The role of agreements in customer excellence, revenue growth and risk management in financial services

By Jennifer Lauchlan, Industry Lead – ANZ Financial Services 

The financial services industry is under intense and growing scrutiny and with the media spotlight currently shining on the superannuation sector following its significant shortcomings in the recently released ASIC report, it underscores the critical role that clear and efficient agreements play in both the consumer experience and the reputation of the industry.

The report found that 78% of the delays in customer service and claims processing could have been avoided through improved processes and governance. Some funds processed only 8% of claims within 90 days, while others managed 48% in the same timeframe. 

These delays, coupled with poor customer service, have exposed systemic failures in claims handling, as well as causing reputational damage to key brands - with some even being sued by ASIC. 

The recent spotlight on superannuation isn’t an isolated incident. All sectors from banking & lending to wealth & insurance are feeling the pressure from regulators, consumer watch dogs, and customers themselves to step up their game, especially when it comes to protecting customer interests and security. 

Similar processing delays are found across the industry and at Docusign we are seeing a rapid increase in financial institutions' focus and prioritisation of ‘Customer Excellence’ programs to improve the customer experience and efficiency, driving lower cost to service, improving customer retention, enhancing security and mitigate risk. 

Managing all these processes and agreements is a never ending job — particularly given the ever-changing regulatory landscape and ever-present risks of security breaches.  Add to this the pressure to originate new business, while lowering the cost to serve . Agreements are at the heart of all these goals.

Investing in intelligent agreement management

To help realise goals like boosting revenue and profitability, while reducing risk, financial services firms are turning to solutions like Docusign Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM). Powered by AI and built to handle the complexities of the modern agreement landscape, Docusign IAM helps firms achieve:

• Regulatory compliance. With features like automated audit trails, version control and adherence to certifications like IRAP, Docusign IAM reduces your risk of errors and non-compliance.

• Faster client onboarding and servicing. Docusign IAM accelerates client onboarding and servicing by integrating with core banking systems and digitising agreement workflows. With a mobile-first platform and rich self-service tooling, it delivers on the expectations of today’s customers while helping you move faster in winning new business. 

• Enhanced security and fraud prevention. With built-in security features like encryption, ID verification and access controls, Docusign IAM protects sensitive financial data and mitigates fraud risks.

• Operational efficiencies and cost savings. By automating workflows and centralising agreement data, firms can minimise administrative overheads and free up employees’ time to focus on strategic initiatives and client relationships.

• Strategic decision-making. AI-driven analytics help financial firms extract valuable insights from agreements. These insights help teams optimise contract terms, identify risks and improve negotiation strategies.

So, whether you’re a bank or wealth firm looking to elevate customer experiences across self-service and assisted channels, or you’re a registered investment advisor or broker looking to enhance operations from front to back office, Docusign IAM minimises friction and unlocks valuable new workflow possibilities across the customer journey. 

A look under the hood of Docusign IAM for financial services

Docusign IAM is designed to simplify how lenders and brokers engage clients, with capabilities that improve the flow of trusted data across the ecosystem and throughout the customer lifecycle. Three key components are purpose-built to power a more seamless and streamlined way to manage agreements: 

• Docusign Maestro delivers no-code agreement workflows with rich functionality like web forms, ID verification, DocGen, data verification, signing and more. It’s easy to implement and integrates easily with other partner systems. 

• Docusign Navigator enables financial services organisations to extract rich, AI-powered insights from agreements to help drive more strategic decision making, uncover new opportunities, and achieve greater internal efficiencies.

• Docusign App Centre makes it easier than ever to connect to partner apps and switch on things like data verification.

With features like these, the use cases are endless. For example, an advisor could streamline the process of onboarding a new client by capturing initial client information in a web form, and then conditionally initiating and pre-populating any required additional forms using Maestro branch logic. A lender could set up modular workflows to verify a customer’s identity before data capture in web forms, and then dynamically adapt the questions based on previously inputted data. Or, if customers are setting up joint accounts, a multi-form workflow could be set up to conditionally initiate back-to-back web forms based on branch logic. 

These are just some examples of how Docusign IAM makes it easier for financial services organisations to onboard and engage with customers across the entire lifecycle. For more, or to take it for a test drive, get in touch.