Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) Enhancing Its Document Cloud To Take On DocuSign Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU)
Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) is focusing on Document Cloud including Adobe Sign as its growth pillars going forward as the company takes on DocuSign Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU) in paper-based processes digitization. In its fourth quarter, Document Cloud posted around $411 million in revenues.
Document Cloud important in Adobe’s growth
The company’s fiscal 2020 Document Cloud revenue matches DocuSign as both lean towards being software providers for document management digitization. The common goal between the companies was evident in the fourth quarter where Adobe management emphasized document management during the earnings release and investor day. To put this in perspective, the company mentioned digital experiences around 109 times and Creative Cloud 91 times.
Interestingly Adobe’s spin is somehow different compares to DocuSign in that it is employing the Acrobat and PDF franchise in layering workflow and e-signature services. On the other hand, DocuSign leads in the e-signature segment and it also owns an Agreement Cloud.
Most importantly, revenue from the companies lines up closely with Adobe Document Cloud generating $1.5 billion revenue in fiscal 2020 with Q4 sales up 21% YoY to $411 million. DocuSign also which will report its annual revenue for the year ending January 31, 2021, will likely post revenue of $1.42 billion with Q4 revenue coming around $407.6 million.
Adobe taking on DocuSign with a different approach
DocuSign seems to focus more on digital workflow where it digitizes corporate operations such as HR and legal with a host of key integrations. On the other hand, Adobe expects Document Cloud to be vital in its growth strategy but hasn’t embedded it in its corporate functions except for creative and marketing workflows. However, it seems the collision has been set and Adobe expects to hit similar themes like DocuSign albeit from a different perspective.
Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen said that with businesses going digital the focus is enabling the transformation of paper to digital through services such as Adobe Sign and Acrobat. Narayen said that the company will also leverage what it delivers through Adobe Experience, Adobe Experience Manager, and Adobe Experience Manager Forms.