Across Europe, digital agreements are rapidly becoming the backbone of modern business operations. From procurement contracts and sales documents to HR onboarding and cross-border legal agreements, organizations are increasingly moving away from manual paperwork and toward fully digitized workflows. This transformation is not just about speed—it’s about enabling smarter, more secure, and more scalable interactions in a business landscape defined by integration, compliance, and agility.

But as the demand for digital agreements grows, a critical question emerges: are legacy eSignature tools keeping pace with what European enterprises truly need?

The Digital Transformation Imperative: Why Contracts Must Catch Up

The last few years have seen an unprecedented acceleration in digital transformation. European businesses, large and small, are embracing cloud-native solutions to streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve customer and employee experiences. This transformation isn’t limited to CRM systems or ERP platforms—contract management and digital agreements are now under the same pressure to evolve.

However, Europe brings its own set of challenges to the table:

• Regulatory compliance: eIDAS, GDPR, and national-level laws require platforms to support secure and legally binding agreements.

• Cross-border complexity: Multilingual contracts and jurisdiction-specific workflows require flexibility in platform capabilities.

• Data sovereignty: Enterprises are increasingly demanding control over where and how their data is stored and processed.

These realities mean digital agreement platforms must offer more than just basic signature functionality. They must provide robust compliance frameworks, advanced integrations, and scalable infrastructure—features that many legacy providers struggle to deliver consistently.

Legacy eSignatures: Proven but Outpaced

Leading legacy eSignature tools like DocuSign and Adobe Sign have long dominated the digital agreement landscape. Their platforms helped standardize online document signing and played a critical role in early digital adoption across industries.

Yet, as organizations mature digitally, the cracks in these systems are becoming more evident:

• Integration limitations: Many older platforms require extensive customization or third-party middleware to connect with core business systems.

• Cost inefficiency: Licensing models are often inflexible, with rising costs as teams scale and more workflows are digitized.

• Technical constraints: File size restrictions and limited support for complex agreement types can create operational bottlenecks.

• Slower innovation cycles: These tools, while stable, often lag behind in delivering new features aligned with enterprise needs.

An increasing number of European organizations are starting to reevaluate these tools—not because they are ineffective, but because there may be more strategic options available now. To gain a comprehensive understanding of these outdated options, consider beginning with a comparison of alternatives to DocuSign.

Modern Digital Agreement Platforms: Built for Scale, Integration, and Compliance

As digital transformation intensifies, a new generation of digital agreement platforms is emerging—designed from the ground up to support modern enterprise needs. These platforms go beyond basic eSignature functionality, offering a unified environment for managing the entire agreement lifecycle.

Key differentiators include:

• Support for large files: Unlike legacy tools, which may limit file uploads, next-gen solutions handle files up to 250MB—ideal for industries like engineering, architecture, or manufacturing.

• Deep integration ecosystems: With over 100 native integrations across CRMs, ERPs, HR systems, and collaboration platforms, these tools reduce friction and improve adoption across departments.

• Cost efficiency at scale: Enterprises report savings of up to 50% when transitioning from legacy tools, thanks to transparent pricing and flexible deployment models.

• Enhanced compliance and security: Modern platforms offer advanced features such as automated audit trails, tamper-proof document encryption, and region-specific data handling to meet stringent European requirements.

These capabilities are not just technical enhancements—they address the real pain points experienced by businesses operating in a complex and competitive environment. For those re-evaluating their infrastructure, switching to a more agile and integrated electronic signature solution represents both a risk mitigation strategy and an opportunity for operational efficiency.

European Enterprises Leading the Shift: Lessons from the Field

The shift toward modern digital agreement platforms is gaining momentum across Europe, with enterprises seeking tools that are more adaptable, compliant, and cost-efficient than legacy solutions. One standout example is Selecta, a leading route-based self-service retailer operating in 16 countries across Europe.

Facing complex operational needs across procurement, HR, and supply chain functions, Selecta turned to a next-generation digital agreement platform to streamline its workflows and ensure regulatory compliance under frameworks such as eIDAS and GDPR. With enhanced support for secure data handling, broad integration capabilities, and platform-wide usability, the transition delivered measurable value across its EU operations.

As Andy Smeyers, Supply Chain Leader at Selecta Belgium, noted:

“Certinal eSign has transformed our EU operations with its compliant, secure platform tailored to strict data privacy needs… Offering substantial cost savings and instant, reliable support, Certainly stands out as a forward-thinking solution that seamlessly aligns with our goals and delivers exceptional value.”

This experience reflects a broader shift across Europe: organizations are no longer content with eSignature tools that simply get the job done—they’re looking for solutions that enable smarter, faster, and more secure business processes. Recognitions such as being named a “Leader” in the IDC MarketScape and maintaining a 4.4 rating on Gartner Peer Insights further reinforce the maturity of this new wave of digital agreement platforms.

Conclusion

Legacy eSignature tools have served their purpose—but the demands of today’s digital enterprises require more. As European organizations continue to evolve, so too must the systems they rely on to manage agreements. The next wave of digital agreements is not just faster—it’s smarter, more integrated, and built for scale.

Book a demo with a digital agreement expert today and see how your organization can future-proof its contract workflows and unlock new efficiencies.