Chief Information Officer, DOCUSIGN INC
DocuSign’s Three-Layered Data Strategy with CIO Shanthi Iyer | Technovation 690
Shanthi Iyer, CIO of DocuSign, discusses the company's immense growth and the transformation that arose as a result. Shanthi ...
About Shanthi Iyer
Shanthi Iyer, Chief Information Officer at DocuSign, has described her work on scaling the organization and developing a data strategy since joining the company over two years ago. In a September 2023 interview, Iyer stated that DocuSign grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic and that she has focused on transforming business processes, upgrading technology platforms, and modernizing infrastructure. She said she restructured her group to create roles like product owners and established a transformation office to prioritize initiatives. Iyer also noted that she consolidated data technology platforms into one team and created a platform called Helios to serve as a single source of truth for company data. Regarding artificial intelligence, Iyer said she is working with the chief security officer to create guardrails for safe experimentation, and she expressed that AI could help synthesize contract content for DocuSign's product. In a September 2022 interview, Iyer discussed her approach to scaling operations, including consolidating technology platforms after finding that many employees used different software suites. She said she implemented automation for employee onboarding, job changes, and exits. Iyer described the role of a CIO as having evolved from a technologist managing infrastructure to a business leader with a seat in the boardroom. She attributed her career success to continuous learning, consistent execution, and compassionate leadership. Iyer also commented on the representation of women in technology, stating that while there are a growing number of women in leadership roles, she noted that during the pandemic women disproportionately stepped back in their careers and called for targeted efforts to restore representation.
Transcript (24 segments)
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Peter High0:00
Welcome to Technovation. I'm your host, Peter High. My guest today is Shanthi Iyer, the Chief Information Officer of DocuSign, an agreement cloud company that has become a verb as we DocuSign numerous agreements. She's been in the role for a bit more than a year, and she and her team have been tasked with helping the organization scale while also enhancing employee experience and data strategy along the way. Shanthi knows scaled operations as she spent more than two decades at Cisco, ending her tenure there as Senior Vice President of the Data Analytics Office. Shanthi, welcome to Technovation. It's great to speak with you today.
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Shanthi Iyer0:33
Thank you so much, Peter. I'm glad to be here. Thank you. Looking forward to it.
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Peter High0:37
I am as well. Well, let's begin with DocuSign itself. I have to imagine that prior to joining the company, you had some experience with it, and I'd be interested in your outside impressions as well as why this opportunity excited you.
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Shanthi Iyer0:51
One, it's a great brand, very easily recognizable, and I have personally used DocuSign many times. So you can call me a user prior to joining the company. Two things resonated very well for me: one was just the ease of use. I recently bought a home about two and a half years ago, and everything was done digitally through DocuSign. The other thing was sustainability, and the messaging about saving trees resonated very well for me. So my association with DocuSign primarily was as a user.
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Peter High1:27
And I'd be interested in your role as Chief Information Officer. What falls within your responsibility, please?
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Shanthi Iyer1:35
For a large part, I run infrastructure operations and cloud operations for the company. I run employee experience for the company, which includes things like employee productivity suite, desktop and laptop management, building management, etc. I also run the Data and Analytics Office for the company, along with enterprise applications, which range from new product introduction to recognizing revenue. The entire chain of processes and their IT solutions are under my purview.
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Peter High2:11
That's excellent. And maybe we can dial into a couple of those areas. With regard to employee experience, I'd be interested if you could define that a bit further and talk about what you and your team have introduced to enhance employee experience.
