Enterprise 2.0 – Something besides social networking?

 I am headed back from Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston where I was on a panel to discuss Enterprise 2.0 and its growth. I knew my perspective from DocuSign was going to be a little different than some of the mainstream “Enterprise 2.0″ thinking. I was not talking about FaceBook.com for the enterprise or social networks where people can share ideas and thoughts. Interesting ideas in their own right, but not what we do.

Different because DocuSign is not a social network. We are very focused on streamlining the last step in business transactions that take place between people ? something we call “Contract Execution.” This means notification, contract distribution, managing data collection and obtaining signatures on contracts and forms electronically.

You see, despite all the development in CMS, EMS, and CRM, over the last decade, most businesses still take this last step using “paper,” like they have been for 4,000 years. They print out agreements, put “sign here” tabs on them, and physically move it from place to place so people can sign. Then they scan everything back in when done. There is no real control or visibility in this manual process.

In order to do this electronically we need to connect people together in a trust relationship that spans beyond the walls of the Enterprise. It requires a businesses to think about enabling their customers to be brought into the loop collaboratively, but with control and security.

This requires Enterprise 2.0 technology, thinking and really important ? Enterprise 2.0 PROCESS adoption. To automate this”contract execution phase,” DocuSign does not create a “social network.” Rather, our customers use DocuSign to quickly create and manage ‘transaction networks’ where people come together to authenticate and close deals online faster and more reliably that is possible with paper.

The Evolution into the Enterprise 2.0 e-Signature Processes

Let’s say I need us to sign a contract with three others to lease some equipment. In “pre-Web” days this was accomplished by using fax or overnight express: “When it absolutely positively has to be there overnight.” You would print, place sticky tabs, go to the FedEx box and wait. Then, you’d rekey, scan, and store paper. Ten day total turnaround. Not Web 1.0, not Web 2.0, just “planes, trains and automobiles.”

Then in 1990s we started using digital signature technology for signing. This was installed software that let us encrypt documents if we installed enough stuff on our systems. You buy your digital certificate, and convince me to buy one. Then digitally sign your document and email it to me. I’ll sign. Then perhaps you forward it to someone else – all still disconnected from each other, but now we are moving documents electronically, not via paper. What happened:

• It did not take off ? it was complex software to install, not user centered design
• It did not have central visibility or control
• PKI authentication has a single point of failure — its authentication model is a hub and spoke. You authenticate at the hub, and then everyone has to believe it is you. NOT the way authentication happens in the organic world. In the organic world we authenticate each other when and how we want depending on the circumstances ? mesh authentication ? no single point of failure. This is technology centric design, and was focused on the EVENT of signing, not the process.

Today, a new e-signing strategy has emerged. This new strategy is based on the fact that we are all on the same wire. This new strategy is a Web 2.0 approach ? it is different because the design focuses on the PEOPLE in the transaction and how they interact when transactions span enterprise boundaries, not just the servers. It focuses on managing the process, not just a single event. This Web 2.0 technology solving Enterprise business issues across the enterprise boundaries is characterized by the following:

• It is based on Web services ? no software to install, it lives in the cloud. And interestingly this function “signing” is best serviced from a neutral 3rd party and NOT behind a firewall.
• It values the user experience, recognizing that “usability drives use” ? mirroring the paper paradigm but going way beyond what is possible with paper.
• It values the process of bringing people together electronically to reach agreement on the same document ? put another way, it allows one to easily create a transaction network for an agreement, defining who is to sign, how they are to authenticate, and in what order ? then takes the steps to bring everyone together to agree no matter where in the world they are.
• It authenticates users organically ? by allowing senders to define how they want signers to authenticate on a case-case basis. No hub and spoke; mesh.
• It also remembers relationships between signers. So if I have signed with you before, the fact that I have a trust relationship established there is known, and I can choose to rely on it or expand it more.
• And very importantly for enterprise, there are dramatic positive business effects of using it. Doubled close rates, reduction in costs by 80%, and a core part of a green initiative. What’s more it engages customers partners into longer term relations.

This approach is USER centered design, and is focused on managing the PROCESS of interaction to reach agreement. So, DocuSign delivers a solution that leverages a number of Enterprise 2.0 examples:

• Open web service SOAP interface that uses XML to send, sign, control, and collect data during a contract execution process
• It creates “transaction networks” designed with the sole purpose of executing agreements by connecting people anywhere in the Web
• Highly customizable transactions can be created — by end users, not requiring IT Mesh Authentication – using different forms of authentication on a case – case basis
• Signers are given a secure storage account/view where they can aggregate their important contracts for free

So, DocuSign offers one type of “interactive network” –- one with a narrow focus to close transactions. I’d argue there is a spectrum with online “interactive networks,” ranging from Social Networking on one end of the spectrum to “transaction networks” on the other end.

Types of ‘interactive networks’ compared

So what is the biggest challenge? PROCESS THINKING. Just because you can now build a solution that includes your partners and suppliers in an interactive network to speed transactions does not mean that we are home free. In order for an enterprise to be ABLE to realize Enterprise 2.0 value they need to also embrace “Process 2.0″ also.

Below are some of the comparisons for process 1.0 and 2.0 when it comes to contract execution:

DocuSign can enable a complete end-end transaction from CRM through storage; across the enterprise. To take advantage of this, businesses need to think deeply about the whole process, not just a portion of it.  It does no good to automate most of the process, only to turn to paper half-way through -– it must transform the way it thinks about getting things done.

So, DocuSign gives an enterprise a solid set of reasons WHY they should construct interactive networks with their customers and suppliers to close transactions, and why they should care about Enterprise 2.0…the best reason of all ? Profitability.