Amid the COVID-19 pandemic-induced provide chain and market challenges, 2021 began to course appropriate, permitting many corporations to renew enterprise operations. Because of this, request for proposals (RFPs), gross sales proposals, and income are flowing once more.

In reality, a new survey from QorusDocs discovered that corporations noticed gross sales deal velocity improve by a median of fifty%. Moreover, 64% of corporations noticed greater enterprise win charges in 2021 over final yr, with a median enchancment of 59%.

Nonetheless, the inflow in RFPs has created new problems for proposal and enterprise growth groups. The most recent analysis affords intriguing findings in regards to the RFP course of for corporations to consider, together with misplaced income alternatives, automated advantages, and collaboration issues.

For B2B enterprises seeking to enhance their processes and acquire a aggressive edge, this new information affords precious perception into the effectiveness of proposal administration software program for RFP growth and the way it helps securing new enterprise alternatives.

Proposal administration software program supported 2021’s inflow in request for proposals

COVID-19’s influence on enterprise operations, earnings, and income alternatives considerably hindered corporations’ progress final yr. Nonetheless, as predicted by forecasters, 2021 noticed the financial system bounce again, leading to extra enterprise and gross sales alternatives.

Based on the brand new QorusDocs report, corporations noticed a notable rise in RFPs this previous yr because the financial system returned to pre-pandemic standings. In reality, 64% of survey respondents reported a rise within the quantity of RFPs acquired in 2021, in comparison with 2020, with most experiencing round 30% extra requests.

This yr resulted in a record-breaking stream of income as a result of will increase in enterprise requests. In Q2, company earnings within the U.S. alone jumped a whopping 9.7% to a report excessive of $2.42 trillion, following a 4.5% rise within the earlier interval.

Companies that utilized proposal administration software program this previous yr had been in a position to handle income and full time-sensitive RFPs in a personalised, well timed vogue. The software program is designed to allow prospects to enhance the effectivity and high quality of their proposals, finally resulting in elevated wins and extra revenue-generating alternatives.

In reality, companies utilizing proposal administration software program reported the next share of income coming from new enterprise than these not utilizing automated instruments (51% vs. 39%). Moreover, corporations utilizing automated software program had been considerably extra prone to report a rise in total RFP requests in comparison with corporations not utilizing the software program (71% vs. 53%).

Proposal administration software program improves effectivity  

On common, it takes practically every week to finish only one RFP response, and plenty of groups report juggling a mean of 20 responses every month. Nonetheless, resulting from time constraints, lack of collaboration, and different elements, some corporations are unable to answer each RFP they obtain. Because of this, a median of 20% of RFPs are left incomplete by companies every year, leading to a median income lack of $725,000.

Sadly, some corporations reported even greater losses from incomplete RFPs this yr. For tech corporations, they reported a median annual lack of $813,000. In the meantime, 37% of companies estimated income losses of greater than $1 million whereas 9% reported shedding greater than $10 million in annual income.

Proposal administration software program, nonetheless, enormously aided enterprises’ capability to finish the next quantity of high quality, customized RFPs and safe new enterprise alternatives in 2021. Seventy-two % of corporations using automated proposal instruments noticed a constructive improve in deal velocity and 54% had been in a position to course of a larger quantity of RFP responses total.

For a lot of enterprises, proposal administration software program brings effectivity to the RFP growth course of which helped lower the period of time spent constructing responses to proposals by 53%. Moreover, 85% of corporations utilizing automated proposal software program reported having the instruments wanted to successfully reply to proposals and cater to every request with larger element and particular info.

Proposal administration software program helps future distant work fashions

Practically three-quarters (74%) of U.S. corporations plan to completely shift workers to distant work after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. As a consequence of this, instruments that allow collaboration and communication throughout places have gotten a necessity for groups.

Based on the analysis, roughly 28 people inside an enterprise are concerned in responding to RFx requests. With no approach to collaborate seamlessly on responses, the entire course of can flip right into a gradual and complex effort with a large amount of miscommunication and achievement bottlenecks.

Nonetheless, with proposal administration software program, the RFx course of is streamlined, enabling smoother collaboration to effectively full proposals, regardless of the place group members are positioned.

Corporations utilizing proposal administration software program reported that collaboration on RFPs this previous yr improved by a staggering 56%. In the meantime, 85% of enterprises agreed that utilizing automated proposal software program made it simpler to collaborate on requests. For 83% of enterprises, the inner RFP completion course of grew to become clearer and extra easy since implementing proposal administration software program.

A rising want for proposal administration

The worldwide marketplace for proposal administration software program is projected to develop from $1.5 billion in 2019 to a staggering $3.1 billion by 2024. There are quite a few elements driving this adoption of automated proposal software program together with the rising shift to cloud-based applied sciences, proposal administration turning into an efficient instrument to extend win charges, and integration of synthetic intelligence-enabled instruments.

As confirmed this previous yr, enterprises that undertake proposal administration software program expertise quite a few advantages of automated know-how, together with the power to construct customized RFx responses extra effectively, resulting in a larger quantity of accomplished requests, a rise in deal velocity and income, and progress in enterprise win charges.

Throughout this more and more aggressive time, proposal administration is crucial for corporations in the event that they wish to sustain with the rising tempo of RFPs, safe extra wins, edge out competitors, and

By Ray Meiring, CEO and co-founder of QorusDocs