Today, we announced our latest innovations in on-demand electronic signature solutions, with the release of the DocuSign version 10.1. This version of our award-winning e-signature service offers unique features and functionality designed to support workflow and productivity including automation of form fields and other workflow enhancements to simplify the user experience.

ESIGNControl, a custom DocuSign application specifically designed for Apple® iPhone users by Smart Mobile Solutions, further extends this rich feature set. DocuSign, combined with ESIGNControl, supercharges sales teams, real estate professionals, mortgage brokers, and business development and operational professionals who rely on the DocuSign e-signature service to close deals online in minutes.

Gartner predicts that worldwide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) revenue will exceed $14 billion for the enterprise application markets by 2013, up from $7.5 billion in 2009.* Organizations of all sizes are deploying affordable, on-demand solutions like DocuSign to automate core business functions, reduce costs and increase employee productivity. Whether it’s a simple NDA or a complex global sales agreement requiring multi-party signatures, DocuSign helps companies operate greener, faster and more profitably by removing the hurdles associated with the signing process and by offering more ways for users to access and complete their transactions online.

This release of DocuSign version 10.1 adds more sophisticated capabilities that make it faster and easier than ever to get documents signed online, and to share data with other core business applications. DocuSign is creating an e-signature ecosystem that makes it possible for organizations across all industries to close deals in the cloud and operate more efficiently. – Tom Gonser, founder and vice president of product strategy at DocuSign

DocuSign Version 10.1 At-a-Glance

Automatic Conversion of Adobe® PDF Form Fields. Now, when uploading Adobe PDF forms into the DocuSign system, the service automatically recognizes and converts all PDF form fields—including text boxes, radio button groups, drop downs and check boxes—along with their attributes, directly into secure DocuSign fields that can be assigned to specific recipients. These fields can be manipulated without any additional software, and the forms can be saved as templates in the DocuSign online forms library and shared with all account users.

DocuSign for Salesforce New Enhancements. Salesforce users now have access to all functionality DocuSign offers from inside Salesforce. Salesforce users can use DocuSign to send any document for signature as easily as sending email from Salesforce. Unique to DocuSign is the ability to drag and drop form fields associated with Salesforce data directly into documents, enabling these documents to collect data during the signing process and automatically update Salesforce in real time. This new capability eliminates rekeying of information and dramatically streamlines the sales process.

In addition, users can set up DocuSign for Salesforce accounts and manage users within the Salesforce application through the new DocuSign Admin Tab. Users can be up and running in a matter of minutes with no new user interface to learn. These new capabilities are expected to be released through the Salesforce Spring Update on March 6, 2010. DocuSign for Salesforce customers include Acteva, Community Energy, Drawloop, EDGAR® Online, LinkedIn, Yamaha and others.

Expanded Capabilities with ESIGNControl for the Apple iPhone. ESIGNControl enables DocuSign clients to use their Apple iPhone to access, send, sign and manage electronic documents. It is a powerful tool for managers to track their sales through robust reporting functionality. ESIGNControl is available today for download from iTunes® and a variety of other Web sites.

The iPhone is quickly becoming a must-have business productivity tool and ESIGNControl makes it easy for DocuSign clients to maximize efficiencies when away from the office. ESIGNControl was developed for the iPhone and thoroughly tested for performance. This new application offers a fast, convenient and mobile method to use DocuSign from any iPhone. -Tony Tonchev, founder of Smart Mobile Solutions and creator of the ESIGNControl application

ESIGNControl is a DocuSign transaction remote control that lets users manage documents sent for e-signature from any iPhone. ESIGNControl offers a rich feature set that makes it fast and easy for DocuSign users to:

• Send a document for signature straight from your iPhone
• Conveniently view, track and access sent documents
• Easily send, revise and resend documents for eSignature
• Quickly access document signing status, envelope details, archived documents and history
• Share easy-to-read graphical reports that even shows transaction times
• Electronically sign a document from anywhere, anytime
• Remotely log in to the DocuSign Console

These powerful new features within the DocuSign eSignature Service, further demonstrate DocuSign’s leadership in the ESIGN market. DocuSign currently commands more than 70 percent of the SaaS-based electronic signature services market and recently surpassed 58 million signature events. The company has experienced accelerated growth of more than 300 percent over the previous year and serves more than 20,000 customers ranging across all markets. In 2009, DocuSign delivered more than 480 customer-driven features while maintaining 99.993 percent system availability over the past 28 months.**

Pricing and Availability of DocuSign Electronic Signature Solutions

DocuSign for Salesforce is scheduled to be available March 6 with additional product information available online. Salesforce users will be able to download the DocuSign for Salesforce application at no charge at the Appexchange.

