When drafting request for proposal (RFP) documents from scratch, organizations often lack time to customize them in a way that would truly resonate with potential vendors. Likewise, service suppliers that are sending their RFP responses can benefit from an automated process that lets them focus on properly responding to each RFP's questions -- especially when they are answering to multiple RFPs.

Enter RFP automation -- a solution that helps both organizations procuring services and vendors providing them.

In this article, we will discuss what RFP automation is, what its greatest benefits are and which RFP processes can be automated.

What is RFP automation?

RFP automation is the process of completing the RFP creation, management and evaluation tasks with the help of automation technology.

Procurement teams deploy automation primarily through RFP management software, also called strategic sourcing software. RFP software technology relies on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to power its automation capabilities.

What RFP processes can be automated?

Numerous RFP process steps are manual and time-consuming. However, RFP technology can help automate reminders, project management notifications and stakeholder cooperation.

Most commonly, these RFP steps benefit the most from automation:

    Benefits of RFP automation

    RFP automation helps organizations that procure services create and respond to more RFPs -- 43% more per year on average.

    It works wonders for vendors, too. According to the RFPIO's 2021 Benchmark Report on Proposal Management, when reinvesting the time savings made with automation into improving response quality, service providers can benefit from a major revenue boost.

    For both vendors and organizations looking to procure their services, saving time through an efficient, automated process can create additional hours to consider business opportunities or improve other processes. 

    RFP automation allows the establishment of a proactive process, in which technology handles most of the heavy lifting, while stakeholders and team members can focus on the quality of the actual content in RFPs and responses.

    In a nutshell, the three most tangible benefits of RFP automation are:

      3 signs you need RFP automation

      There is plenty in favor of RFP automation as we've established, but how can you know when you need to implement it? Here are the three most telling signs that RFP automation would simplify your processes.

      1. Your services are becoming complex

      Companies whose product or service catalog is becoming extensive deal with the kind of complexity and tight RFP deadlines. To solve this, they need a single location where they can store and find all the approved RFPs and proposals.

      RFP automation library helps store and centralize all RFP questions for specific services and products. For vendors, it can be used to store their past winning answers they can reuse for future RFP responses.

      2. You have an increasing need for more RFPs (or more responses)

      RFP software automation delivers high-quality RFPs and proposals, depending on whether you're procuring vendor services or supplying them.

      The automation software allows you to:

        3. You have issues with compliance standards

        If your business is tied to numerous regulations and compliance standards, such as GDRP, HIPAA, FERPA and others, RFP automation can help by automatically building audit trails and providing user access only to the content they need for their specific work.

        By limiting access to sensitive data, RFP automation tools add a level of content control and visibility that hugely improves your risk management approach and keeps your content and information management processes ready for audit. 

        Also, organizations can export and audit trail report from the RFP automation software on demand, instead of waiting to hear back from the compliance team.

        RFP Automation Takeaways

        Automating your request for proposal processes comes with numerous benefits, most notable of which are:

          Numerous RFP processes can be automated, from collecting requirements to tracking vendor proposals and scoring them. RFP automation is particularly advisable for businesses with complex services, the increasing number of request for proposals and those needing to comply with a number of different compliance standards. 

          Andrej Vidovic is a content writer for a B2B marketplace website DesignRush, writing on such topics as digital marketing, branding, business growth, website development and design best practices.



          Welcome to the VentureBeat community!

          Our guest posting program is where technical experts share insights and provide neutral, non-vested deep dives on AI, data infrastructure, cybersecurity and other cutting-edge technologies shaping the future of enterprise.

          Read more from our guest post program — and check out our guidelines if you’re interested in contributing an article of your own!