Thinking about connecting Claude, Gemini or Copilot to Docusign?

In SMBs around Australia, business leaders are shifting their focus from “should we experiment with AI?” to “which everyday task can we streamline next?” The excitement is real; yet smart leaders are rightfully wary of going too hard, too soon. 

One thing that commonly stalls investment? The fact that standard AI tools remain isolated from the actual systems that drive revenue and operations. When AI operates in a silo, there’s still a lot of manual copy-and-pasting to bridge data gaps and move vital business context between platforms. 

This siloed effect can happen when tech like AI is brought in mainly because it’s shiny, new and exciting – instead of being implemented to solve a real business problem.

It’s why, for SMBs looking to maximise the ROI of AI investments, the real opportunity lies in connecting large language models (LLMs) directly into the core processes that run your business. Let’s use your agreement process as an example.

Solving the friction points of agreements

From first negotiations to ongoing contract management, there are many elements of the agreement process that are impacted by manual bottlenecks. A salesperson may have to re-enter customer details from a CRM into an agreement template. An HR rep might lose track of where an employment contract sits in the approval queue. New customers might be left waiting while internal teams hunt down the right clauses to put into a contract; or to chase signatures.

Friction points like these can quickly add up, costing the business in the form of lost revenue or missed opportunities. AI can help; but only if it’s able to access the agreement systems your teams use. That’s where our MCP Connectors come in. They connect an LLM like Claude, Gemini or Copilot to the Docusign IAM platform, paving the way for AI to take over previously manual tasks like copy-and-pasting customer information, reviewing deal terms, following up on renewals and more. 

It’s not long before the ROI of your AI investment is seen through reduced administrative burden and faster turnaround times across the departments dealing with business agreements on a daily basis. Not to mention all those business deals that get done.

Questions to ask when building your business case

Before you dive in with an AI-enabled agreement workflow, it pays to think carefully about its impact and the implications on wider business processes. Consider things like:

• Implementation and management costs: What are the expenses associated with configuring your workflows, connecting your platforms and maintaining the system once it’s up and running? 

• Time-to-value: How quickly will the investment pay for itself? 

• Change management: How easily will your team adapt to interacting with agreement tools through a conversational AI interface?

• Human oversight: At which points in the agreement process do you embed non-negotiable human reviews, and how will you govern this process? 

• Security and compliance: How does the tool handle sensitive commercial data? Does it adhere to applicable regulations, data privacy laws and compliance standards when managing binding agreements?

• Opportunity cost: What’s the cost of inaction? Will you lose deals or new hires because your competitors are moving faster?

Answering questions like these will help you build your business case and articulate the value of bringing AI into your agreement workflows. 

Ease your way into an investment

The great thing about Docusign’s MCP Connectors is that you can start with just one small project or pilot to test the value of AI. Choose a common agreement workflow like a sales contract, “switch on” the connection between AI, the sales CRM and Docusign using our MCP Connectors, and then see how easy it is to generate, update or search agreements without leaving your primary workspace. You can then measure the impact this pilot has; and expand responsibly as your teams build confidence in the new way of working. 

Are you ready to evaluate whether an AI-enabled agreement workflow is right for your business? We’re here to help you identify a priority workflow or use case – simply get in touch to get started. 

Or, for a more technical deep-dive on how to connect your LLMs to Docusign agreement intelligence with MCP, read this article next.