Exclusive: Docusign’s new AI platform to slash trillions lost in contract inefficiency

Docusign is ramping up its artificial intelligence capabilities with the launch of its Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) platform, which Chief Product Officer Dmitri Krakovsky says is designed to address inefficiencies costing the global economy trillions each year.

During a recent interview, Krakovsky explained that IAM's core is an AI engine called Iris, which applies machine learning across every stage of the contract lifecycle - from creation to negotiation, execution and post-signature management.

"We're not in the business of building AI for AI's sake," he told TechDay. "Ultimately, we're here to solve customer problems."

Krakovsky described the system as "an automated legal assistant" that takes on repetitive, manual work, freeing professionals to focus on decision-making.

For instance, in contract negotiations, IAM's AI agents can automatically compare an organisation's playbook of preferred terms against the text of a draft contract, flag deviations, and propose redline edits. "The idea is not to take over from a human, but to eliminate the work that's frankly pretty repetitive," he explained.

The automation extends beyond redlining. IAM can prioritise contracts requiring urgent attention, generate pre-written letters for counterparties, and extract structured data from complex agreements.

This last capability, Krakovsky said, turns "a bunch of PDFs sitting in some folder" into searchable, analysable databases.

"It's a lot easier to reason about data than files and folders," he added.

The launch marks a significant expansion of Docusign's remit beyond its original focus on e-signatures. Over the past year, the company has built capabilities to support the full lifecycle of agreements.

"We've expanded from the signature moment to creation, negotiation, signature, management and analysis, all in one platform, powered by AI," Krakovsky said.

The timing, he argued, is right. "We finally built the set of components that go from beginning to end," he said. "It's an end-to-end solution for companies of different sizes, in different industries and geographies."

That holistic approach is already paying off. Krakovsky called IAM the fastest-growing product in Docusign's history, crediting early adoption to the platform's ability to deliver value outside the legal department.

One example is Bon Voyage Credit Repair in Australia, which cut customer onboarding times by up to three weeks by digitising its entire agreement process. "Instead of paper, mailing or emailing, it's all structured and done in a very easy-to-use digital way," he said.

Research conducted by Docusign and Deloitte identified what the companies term the "Agreement Trap." The study found outdated and fragmented contract processes contribute to more than AUD $3.13 trillion in lost economic value globally each year.

In Australia and New Zealand, lengthy negotiation cycles and slow approvals are driving a renewed focus on operational efficiency, with 68% of business decision-makers rating their contract creation capability as advanced.

For Krakovsky, the solution goes beyond efficiency gains.

He cited regulatory compliance as one area where IAM could have a major impact. "If a new law comes in, AI reads for you, flags contracts that are non-compliant, so you can reissue or renegotiate," he said. Economic insights - such as identifying underperforming contracts up for renewal - are another. "AI can alert you to here's a contract, it's renewing in the next six months. We delivered much less performance in that contract than others. Let's negotiate this hard," he said.

Krakovsky stressed that trust is central to Docusign's AI roadmap.

"We don't use customer data unless we're given specific consent," he said. "Even when they give us consent, we anonymise their data. Ultimately, as a company, we are not in business unless we're trusted. That's rule number one before anything else."

The company's acquisition of AI specialist Lexion has also bolstered its capabilities, particularly in understanding the meaning and context of contractual language.

"We fully integrated their technology into our offerings, which accelerated what we do," Krakovsky said.

Looking ahead, Docusign plans to deepen IAM's industry-specific capabilities. Krakovsky pointed to the liquid natural gas sector, where contract details like delivery windows and gas pressure require highly specialised handling. "We hope that for any customer, anywhere, anytime, in any agreement management lifecycle, it feels like it was designed specifically for that niche," he said.

He sees the current moment as a turning point for the contract space, which, unlike ERP or CRM systems, has only recently begun true digitisation.

"As far as the overall process, understanding and digitising this process really hasn't happened - and now it's happening," he said.

"Why now? Because there's been a major breakthrough, particularly in AI technologies, that allow you to understand the meaning of this."

For Krakovsky, the opportunity is clear: "Agreements are the heartbeat of the economy - closing the gap between digital maturity and real-world business impact in agreement management will play a key role in growing the modern economy," he said.