E-signature tools have been increasingly adopted as a result of digital transformation and were further bolstered by pandemic-era work-from-home transitions. These tools are commonplace now due to their ease of use, accessibility, and value in saving time and resources. With increasingly remote and hybrid setups, one IT decision maker (ITDM) said that productivity and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Office 365, DocuSign, and Atlassian have become “part of our DNA…part of [our] day-to-day work.” Though these tools have become normalized, spending on these products has cooled over time.
In our Technology Spending Intentions Survey (TSIS), ETR tracks e-signature tools within the Productivity Apps - Software sector. In our Macro Views Drill Down, respondents indicated Collaboration and Productivity as the fourth highest sector priority behind Cybersecurity, Analytics / Data Warehousing, and Cloud Migration, respectively. In a survey with broad Net Score declines, the Productivity Apps sector average dropped 17% on a year-over-year basis from 24% to 20%. Pervasion for the sector remains high and shows signs of incremental growth but spending intentions are lukewarm.
On the whole, productivity spend is flattening, as the proportion of respondents indicating plans to adopt and increase spend tapers down over time. Following a tailwind in 2021-2022, many organizations are now looking to cut spend due to less certain macro conditions. SaaS vendors are one place IT decision makers are looking to cut, consolidate, or optimize licensing, and e-signature tools are no exception.
DocuSign is Ubiquitous but Spending is Outpaced by Adobe
This report reviews preliminary data from our October 2022 TSIS as of October 5, 2022, (N=1,221) and our Macro Views Drill Down on e-signature vendors Adobe Sign, Box Sign, DocuSign, and Dropbox’s HelloSign. The survey data is complemented by analysis of recent ETR Insights interviews with IT leaders discussing vendor competition, the convenience of enterprise agreements, the costs of big-name players in the space, governance and ‘shadow signing,’ and budget tightening and consolidation amid tumultuous economic conditions.
Over 500 respondents indicated a spending intention on either Adobe Sign, Box Sign, DocuSign, or HelloSign, representing $238 billion in annual IT spending. Sixty-six percent of these respondents indicated they worked for a Large organization, while 18% said they work for Midsize and 16% for Small organizations. Seventy-nine percent of respondents are based in North America. IT/Telco (16%), Services/Consulting (16%), and Financials/Insurance (15%) are the best-represented industry verticals for e-signature products in our work, followed by Healthcare/Pharma (11%) and Industrials/Materials/Manufacturing (10%).
DocuSign is the most pervasive e-signature tool at 50%, outpacing second-best Adobe Sign considerably (19.7%). DocuSign is also among the most pervasive vendors across the entire Productivity Apps sector, falling behind only Microsoft (Office and Teams) and Adobe (core products in Productivity Apps). While less pervasive than DocuSign, Adobe Sign holds one of the highest sector Net Scores at 32%, outpacing both DocuSign (24.2%) and Adobe’s core product offering (17.8%).
Pervasion increased notably for both Adobe Sign and DocuSign over the past couple of years, though Net Scores have come down in the same period. Compared to the Productivity Apps sector decrease of 17%, Box Sign is the only e-signature tool with a decline of lesser magnitude at 12.5% year-over-year. Even Adobe’s Net Score decreased by 21% year-over-year, while DocuSign’s decreased by 43% and HelloSign, a staggering 163%.
Adobe Sign and DocuSign are the most frequently mentioned e-signature tools in ETR Insights interviews. Competitors Box Sign and Dropbox’s HelloSign have struggled to expand Pervasion, and each of their Net Scores exhibit volatility. HelloSign is one of the least pervasive vendors in the entire Productivity Apps sector and has one of the lowest Net Scores. Box Sign also struggles to gain a larger citation base in our work; its Net Score is nominally better than HelloSign, but still low (around 5%). Both are significantly outperformed by Adobe and DocuSign.
Since Jul 2021, spending intentions for Adobe Sign have held largely stable. Meanwhile, DocuSign’s Net Score has dropped significantly by 20 percentage points, approaching less healthy territory. Box Sign has also deteriorated year-over-year after an anomalous jump last quarter. HelloSign is performing extremely poorly in 2022 at deep (and consistent) negative levels, down from a relatively healthy 27% Net Score in 2021, a 44 percentage-point drop year-over-year. DocuSign and Adobe Sign continue to incrementally increase their Pervasion in our work, while HelloSign and Box Sign fail to gain traction and citations.
DocuSign and Adobe Sign maintain strong leads in our spending intentions data but IT leaders note that the marketplace is now full of cheaper competitors, as well. One ITDM, a VP of Technology Services for a large software enterprise, attributed DocuSign’s historical strength to its early entry when a lack of options was available. He said that by now many alternatives exist and functionality is indistinguishable: “A lot of other [vendors are now providing e-signature] versus having to rely on Adobe and DocuSign, which are – I’m sad to say – quite expensive solutions. When you look at what it costs for the functionality – and the functionality is very limited – you look at other ways of managing it. At the end of the day, you have more choices than you did in the beginning. [...] When DocuSign came out, obviously that was the solution. That was the way you had to get it done.”
The above is just a brief excerpt of the full research note. Log on to the ETR platform to continue reading the full 7-page report with more exclusive data and analysis, as well as end-user evaluation from our community members. Don't have a login yet? That's ok, just click HERE to get your free trial access today.
Enterprise Technology Research (ETR) is a technology market research firm that leverages proprietary data from our targeted IT decision maker (ITDM) community to bring you actionable insights about spending intentions and industry trends. Since 2010, we have worked diligently at achieving one goal: eliminating the need for opinions in enterprise research, which are often formed from incomplete, biased, and statistically insignificant data. Our community of ITDMs represents $1+ trillion in annual IT spend and is positioned to provide best-in-class customer/evaluator perspectives. ETR’s proprietary data and insights from this community empower institutional investors, technology companies, and ITDMs to navigate the complex enterprise technology landscape amid an expanding marketplace. Discover what ETR can do for you at www.etr.ai