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Shanthi Iyer2:32
When I first got here, Peter, there were many products in use. Almost half the company was using Google Suite and half was using Microsoft Suite, and while we were scaling, anybody could swipe a credit card and buy products of their choice. That is usually not good for a company scaling and growing really fast. So a big task in front of me was how to consolidate and provide a more seamless experience for employees. We consolidated our collaboration software on Slack, deployed Zoom everywhere with conferencing capabilities in all our buildings, and moved our employee productivity suite to Google, so we use G Suite. As we understood more about the hybrid workforce, where some people are in the office only a few days a week, we introduced whiteboarding capabilities to help people run sessions seamlessly between those in the office and those remote. One thing we are doubling down on now is JML automation—joiner, mover, leaver automation—that helps us manage a touchless experience when onboarding, moving jobs, or exiting the company. We wanted to drive that through intelligent automation.
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Peter High4:11
Thank you for that overview. Very interesting. I'd love to talk about data and analytics. You run the Data Analytics Office, obviously an important topic these days. Talk a bit about the methods you use to better process data and make better decisions.
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Shanthi Iyer4:34
As mentioned in my introduction, I spent six years at Cisco running the Data Analytics Office, so it's a topic I'm passionate about. The main task in creating the data strategy is getting the company to align on the concept of a single data platform. It doesn't have to be a physical single infrastructure, but we want one source of truth where people come for key financials, key KPIs, and the customer lifecycle journey. Previously, every team had their own data sets and weren't sharing across functions, so decisions were siloed. The first thing in my strategy is creating that central platform with one source of truth that connects data across multiple processes. That is the single largest deliverable for my organization. The second thing is engaging with the business to understand how to create value from data. People were creating dashboards without catering meaningful data to sellers or customers. I want to provide data in the workflow they're in—if they're in Salesforce, provide it there; in Plan or Oracle, embed data there. That's the second part: build data and embed it into workflows. Last, we are just scratching the surface at DocuSign with advanced analytics—building propensity models for growth, preventing churn, helping the development organization understand feature velocity and customer usage patterns to double down engineering resources. That's our data strategy: a three-layered approach starting from the foundation.
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Peter High7:07
I really like that. A related topic I know you and the team are working on is process automation more generally, which obviously has significant touch points. Talk a bit about what you're undertaking there.
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Shanthi Iyer7:22
We're starting with data. One thing we observed is that as we scaled, people wanted to do the right thing, but they threw bodies at the problem. Digging deep into various functions, the operational work—finance, sales operations—was very manual. That made sense when we were a $200 million company, but for a $2 billion company, that work became a lot. We started focusing on the top five or six processes that were heavily manual and applied automation technologies. This includes billing, invoicing, managing tickets, employee requests, security vulnerability, automatically patching desktops—any area with a lot of human effort. We moved that to intelligent automation. This requires close partnership with the business, so we prioritized five or six processes, went to the executive staff, and said these are the areas. If it works, we'll save money and increase productivity, freeing people to do better business work. That resonated, so we got the investments and are working on that now.
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Peter High9:12
That's a great overview. Thank you, Shanthi. You alluded to how fast this organization is scaling and your experience at Cisco, which is orders of magnitude larger. You understand what good looks like and the pain points of growth. I'm interested in insights you have from your prior experiences in preparing this organization for continued growth.
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Shanthi Iyer10:01
Coming from Cisco, understanding scaled operations and the frameworks required to run things in a consistent, repeatable manner helped me bring that construct here. I set up a transformation office and enterprise architecture, where I'm now spending time. At Cisco, we were comfortable with the 'Cisco on Cisco' story. I am DocuSign's first customer—agreements are everywhere within the company: between customer and seller, buyer and supplier, employer and employee. I'm now trying to put a process in place where when we automate, we look at a central source of truth for agreements and enable DocuSign in every workflow where agreements exist. We then ensure we provide capabilities like signatures, ID verification, DocuSign Monitor, and drink our own champagne. We're putting those constructs in place in our automation work. I'm also careful not to overcomplicate things, because coming from a big company, complexity is part of it, but it's not required for a $2 billion company. I keep myself in check to keep it simple—that's the right approach.
