As document management increasingly goes digital, the use of electronic signatures is growing in the UK – across a range of sectors – and this creates opportunities for resellers.
With the growth of digitalisation across the business spectrum, today many documents are not physically signed by managers or executives, but electronically. Indeed, this year HMRC mandated that electronic signatures must be used for certain functions, such as if agents receive income tax or PAYE repayments on behalf of others, with only a narrow range of exceptions.
This demonstrates how important electronic signatures have become in the UK, especially as part of wider document management solutions. While electronic signatures have been legal for many years now and are used for everything from corporate resolutions to insurance documents, their growth has been driven by the advancements in the use of electronic documents and cloud-based storage in recent years.
Sector importance
Electronic signature software can be hugely important in some sectors, such as financial and legal businesses.
“Financial and legal teams are often under immense pressure,” says Andy Wilson, senior director for new product solutions at Dropbox. “Accuracy, compliance, and speed are all non-negotiables. They handle sensitive documents that require a high level of care, and the systems they rely on need to support that without slowing them down.
“With Dropbox Sign integrated, it is easy to manage signature workflows from within the same environment teams already use to store and share files. That might include agreements, client forms or contract letters. It simplifies the process and gives both internal teams and clients a clearer view of what has been sent, signed and completed.”
This works with Dropbox Dash, Dropbox’s workplace assistance tool, Andy adds. “Dash adds another layer by helping surface the wider context around a document,” he says. “If a person needs to locate supporting documents, notes or decisions that were shared in Slack or another platform, Dash can surface that quickly. It means teams can respond with confidence and avoid the delays that come from chasing updates across different tools.
“For MSPs, this creates a real opportunity to support clients in building more streamlined, joined-up ways of working. It is not just about the tools themselves, but how they come together to support focus and accountability in environments where those qualities are essential.”
New partner programme
Elsewhere in the sector, Docusign has recently introduced its new UK Docusign Partner Programme, which aims to supporting partners no matter where they are on their digitilisation journey, from eSignature to CLM and beyond, while accelerating growth and expanding opportunities with Docusign Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM). IAM is the AI-powered platform that underpins all Docusign solutions and transforms how organisations create, commit to and manage agreements.
Docusign’s programme is designed around specialisations to help partners better serve customers – whether they are building, selling or servicing. The new programme provides specialisations, tailored tracks and advanced go-to-market support to help partners capitalise on the expansive opportunity in intelligent agreement management.
“This is more than a programme refresh – it’s an evolution that enables partners to play a bigger role in the customer journey,” said Bronwyn Hastings, group vice president, partner development and alliances at Docusign. “Partners are vital to capturing this massive IAM opportunity and we’re focused on building a programme that supports long-term customer success through partner expertise, trust and services.”
Delivering business outcomes
Businesses are increasingly focused on the core capabilities that partners bring to the table, such as technical expertise, deployment experience, and the ability to deliver measurable business outcomes.
Whether a partner is focused on eSignature, CLM, or IAM plans, the programme recognises the spectrum of Docusign partners and supports them in serving organisations of all sizes and their lines of business, including legal but also sales, procurement, HR, and more. This programme meets partners where they are and invites them to grow with Docusign.
Growing market
The innovations from Dropbox and Docusign are demonstrative of what is available in the sector, how important electronic signatures are, and the opportunities they present to resellers as part of wider digitalisation and document management strategies.
With the direction of travel pointing only to more digitalisation in the coming years – especially among SMBs – then it is likely that the use of electronic signatures will continue to grow in the UK too, meaning that opportunities for resellers and MSPs will also grow.
