Contract lifecycles generate massive amounts of tedious administrative work. Without automation, data entry, tracking status across stakeholders, organizing signed agreements and other contract tasks slow operations to a crawl. In fact, research shows knowledge workers spend over 25% of their time on contract-related documentation activities alone.
Digitizing the actual signing with platforms like DocuSign delivers major efficiency gains. But as contract volumes grow across vendors, partners, customers and more, businesses run into bottlenecks tracking and managing all those agreements. That‘s why integrating DocuSign with an automation tool like Zapier is so valuable for end-to-end contract lifecycle optimization.
Let‘s explore key statistics around contract challenges, along with expert solutions to streamline workflows using DocuSign and Zapier.
The Heavy Toll of Contract Workflows
Mundane tasks like manual data entry bog down employees, while disjointed status tracking leaves entire teams in the dark. According to surveys by TrustRadius, 61% of companies report issues finding and managing contracts effectively. The more agreements an organization handles, the bigger the headaches around archiving executed contracts and coordinating approvals across sales, legal, procurement and other groups.
In regulated sectors like financial services and healthcare, poor contract lifecycle management can even risk heavy fines for non-compliance. Without real-time status tracking and audit trails, enforcing standards like GDPR or HIPAA becomes almost impossible at scale.
Research pegs the productivity cost of contract management inefficiencies at upwards of $1 million annually for large enterprises. And ineffective workflows also introduce massive revenue risk from stalled deals, missed renewals, and disputes from mismanaged agreements.
Streamlined Workflows with DocuSign + Zapier
DocuSign allows organizations to digitize manual signatures andApprovals for faster deal execution. But automation is still needed to optimize what happens before and after the signing. That‘s why integrating DocuSign with a platform like Zapier is so essential – it connects e-signatures with other business systems to streamline end-to-end contract workflows.
Specifically, Zapier‘s pre-built templates with DocuSign enable automatic:
Storage and organization of executed contracts in secure, accessible cloud platforms like Dropbox or OneDrive
Notifications and alerts so the right teams get real-time contract updates in tools like Slack or via email and text.
Signature request automation pulling data from CRM, databases and documents to instantly generate new DocuSign envelopes and manage approver routing.
Now let‘s break down specifics and statistics around the value in each area of contract workflow automation.
Guaranteed Tracking and Access for Executed Contracts
A surprising 31% of companies in TrustRadius‘ survey admitted to having simply lost track of some signed contracts, while 68% have experienced disputes stemming from contracting mistakes that documentation could have resolved.
Automating the handoff when an agreement gets signed is vital for both productivity and risk mitigation. Zapier can instantly save executed contracts from DocuSign into virtually any cloud storage platform – no manual saving or uploads needed. Build rules to organize contracts by type, date, customer or other metadata too for easy lookups later.
Common Document Repositories:
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Google Drive – Over 2 billion users with universal accessibility
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Dropbox – 88% faster search thanks to robust indexing features
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Box – Used by 70% of Fortune 500 companies for smooth sharing and collaboration
Automatic archiving eliminates the risk of losing track of vital agreements. Seamless cloud integration also ensures critical documentation stays accessible to authorized personnel from any location on any device.
Studies find up to 25% faster document retrieval with automated handoffs versus traditional file servers. That efficiency gain will only compound yearly across hundreds or thousands of contracts.
Real-Time Visibility Into Status for All Parties
Trying to keep sales reps, execs and other teams updated via manual emails or status meetings simply does not scale. Critical steps in the contract process inevitably get lost in the shuffle. Close to one-third of agreements require over a week just to route internally from creation to approvals – with Zapier that process becomes fully automated.
Configure out-of-the-box Zaps so key stakeholders get real-time notifications of status changes, approvals, expirations and more straight in tools they use all day like Slack or Gmail. Custom filters allow granular rules – for example, regional managers get alerts when deals with customers in their geography update status.
Popular Notification Channels:
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Slack – 70% faster team communication speeds
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SMS Text – 98% open rate compared to 22% for email
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Gmail – Over 1.5 billion active email accounts globally
Ongoing contract status tracking through platforms teams already use cuts down on meetings and calls, while also creating transparency between groups to speed approvals. Custom reporting dashboards can also automate key contract metrics like cycle times and pending renewals for management.
Scalable Creation of Signature Requests
Generating tons of DocuSign envelopes with custom fields and approver routing manually becomes a major timesuck. Zapier alleviates repetitive admin hassles by automatically creating signature requests in DocuSign from data in your existing business systems.
Common Sources Include:
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Salesforce – Over 150,000 companies rely on SFDC to manage CRM and deals
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HubSpot – All-in-one marketing, sales and service software leader
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Airtable – User-friendly relational database platform
As soon as a new deal is logged for a customer in your CRM, trigger a Zap to instantly generate a tailored DocuSign envelope pulling the agreement terms, client contact info, relationship owner and other relevant details straight from the source system.
G2 research found contract generation times to complete common tasks dropped by 42% or more when leveraging workflow automation tools compared to manual processes. Those efficiency gains translate into accelerated deal velocity, faster customer onboarding and less burden on employees.
Executing More Contracts With Less Hassle
Contract volumes will only accelerate as business grows – without automation, tracking and managing all that documentation gets unbearable. Utilizing Zapier‘s integration capabilities streamlines even the most chaotic DocuSign workflows to support rapid scaling.
From automatic cloud backups of executed agreements to centralized notifications and automated envelope creation for signature requests, intelligent automation alleviates tedious tasks for your team while also providing transparency and risk reduction around key contractual processes. The result? Faster deal execution, smoother customer onboarding and less scramble hunting down paperwork.
As your business grows, exploring platforms like Zapier is essential for optimizing workflows to keep pace with increasing contract volumes. Prioritize solutions that seamlessly integrate DocuSign with existing business systems across CRM, cloud storage and collaboration tools your teams already leverage daily. The future of contract management is digital and automated. Choose automation partners strategically to fuel that transformation.
Over to you – where could your business benefit by infusing more intelligent automation into contract workflows?
