Washington University in St. Louis has integrated DocuSign, the global leader in electronic signatures and agreements. From financial aid applications to staff hiring, paper-based systems of agreement can slow down most aspects of campus life. The time and costs involved with these processes aren’t always obvious, but they can be substantial. Following the launch of its paperless campus initiative, WashU redesigned its systems and processes to be more accessible, efficient, and environmentally friendly.
WashU serves 15,539 students and employs over 7,000 faculty and staff currently. Over two years ago, the university began digitizing interactions among students, faculty, and staff. By modernizing its system of agreement, the goal was to become paperless.
WashU Reduces Costs By $194,000
Washington University implemented DocuSign eSignature to digitize their workflows, beginning with the Danforth Campus, a campus that was heavily dependent on paper-based processes. Having achieved excellent results there, the digitization project quickly expanded to other university campuses. DocuSign’s APIs and pre-built integrations with other cloud solutions were essential to the university’s success.
DocuSign is now used for almost everything on campus. Almost any process that needs to be initiated and approved on campus can be digitized. With the digital system of agreement now in place at WashU, students can submit electronic signatures without users having to leave the platform they’re using.
Throughout the last 180 days, WashU IT has been focusing on delivering an adoption plan to make DocuSign the university’s preferred electronic signature platform. The university saved $194,005 in the first year after implementation. Additionally, the student and employee experience has improved dramatically because processes have become more efficient for all parties involved.
DocuSign Aims to Impact Sustainability at WashU
Since 2003,* DocuSign has helped replace over 38 billion sheets of paper, saving an estimated 4 million trees, 4 billion gallons of water, 3 billion pounds of CO2, and 64 million kilograms of solid waste in the process. Today, as COVID-19 accelerates the shift to virtual work, modern systems of agreement increasingly power the shift to digital agreements online. As part of ongoing efforts, DocuSign has recently made the commitment to being carbon neutral by the calendar year 2022.
That commitment is what excites us about offering DocuSign’s services to the WashU community. Washington University in St. Louis is fully committed to being a national leader in sustainability, a core priority that runs through all aspects of our community, our operations, and our work as a leading teaching and research institution.
These figures represent data as of December 1, 2021.