I attended DocuSign's annual Momentum conference for the first time ever in 2017. I had never heard of this firm but apparently they are doing really hot things by automating document management in the cloud. I had to see how they connect with their customers at this conference so I could score some knowledge in person.
Keynotes at these types of shindigs are always fun. I won't blindly repeat anyone's claims about how much customers save for every dollar spent on a DocuSign product. I could probably save less than a buck fifty by going completely paperless, but I score all of my paper note-taking products for free at conferences like Momentum. Hey, that means I'm saving money already thanks to DocuSign.
I have known about the US government's FedRAMP cloud product security standard for some time, but I learned at Momentum that a separate FIPS 140-2 standard applies to cryptographic security. Any service provider offering cloud solutions must be compliant with these standards or they will never get into Uncle Sam's procurement pipeline.
DocuSign's "Advisory Councils" sound like CustDev feedback channels for the firm's biggest verticals. I'll bet their data streams on who signs documents, how and when they sign, and the length of time for a transaction to close are a gold mine.
I mentally ran through a list of potential acquirers during the opening keynotes: Workday, Adobe, Google, Microsoft (if they want a SharePoint tie-in) . . . who did I miss? Salesforce? Nah, not them. I think Salesforce would rather acquire Box to build out its document automation and storage portfolio if it were so inclined, but hey, I don't run any of these companies, so I have no idea what they're doing.
Two special Momentum guests were contrasts in demeanor. I will not identify them so I can preserve an air of mystery. One overgrown frat-boy who somehow ended up as a financial service executive had more than one attendee swooning over his good looks and arrogance. He did not strike me as all that competent, so count me in the minority of people who weren't fooled. Another special guest was self-effacing and displayed technical competence on the speaking platform, but somehow came off poorly to the people sitting around me. I get it how physically attractive people, regardless of gender, get a big pass in life but I don't have to like it.
Experts on trust and digital transaction management said that clients now demand trust certifications like ISO 27001 and AICPA SOC. It's not my job to implement those certifications so I'll just trust that some people love doing the work for me. There's also an xDTM standard for digital transaction management and the EU GDPR standard for data protection in Europe. There should be plenty of jobs in document automation for people who know these standards. Real pros also know the difference between Representational State Transfer (REST) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) in an API's JSON response.
People here think they can accelerate your employer's digital adoption. Forrester's white papers will tell you to get buy-in at all levels for change management. I would tell Forrester that they had better not use any of my writing without attribution. Anyone who has more patience than typical Forrester readers can study the SPeRS standards. Prevailing wisdom holds that automated document processing adds value in mergers, because absorbing new business units is easier if forms and checklists are shared digitally.
The future of banking and wealth management is digital. Robo-advisors are coming to steal the jobs of Wall Street's cubicle dwellers and document automation will make the AI systems' data verification easier. I believe fintech's niche is data aggregation from financial service providers. Banks and brokerages say they are willing to "partner" with fintech providers but not necessarily acquire them. Fintech solutions give banks off-shelf added value they can't quickly build in-house. Even real estate is getting into document automation, although the sector's natural conservatism towards newfangled things is a barrier to adoption. Oh yeah, I had to tell the presiding wealth management experts here about how their sector has told me many times that my US military background is a disadvantage in wealth management. One executive advised me to move to Texas where that wouldn't be a problem. I don't think she's heard about how Texans dislike California transplants. Liars make me mad. Here's the truth: Maximizing a firm's Net Promoter Score (NPS) and minimizing "not in good order" (NIGO) data are popular approaches to assessing whether document automation enhances the customer experience.
The closing keynote revealed the litany of tools programmers need to succeed: DocuSign (of course), Python, Django, and Node.js. I was thrilled that a fellow military veteran led one of the winning hackathon teams. The free food at Momentum and its afterparty were good reasons to attend. The free insights into how companies like DocuSign are automating corporate back office processes are good reasons to come back next year.
Keynotes at these types of shindigs are always fun. I won't blindly repeat anyone's claims about how much customers save for every dollar spent on a DocuSign product. I could probably save less than a buck fifty by going completely paperless, but I score all of my paper note-taking products for free at conferences like Momentum. Hey, that means I'm saving money already thanks to DocuSign.
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| Alfidi Capital owns DocuSign Momentum 2017. |
I have known about the US government's FedRAMP cloud product security standard for some time, but I learned at Momentum that a separate FIPS 140-2 standard applies to cryptographic security. Any service provider offering cloud solutions must be compliant with these standards or they will never get into Uncle Sam's procurement pipeline.
DocuSign's "Advisory Councils" sound like CustDev feedback channels for the firm's biggest verticals. I'll bet their data streams on who signs documents, how and when they sign, and the length of time for a transaction to close are a gold mine.
I mentally ran through a list of potential acquirers during the opening keynotes: Workday, Adobe, Google, Microsoft (if they want a SharePoint tie-in) . . . who did I miss? Salesforce? Nah, not them. I think Salesforce would rather acquire Box to build out its document automation and storage portfolio if it were so inclined, but hey, I don't run any of these companies, so I have no idea what they're doing.
Two special Momentum guests were contrasts in demeanor. I will not identify them so I can preserve an air of mystery. One overgrown frat-boy who somehow ended up as a financial service executive had more than one attendee swooning over his good looks and arrogance. He did not strike me as all that competent, so count me in the minority of people who weren't fooled. Another special guest was self-effacing and displayed technical competence on the speaking platform, but somehow came off poorly to the people sitting around me. I get it how physically attractive people, regardless of gender, get a big pass in life but I don't have to like it.
Experts on trust and digital transaction management said that clients now demand trust certifications like ISO 27001 and AICPA SOC. It's not my job to implement those certifications so I'll just trust that some people love doing the work for me. There's also an xDTM standard for digital transaction management and the EU GDPR standard for data protection in Europe. There should be plenty of jobs in document automation for people who know these standards. Real pros also know the difference between Representational State Transfer (REST) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) in an API's JSON response.
People here think they can accelerate your employer's digital adoption. Forrester's white papers will tell you to get buy-in at all levels for change management. I would tell Forrester that they had better not use any of my writing without attribution. Anyone who has more patience than typical Forrester readers can study the SPeRS standards. Prevailing wisdom holds that automated document processing adds value in mergers, because absorbing new business units is easier if forms and checklists are shared digitally.
The future of banking and wealth management is digital. Robo-advisors are coming to steal the jobs of Wall Street's cubicle dwellers and document automation will make the AI systems' data verification easier. I believe fintech's niche is data aggregation from financial service providers. Banks and brokerages say they are willing to "partner" with fintech providers but not necessarily acquire them. Fintech solutions give banks off-shelf added value they can't quickly build in-house. Even real estate is getting into document automation, although the sector's natural conservatism towards newfangled things is a barrier to adoption. Oh yeah, I had to tell the presiding wealth management experts here about how their sector has told me many times that my US military background is a disadvantage in wealth management. One executive advised me to move to Texas where that wouldn't be a problem. I don't think she's heard about how Texans dislike California transplants. Liars make me mad. Here's the truth: Maximizing a firm's Net Promoter Score (NPS) and minimizing "not in good order" (NIGO) data are popular approaches to assessing whether document automation enhances the customer experience.
The closing keynote revealed the litany of tools programmers need to succeed: DocuSign (of course), Python, Django, and Node.js. I was thrilled that a fellow military veteran led one of the winning hackathon teams. The free food at Momentum and its afterparty were good reasons to attend. The free insights into how companies like DocuSign are automating corporate back office processes are good reasons to come back next year.
