Request for Proposal Software
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Request for Proposal Software: What Is It?
A request for proposal (RFP) is a document businesses use to assess potential vendors. These documents are often hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of questions long, making them a daunting task. This is where RFP software comes in.
Request for proposal software simplifies the process of responding to these long bids. But how does the best RFP management software work? Keep reading to find out.
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Request for Proposal Library
Put your best content in one location so you can access your company’s answers in one central place. -
Auto-Fill Proposal Answers
Use intelligent automation to auto-fill the correct answers quickly—no more copying and pasting from old RFPs. -
Easier Team Collaboration
Assign coworkers to answer your RFP questions in a couple of clicks. After all, proposals are a team sport.
Several request for proposal software solutions can streamline your process. That said, the best proposal software can automate your responses and even centralize your organization’s best content, so it’s easier to collaborate with coworkers.
Loopio’s platform is the best RFP software, according to G2 reviews. For more than a year, our solution has maintained the position of #1 highest-rated RFP software.
Best known for its comprehensive RFP library, Loopio’s content management system offers multiple languages, customized categories, and an easy way to track how recent answers are. With RFP response software, you can also manage projects effortlessly while keeping teammates engaged through powerful project management features that track the critical milestones for every RFP project.
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What's an RFP for Software Development?
Today, most prominent brands in the software industry use a dedicated RFP response tool. World-class brands like Slack, DropBox, SurveyMonkey, HubSpot, Qualtrics, and many others benefit from RFP automation.
For example, Revenue platform, Clari, started using Loopio in 2017. Using software development proposal templates to standardize their process, they’ve decreased questionnaire turnaround time from two weeks to just two days.
Clari now manages 120 security questionnaires per quarter and can save approximately 500 hours for the security team in any given quarter. Thanks to Loopio’s sample RFP response for software development, the sales engineers can answer correctly 90-95% of questions. Essentially, Loopio streamlined Clari’s process so they could close deals at a more rapid pace.
Through Loopio, DocuSign is another brand that has expanded globally by automating and standardizing proposals that would have been addressed manually. Keen to see another request for proposal software development example? Keep reading.
DocuSign first introduced Loopio to 25 users in their Northern American team before expanding to 132 global users. The engineers in charge of tackling technical inquiries were so grateful to have a tool that could centralize answers and save them a lot of grunt work. They can now respond to three times more RFPs than before using Loopio.
"When I started with DocuSign, we didn’t have a proposal department. Everyone created their own content for proposals. We joked that it was the Wild West."
How to Handle an RFP in IT
RFP standardization is critical not only for software companies but for information technology (IT) and other technology companies as well. Many RFPs involve some security questionnaire, and that data needs to be stored safely. With Loopio, IT companies can easily store technical and security information within a platform certified by leading security standards, including an annual SOC 2 Type II audit.
Netskope, another user of Loopio, was one of the first cloud access security broker (CASB) providers. As they started to grow, their number of RFPs increased; they went from two RFPs per year to 17 per year. At first, they would copy and paste from a Google Doc and share those documents with various collaborators. But, given the number of contributors, this was a time-consuming ordeal. Members from over four different teams were required to give their input on every document—and security questionnaires would become incredibly challenging to deal with since only specific security team members could sign off on them. This is why RFP in IT can become overwhelming.
But with the help of the Loopio library, Netskope can now complete 90% of any given project and delegate the last 10% to subject matter experts. Loopio is saving Netskope time and keeping its messaging consistent.
“We are now given time back to focus on what SEs should be doing, and that’s to be in front of the customers."
Benefits of RFP Automation Tools
As mentioned in the previous examples, RFP automation is part of what makes Loopio so advantageous. Automation helps with many facets of the RFP response process, including making technical knowledge more easily accessible, speeding up how you answer repetitive questions, and centralizing data so that it is there for anyone on the team to access.
Loopio’s proposal management software uses RFP automation tools to save time and effort for more companies (which can help teams do more work with fewer resources). A team can look through a library, find an RFP template that fits their project perfectly, and then customize it as needed. Loopio’s sample RFP response for software development assisted greatly in streamlining projects that typically would have taken several weeks to only a few days.
A software RFP template can also offer a big difference between a smooth experience versus hours of tedious labor with heightened possibilities for human error.
What Does a Good RFP Look Like? (Software RFP Example)
When working on highly competitive documents, like an RFP, it can be helpful to understand your competitor’s responses (and how to beat them). So, if you’re wondering what’s a good RFP look like? Below are the common characteristics of a quality RFP, according to four procurement professionals.
Six Characteristics of a Good RFP
- A concise description of your solution to the problem presented in the proposal
- Key differentiators that explain how your company differs from your competitors
- Evidence that you can solve the problem in this proposal
- Customized answers to RFP questions that specifically speak to this buyer
- Complete response addressing all points in each question
- A summary that allows someone to understand your solution in less than 90 seconds
For software companies, you’ll need to tailor your response (and expect win rates to be impacted) by your current position in the market. For example: are you in a crowded space? Or are you one of a handful of contenders?
Reviewing third-party websites—like G2—will help you with a better understanding of the competition you’re up against in your next RFP. Or, if you’re researching vendors to help with proposals in general, these websites will also give you a better understanding of the RFP software market as a whole.
RFP Software Comparison
To gain access to an agile software development proposal template, you’ll need to investigate which RFP software options will work best for your team. And to make an informed purchasing decision, you may need to make a side-by-side RFP software comparison.
You look through review websites for an easy side-by-side comparison of vendors, including:
In comparison to other vendors, Loopio is the #1 highest-rated RFP software for customer satisfaction, according to G2 reviews.
Questions to Ask When Comparing RFP Software:
- What software is compatible with my current workflow?
- Which platform matches my company's values and the support we need?
- Does this platform offer ongoing training and learning opportunities?
Master Your Next RFP Response
From questionnaires to proposals, Loopio has the RFX software to get your business get back on track with your RFPs. The platform’s intelligent content library will decrease the time it takes for you to respond to an RFP, with an estimated 42% time savings, according to a recent survey of Loopio customers. By having a sample RFP document to customize, Loopio can use its auto-fill tool, track projects and tasks, and create the most effective responses.
Technology cannot replace everything that humans do (and in some cases maybe it shouldn’t), but RFP automation software can take care of the tedious tasks, while your team focuses on more strategic work.
According to an RFP industry report, businesses can capture and influence 33% of their company’s business by winning more requests for proposals. RFP software is changing how businesses approach the project of a request for proposal response and accompanying questionnaires.
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