Relatively modest applications such as e-signatures can help move business customers along a path towards Big Data implementations from the Internet of Things (IoT) to machine learning and AI.
That’s according to DocuSign chief executive officer Dan Springer, speaking to CNBC‘s reporter for Squawk Box Europe on the digital documentation company’s plans and outlook for growth as a public company.
New trends such as hybrid working, AI, 5G, Big Data, and the IoT are having a monumental impact on the IT industry and on how companies prepare for the future, he agreed.
“In those specific examples, artificial intelligence (AI) is probably the one that’s most relevant to think about with Big Data applications,” Springer said.
“People used to come to DocuSign and say they just want to do electronic and digital signatures. Now they’re saying I have all these agreements done digitally, I need to manage them. I need to have some sort of repository for them, and I need to do intelligence search.”
Customers often now want to move to leveraging AI and are asking to integrate that advanced capability into the overall DocuSign agreement, he said.
“I think we’re going to continue to see that need for innovation be a big part of our business, and really what our customers are demanding.”
DocuSign, meanwhile, was continuing to look for growth and expansion, particularly outside its home US market in places like Europe — suggesting the company will support growth opportunities for its channel partners too.
“We’re gonna do our darndest to put up such numbers that incredibly increase that valuation, to make it harder and harder for someone to acquire the company,” Springer said.
“Only 20% of our revenue comes outside of the US, and for a company that will be approaching about $2 billion of revenue this year, I’d like to see that higher.”
The company is making investments in Europe through its Dublin headquarters and offices across the region. Good ethos and execution would continue to be key, he suggested.
Dave Stevinson, chief executive at pan-European distributor QBS Software, suggested European partners too should be looking at closer engagement with DocuSign.
“Inviting our European partners to engage closer with Docusign makes obvious sense. Docusign is the undisputed leader in e-signature and has over 250 technology integrations. Our pre-sales and onboarding team are ready to enable this activity,” Stevinson said.
