A Dynamic Approach to Signing on the Line

Adobe Sign and Microsoft partner to improve workflows and enhance enterprise productivity.

It’s a common scene in countless offices: a contract goes out and, seconds later, an error is spotted — but it’s too late. Or maybe you send a contract out for review and it’s radio silence — no one knows if it has been opened, reviewed, or edited. Or you and your team are working against the clock, but wasting endless time moving between platforms and programs, trying to unify data, visuals, and contract terms into a cohesive, consistent working document.

Walk through any office and you’ll likely spot at least some of these bumps in the road — bumps that simply don’t have a place in this increasingly fast-paced, increasingly high-demand business landscape.

As part of our collective commitment to being a true experience business, Adobe has endeavored to smooth out some of these bumps by partnering with Microsoft to make document processes simpler and more streamlined. From enhanced productivity to better digital experiences, this partnership is laser-focused on delivering the kinds of touchpoints businesses and business leaders need to get ahead and stay there.

One powerhouse partnership

This industry-leading partnership launched in 2016 with Microsoft Dynamics and Adobe Experience Cloud. In 2017, the partnership expanded to include Adobe Document Cloud. This extension is designed to increase workforce productivity by streamlining electronic approval and contracting processes for Office 365 and Dynamics 365 users.

Streamline business processes

Whether you’re a sales manager working with a vendor, an HR recruiter sourcing candidates, or an attorney routing contracts, signatures are an inevitable part of doing business.

More than one-third of business leaders say they receive contracts with missing or incorrect information. Another pain point is keeping track of which documents have been sent, received, signed, or returned, while, at the same time, ensuring documents haven’t been modified without notice — all of this while pushing for an efficient turnaround.

Adobe Sign now enables over half of the Fortune 100 with fast and secure signatures, contributing to the more than 8 billion electronic signature transactions that were processed through Document Cloud in the past year alone.

Now the 135 million monthly commercial active users of Office 365 have access to the best in e-signatures with Adobe Sign, and the best PDF services from Adobe.

Let’s say you want to send a contract to a vendor. Here’s what that process can look like with the partnership between Adobe and Microsoft:

First, go into the SharePoint list and highlight the name of the vendor you want. If you work out of Dynamics 365, then select the opportunity.
From there, go into Adobe Sign — while still in SharePoint/Dynamics 365 — and pull up a contract.
Incorporate data from SharePoint/Dynamics 365 to populate the electronic contract, edit more fields as needed, then send to the vendor for signature.
Follow its progress in SharePoint/Dynamics 365/Outlook so you know when the vendor views, signs, and returns the document.
The vendor can view the document on any device since it was sent via Adobe Document Cloud — and they can sign wherever they are, even on the move.

The state of Hawaii leveraged Adobe Sign with SharePoint and Outlook to save $5M over 2.5 years, by streamlining 400K contracts

Digitizing the complete document lifecycle

The Adobe Sign integration along with the recent Adobe PDF services integration with Microsoft Office and SharePoint makes it easy to digitize documents throughout their life cycles, leaning on three key phases to close the loop and deliver greater value.

Create: Regardless of the apps you use and where your data is stored, it’s easy to work cross-platform and create documents and contracts. Simply pick up files or data from any Microsoft app and merge it into a document package or contract with just a few clicks.
Collaborate: Collaborate either in an ad hoc fashion or a structured process. Using PDF services in SharePoint and OneDrive, you can now easily create, combine, and share PDF files with colleagues. Using Adobe Sign agreement templates with SharePoint/Dynamics, administrators can create rules to automatically route documents for review and approval in seconds.
Execute: Get a contract signed, approved, or have certified delivery, and then publish back into Microsoft apps with a few quick clicks.

Ready to get started? If you’re a customer, please contact your client success manager if you’d like to join future Adobe Sign Innovation series webinars. These monthly virtual events are one of the many benefits we offer our customers, and are designed to facilitate conversation and collaboration — helping users and enterprises get the most out of their Microsoft and Adobe investments.

To better maximize your investment, read more about Adobe Sign on our blog. Check out Saurabh’s talk from #MSIgnite on how Adobe Sensei powers Adobe Sign and Acrobat workflows here.