The Executive Guide to AI Contracting: Insights from Singapore Momentum 2026

To kick off the day, Docusign's CEO Allan Thygesen welcomed customers and partners, and helped to set the tone for the event - agreements are no longer static documents or the final step in a transaction. They are a source of business intelligence, operational control and competitive advantage.

A new vision for agreement management

The opening keynote, hosted by Allan Thygesen and Shaun McLagan, APJ’s Group Vice President and General Manager, outlined Docusign’s shift from point solutions to an end-to-end AI contracting experience - specifically, our Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) platform. With IAM, organisations can connect agreement creation, execution and ongoing management into one centralised environment.

As highlighted in the keynote, without an end-to-end solution like IAM, teams can face disconnected handoffs, including duplicate information, slow approvals and missed obligations with their agreements. But don’t just take our word for it - a recent Deloitte study showcased a 30% increase in ROI for those deploying end-to-end AI platforms, compared to a mere 3% increase for organisations using isolated AI tools.

The keynote also showcased new capabilities from Iris, including an AI Assistant that works from the full context of an agreement, as well as Docusign’s Agent Studio for multi-step workflows. Other exciting announcements included Worksheets, AI-Assisted Web Forms, Prevailing Terms Analysis, IAM for HR and IAM for Sales.

What leaders can do

Start with one high-value business journey, such as onboarding or renewals. Map every handoff, identify where information is lost or delayed, and define the business metric that an end-to-end approach should improve - then implement it!

An OpenAI fireside explored AI’s transformation

Allan Thygesen was then joined by Kiran Mani, APJ’s Managing Director at OpenAI, for an exciting conversation about the progression from chatbots and LLMs to complex, multi-agent systems.

The discussion emphasised that purposeful scaling matters more than experimentation. The key message? Organisations should begin with a clear business problem, define the decision or outcome they want to improve, and establish a path to scale before launching a pilot.

Having access to accurate information, context, permissions - and ensuring there is always a human in the loop to verify output - were identified as essential for enterprise-grade agents. The conversation also highlighted executive sponsorship and the continuing role of enterprise applications and systems of record as sources of trusted business data.

What leaders can do

Before launching an AI pilot, document the problem it should improve, the data and permissions it will need, and the conditions required for scaling. Involve business and executive sponsors early - not only after the technology has been selected.

An effective (yet easy) way to implement this insight is Docusign’s MCP server. With MCP, you can connect Docusign with your preferred AI assistant - including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and more - to extract key clauses, audit compliance risk or trigger contract approvals in real time. 

Start with one defined use case, then explore our MCP connectors to help move from AI experimentation to governed agreement workflows.

Partners showed how AI can reduce administrative friction

The event progressed to our partner and ecosystem segment, highlighting how Docusign’s partners brought these ideas to life into the workplace. Hosted by Docusign’s Kelly Yu and Microsoft’s Jessica Krol, Chief of Staff and Sales Excellence Director for Enterprise Partner Solutions, the session addressed the critical “design problem” which modern organisations are facing - that poorly designed internal processes can leave employees without the time and energy to focus on high-value work.

The conversation reframed the question from “What can Microsoft Copilot do?” to “What could I do with my week back?” - for example, integrating Microsoft Copilot with IAM can help reduce administrative work for an array of teams, including Legal, Finance, Procurement, Sales and IT.

The event also highlighted integrations with Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, Salesforce, SAP, Coupa, Legora and Workday. We also showcased integrations with identity verification partners including iAMSMART for Hong Kong, Singpass in Singapore and Vida in Indonesia - pretty exciting stuff! 

What leaders can do

Look beyond individual tools and identify the administrative work that slows people down. Prioritise integrations that bring trusted agreement data and workflows into the systems employees already use.

The Resilient Enterprise panel focused on operational friction

Next, it was time to hear from Docusign’s customers.

The first panel, ‘The Resilient Enterprise: Scaling Operations Through Intelligent Automation’, was hosted by Paula Hansen, Docusign’s President and Chief Revenue Officer. Panellists included Jeff Galvin, Corporate Vice President, Financial Services Industry at Microsoft; Michael Puhaindran, Group Head of Legal, Compliance and Secretariat at Singlife; and Jason Cheng, Head of Legal Affairs, Singapore Branch at Cathay United Bank.

The discussion focused on the cost of handoffs between customers and employees, front and back offices, and disconnected systems. The panel recommended redesigning complete journeys such as onboarding, lending and underwriting instead of creating isolated technology silos.

The speakers also explored the work that continues after an agreement is signed, including approvals, version control, obligation tracking and renewals. Cathay United Bank shared one example, reducing private-banking account-opening time from approximately 30 to 45 days down to 12 to 17 days by bringing processes and communications onto one platform.

What leaders can do

Treat agreements as active workflow and obligation data. Assign ownership for post-signature activities, connect agreements to the systems that drive the wider process, and measure success through cycle time, customer experience, and revenue impact.

The Trust at Scale panel addressed responsible AI adoption

The final panel, ‘Trust at Scale: Rethinking Security, Risk and Compliance in an AI-driven World’, was hosted by Kartik Krishnamurthy, Docusign’s VP for Asia. Panellists included Mharicar Castillo-Reyes, CEO of Asticom, one of Philippines largest partners for Docusign and Juan Gomez, Regional ICT Director for APAC at Terumo Asia Holdings.

The discussion emphasised that trust must be designed into business systems and workflows, rather than treated as a final checkpoint. Agreements are central to this challenge because they contain sensitive data, commercial commitments, payment terms and evidence of consent.

The panel recommended cross-functional AI governance involving technology, security, legal, data and business leaders. Organisations should identify trust gaps across system, process and people handoffs, then measure AI initiatives by business outcomes and strategic alignment.

What leaders can do

Establish clear executive ownership for AI governance and bring legal, security and data teams into the design process. Make agreement data searchable, connected and auditable before increasing the level of automation.

Turning the day’s insights into action

Singapore Momentum 2026 showed that the future of AI is not simply about adopting more tools. It’s about connecting intelligence to trusted business context and redesigning the processes that create value.

For organisations considering their next step with AI, Momentum offered a clear roadmap:

• Start with the hardest business problem, not the newest AI capability.

• Define the desired decision, metric and scaling path before launching a pilot.

• Build workflows with strong context, permissions, and human monitoring. 

• Treat agreements as connected business data, not static documents.

• Secure executive sponsorship for enterprise-wide transformation.

Ready to step into your AI contracting era? Contact our team to explore how IAM can help your organisation reduce friction, strengthen control and turn agreement data into action.