Comment Re:Frankly... (Score 1) 30
Part of it is.
Digital signature support is pretty widespread across productivity software. Where the fun begins is managing the signing keys.
Docusign isn't really selling the signature feature(indeed, to be worth using, they pretty much have to use the standardized options mentioned in the various standards that give e-signatures legal force); they're selling abstracting the key management away from you; and the service of offering a 'free' barebones setup that the people you send forms to can use to sign them regardless of whether or not they are set up properly in terms of software, signing keys, etc. That's why accounts that can send stuff out for signature are $$(with stuff that has full workflow integration for hooking into ERP systems and stuff being $$$); but it's free to create a basic login if someone sends you something requesting a signature.
It's hard to hold out too much hope for them, or at least their margins, longterm; since the signatures are standardized, productivity software vendors already support them, and (aside from people who are looking to offer basically the same thing as Docusign, like Adobe's offering they push with Acrobat) the people trying to set themselves up as big players in authentication(eg. facebook and google serving as logins for a variety of 3rd party websites; Apple having IDs tied very closely to their users on all Apple devices; MS' AAD-related stuff on the corporate side and MS accounts on the consumer side); would find it relatively simple; were they interested; to generate a signing key tied to their accounts and offer that as another feature.
Digital signature support is pretty widespread across productivity software. Where the fun begins is managing the signing keys.
Docusign isn't really selling the signature feature(indeed, to be worth using, they pretty much have to use the standardized options mentioned in the various standards that give e-signatures legal force); they're selling abstracting the key management away from you; and the service of offering a 'free' barebones setup that the people you send forms to can use to sign them regardless of whether or not they are set up properly in terms of software, signing keys, etc. That's why accounts that can send stuff out for signature are $$(with stuff that has full workflow integration for hooking into ERP systems and stuff being $$$); but it's free to create a basic login if someone sends you something requesting a signature.
It's hard to hold out too much hope for them, or at least their margins, longterm; since the signatures are standardized, productivity software vendors already support them, and (aside from people who are looking to offer basically the same thing as Docusign, like Adobe's offering they push with Acrobat) the people trying to set themselves up as big players in authentication(eg. facebook and google serving as logins for a variety of 3rd party websites; Apple having IDs tied very closely to their users on all Apple devices; MS' AAD-related stuff on the corporate side and MS accounts on the consumer side); would find it relatively simple; were they interested; to generate a signing key tied to their accounts and offer that as another feature.