ESIGNControl is available now from iTunes for $2.99.

* Gartner report “Market Trends: Software as a Service, Worldwide, 2008-2013, Update,” November 4, 2009. http://www.gartner.com/resId=1221513 .
** DocuSign, http://www.docusign.com/news_and_events/press_releases/2010-01-27.php.

The other day, someone asked me “How do you know you are the Market Leader in the SaaS ESIGN Market?” Good question because in a new market nearly everyone claims they are the market leader.

What’s interesting is that with SaaS offers, it is actually fairly easy to come up with a proxy for market share by using the same tools that Web sites use. It’s a little more involved because we are not measuring your “.com” site. For example, DocuSign’s service is actually on a different server farm and is at DocuSign.net so it’s a bit more complicated, but attainable.

A Proxy for Market Share – Visits to a SaaS Application

At least in terms of overall activity, ‘visits’ to a SaaS Application online is a good proxy for market share. People do not visit a login page for an online ESIGN tool for fun. They go to log in and sign or send.

Companies like Quantcast, Alexa and Compete.com provide measurement estimates of traffic to sites. Most dismiss Alexa because they use a Web browser toolbar to count visits and this only works with certain browsers, only for users using the toolbar, only focuses on rankings of 100,000 and above (our competition doesn’t show up), and can be easily gamed. Quantcast does not have sufficient data yet. So, for today, Compete.com is the best source having the best data.

Using Compete.com to compare the total visits to the top 9 SaaS ESIGN applications is a fair proxy for measuring market share of these ESIGN vendors. The data is pretty amazing, and shows what we in the industry suspect. The overall market is growing and not surprisingly, more offerings are coming into the market.

The graph below shows the relative size of the top 9 SaaS ESIGN vendors for October 2009:

Here are the same 9 SaaS ESIGN vendors from September 2008:

First, my disclaimer! This is only a PROXY for market share information. There are variables that are likely not taken into account such as API calls, etc. But as a group, the data applies the same to all of these companies.

So what does this data say? Actually, it tells us some very interesting things:

From 9/08 through 9/09, the market has expanded.

• Overall application visits have increased 286%.
• More companies have entered the market.

This data is consistent with what we’re seeing at DocuSign. Our business is up over 350% over this same period.

DocuSign’s market share grew over the past 12 months from 57% to 70% —yes, we’ve had a great year!

This data shows that 2009 has been a big year in ESIGN, and we believe 2010 is gearing up to be even bigger. Want to check out the ESIGN market yourself? Visit www.compete.com and compare different company’s SaaS application sites total visits. This will show you the ‘activity’ level on a comparable basis.

It’s clear e-signing is quickly becoming the preferred method of conducting business. At DocuSign, we strive to give you the best electronic signature services possible with the most rich array of functionality so you can quickly get the signatures you need to close the deal. We make it fast and easy to DocuSign from anywhere, anytime.

Whether it’s sending a simple Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or a complex multi-page, multi-signer sales contract, we work very hard to give you the best e-sign services available. We’re listening. And here’s what we’ve heard so far:

The introduction of DocuSign into our collections process significantly improved DSO contributing to access to over $1M in additional working capital on an annualized basis. – Brian Frank, Director of Global Enterprise Operations, LinkedIn

DocuSign allows us to quickly generate documents and distribute them to the customer for execution and then get them moved on to the supplier to book the energy. It immediately goes from the customer’s office to the supplier so there is a very little gap in time for the market to move. DocuSign helps the customer lock in a rate at a low price and ensures that it gets preserved even if the market is moving quickly. – Scott Chilton, President & Managing Partner, Community Energy, LP