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Peter High11:57
Yes, I really appreciate the extent to which there are lessons in both directions—issues to avoid and opportunities to run toward as a result of your experience. Shanthi, you've worked in technology companies and divisions for quite some time, partnered with CIOs, and you are one now. I wonder how you've seen the CIO's role and possibilities evolve through your journey.
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Shanthi Iyer12:36
It has evolved significantly. Traditional CIOs were technologists managing infrastructure, cloud operations, and platforms. But today's CIOs have a seat in the boardroom and in executive staff, reporting to the CEO like I do. This provides a unique opportunity to become a business leader. The demand is to be part of shaping the company's future, which requires different skills. We are in a unique position because we can see the full 360-degree view of the company's operations—how a customer touches us and how we show up. CIOs are being demanded to be part of digital transformation and shape the company's future. I'm super excited about that.
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Peter High13:38
I would also love to ask about your perspectives as a female CIO. Thankfully, there are a growing number of women in technology and in roles like yours, though there's still room for growth. I'd be interested in your perspectives on progress made and progress to come.
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Shanthi Iyer14:07
Definitely progress has been made. I remember being in meetings and boardrooms where I was sometimes the only female. I still go to forums and venture pitches and see room for improvement. However, I am very proud of how women in leadership roles are coming together. I am part of various forums where women advocate for each other. I use the word 'advocacy' intentionally: when you are a mentor, you coach and guide, but when you are an advocate, you take interest in their growth, find jobs for them, help them grow in a different company, recommend them for jobs, introduce them to others, and include them in forums. I see a lot more of that now. I am part of a Slack channel with 50-plus Silicon Valley women CIOs, and the conversations and help we offer each other—I love it. That is going to help cover the gap I see in boardrooms. We have a lot more ways to go; the work is not done.
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Peter High15:59
Great point. The power of the ecosystem—as more female leaders get to know each other, the more opportunities can be spread and advice offered. I'm curious, we've talked about trends relevant to the CIO community, but I wanted to ask if there are others that particularly excite you as you look to the future.
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Shanthi Iyer16:25
A few top of mind: I was in India recently and was introduced to UPI, the Unified Payments Interface. The last time I was there two and a half years ago, it wasn't like that. I saw a distinct change—small-scale vendors who used to accept only cash all had a mobile phone and a QR code, and I paid them even for very small amounts. For me, the concept of fintech making money movement accessible to the common man was very provocative. I never used my credit card there; I used UPI everywhere. Another thing is security, always top of mind for CIOs. We are working on balancing ending passwords and switching to MFA using biometrics—that's coming soon. Being close to data and unleashing the power of data and AI in every workflow is something I watch for. I am inquisitive about crypto, though I've invested a little, but I haven't doubled down yet. The jury is out on crypto, especially considering what's been happening in the last few weeks.
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Peter High18:21
I think many are saying that these days. I also wanted to ask, Shanthi, as you reflect on your career, what have been some of the secrets to your success? What actions or advice have been difference makers on your rise to becoming CIO, and perhaps advice for others who might wish to walk in your footsteps?
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Shanthi Iyer18:49
There have been a lot of learnings, and many people helped me along the way. I wouldn't be here if not for them. If I can whittle it down to three things that helped me: first, continuous learning—taking feedback, constantly trying new things, and doing different things. Second, being consistent in your execution. Everyone has a brand, and you need to know it and be consistent. For me, consistent execution meant people could count on me to get things done, which helped establish a reputation. Third, probably the most important, is compassionate leadership. It's not just about giving your team meaningful work; it's about really caring for them, feeling like they are part of a family. That resonated, and it's one reason many people from my old company followed me here. I'm very grateful for that.
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Peter High20:08
That's wonderful advice. Thank you for that reflection. Shanthi, thank you so much for joining me on Technovation. It's been a great conversation covering your time as CIO of DocuSign, your background and rise to the role, and some of the areas you and your team are focused on. Thank you so much.
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Shanthi Iyer20:29
Thank you very much, Peter.