

Automating data transfer and archiving: save time and eliminate errors

Manually inputting new data and correcting errors are cited as major sources of productivity loss and delays in the agreement process—which all undermine your organization’s ability to realize revenue. In a vertical like healthcare the stakes are even higher. Inefficiencies and medical errors that arise as a result of the manual transfer of data cost the U.S. healthcare industry billions of dollars a year and are directly responsible for a decline in positive patient outcomes. 

Even in industries where lives aren’t at stake, replacing manual data transfer and storage workflows with a DAC solution that automates the archival process is a simple, no-code way to drive a more efficient and accurate contract management solution. 

Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of DocuSign, February 2021.

In today’s fast-paced, digital marketplace, consumers (and employees) expect quick, seamless interactions with your organization. If a disproportionate amount of your time is spent managing post-signature processes—like data and agreement transfers to cloud storage—there’s little time left over for you to manage the client experience.

An advanced agreement management system lets you set predefined agreement actions based on custom fields, template types and envelope data, so you can automatically and accurately export and archive your agreements and data in any number of cloud storage providers: DocuSign CLM, Box, Dropbox, Google, Microsoft OneDrive or Microsoft SharePoint. What’s more, the uses for automatic archiving are numerous, from storing signed client contracts in a digital folder for client relationship and finance teams to placing all new employee W-4 forms into a folder for payroll teams.  

Exporting data into systems: increase agreement visibility

Traditional, manual data management systems and contract repositories store your information in the dark. As a result, you might have to feel around for hours before you find what you’re looking for. 

Some of the best e-signature providers today offer advanced data exporting capabilities that make it easy to transfer critical information to applications and uncover insights at the touch of a button. For instance, with DocuSign Agreement Actions, when a new hire signs a contract, specific data elements like an employee’s department, projects, start date, co-signers and more can be automatically exported into one easy-to-manage, accessible location such as Google Sheets. For one domestic courier service, this functionality is a true game changer as they continuously add more employee drivers and have greater visibility into recruitment trends than ever before.  

By consolidating key data from a set of signed documents into one place for analysis, you can gain insights that were previously unattainable or too costly to achieve. If you’re interested in determining how many candidates your organization hired between the months of July and September, for example, it’s easy to set parameters and pull that information in an instant. You can even export information to Google or Excel spreadsheet that links back to each employee’s original, signed contract. 

Automating next steps: accelerate workflow execution

Every contract reaches a point where it becomes more than just a sheet of paper—it becomes a playbook. Once a contract is signed, it’s time to act on the terms of that agreement. Any delay in downstream functions has the potential to interfere with customer satisfaction or prevent you from realizing revenue at a sustainable pace. It’s important to start moving as soon as a contract is inked so you can satisfy your clients and keep revenue streams flowing. 

Workflows are an orchestrated multi-step process, made all the more easier when they are automated. Advanced contract management systems use e-signature technology such as Agreement Actions to automatically and instantly export agreement data to a workflow or to  trigger other CLM workflows.  For instance, predefined triggers can be configured to set off any number of downstream actions, whether it’s making a facilities request, setting up an account, issuing a new password, sharing onboarding materials or running a background check. There’s no gaps, delays, or miscommunications—and because it’s cloud-based, can be initiated from anywhere at any time. 

Keep your business moving forward with DocuSign Agreement Actions

On average, poor contract management procedures cost corporations time and expense. As your company and contract volume grows, the effort and costs to manage, as well as errors, just escalate. Moving from manual steps to continuous automation benefits all stakeholders.

Agreement Actions replaces traditional, labor-intensive workflows with an automated, all-in-one solution for repetitive post-signature tasks. As a feature of DocuSign eSignature, Agreement Actions connects two of the most important steps in the agreement management process—sign and act—for seamless operations.

Learn more about how DocuSign eSignature and Agreement Actions can help facilitate the next steps in your contract process.