Just by the very nature of how much easier DocuSign is to get a document signed, get it completed and get it archived, DocuSign allows us to go from a couple of days or even a week, down to literally hours to get a contract executed. – Jim Roberson, President & Co-Founder, Drawloop Technologies

DocuSign significantly improved the company’s workflow cycle. With DocuSign, you can always look at the status in real-time and know if the contract is still out there. It makes your job a lot easier, keeping track of what contracts you sent out and what hasn’t come back yet. – Tressa Morgan, Sales Operations Database and Client Support Manager, EDGAR Online

The best part is documents could be signed in literally minutes versus months. I now have complete visibility. With a few clicks, I know who hasn’t signed. – Mike Machado, CRM Manager, Yamaha Commercial Audio

It seems the word is out! Using the Internet, not the Interstate, to get your documents signed is faster, less expensive and becoming the norm in many business segments. It really is inevitable! It will be interesting to see what the data is at this time NEXT YEAR. Stay tuned!

TG

Since 2002, Community Energy, L.P. has helped business, non-profits and residential customers benefit from reduced electrical costs. Community Energy works with large groups to combine their buying power to lower electrical rates from existing power providers.

Community Energy’s Business Challenge

Texas’ deregulated energy industry means that customers can select their electricity provider. Given that rates can fluctuate rapidly over short periods of time, residents and business owners can hunt for competitive prices but may lose their chances at the best deal.

Community Energy must sign contracts with clients that allow the company to represent them as well as agreements between them and the chosen energy suppliers. Often, clients include large residential communities in which members pool their electricity usage to obtain a better rate. These types of deals require signatures from all residents.

Scott Chilton, President and Managing Partner of Community Energy states:

We’ve had cases where the sales rep talked to the customer about a rate. By the time the paperwork was done and the contract sent, the rate was no longer any good and they had to go back and redo the contract again based on new market information.

When selecting a power provider, the contract process of:

1. Preparing paperwork
2. Delivering the paperwork through standard mail
3. Waiting for clients’ responses
4. Updating contracts to reflect changes in oil-and-gas rates as they changed throughout the process

Can sometimes lead to losing good deals for Community Energy’s customers and slower-than-desired close rates for the company. Additionally, Community Energy suffered from additional administrative pains to rework contracts.

The Solution? DocuSign for Salesforce

How did Community Energy reverse this business problem? With the leading electronic signature service, DocuSign for Salesforce, Community Energy has better control of the contract signing process and significantly accelerated the process of getting contracts signed and sales finalized.

According to Scott Chilton, President and Managing Partner for Community Energy:

DocuSign’s integration with Salesforce allows us to quickly generate documents and distribute them to the customer for execution and then get them moved on to the supplier to book the energy. It immediately goes from the customer’s office to the supplier so there is a very little gap in time for the market to move. DocuSign helps the customer lock in a rate at a low price and ensures that it gets preserved even if the market is moving quickly.

The Results for Community Energy

• Seamless workflow with the integration of DocuSign’s Corporate Edition Enterprise e-signature solution with Community Energy’s CRM system, Salesforce. Contracts travel quickly from salesperson to customer to power supplier.
• Contract creation with DocuSign codes and customer data already stored in Salesforce cut down on data-entry errors.
• Ease of use for Community Energy’s customers with clear delineation to what they need to sign on a specific document.
• On-demand access to contracts for customers bolsters document retention capabilities for Community Energy and lends legitimacy to the process for end-users.

DocuSign for Salesforce also helps Community Energy and its sales agents ensure that its customers lock in a rate at a low price and understand the legality of the agreement:

When you’re relying on a lot of different sales agents, sometimes they don’t effectively communicate to the customer that they have to sign this particular clause or it’s not going to be accepted. DocuSign does a great job of making sure the customer understands that they are committing to an agreement and that agreement is legal and binding, and then providing them with a mechanism for signing and viewing that contract.

Electronic signature enables Community Energy to significantly reduce contract turnaround time and only DocuSign for Salesforce gives Community Energy the ability to route contracts to numerous signers simultaneously to expedite complex group-rate contracts.