Business Proposal Software
Everybody who has survived a business proposal would like to find proposal software that will write the proposals for them. Unfortunately, business proposal software that works for one company, may not work for another, even if its in the same industry! It is important to understand the issues related to proposal software when shopping for proposal tools to automate the process.
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Proposal Software: Introducing Privia Most proposal software is only marginally better than a manual approach. Here is a description of one of the few proposal software packages that we like.
What it's like to start-up a proposal using Privia Find out what the steps are to startup a proposal using Privia and learn why it's best if you come prepared. This article was written using a software package called Privia to provide a specific example, but the lessons learned apply to nearly any proposal startup. Why Proposal Software That Focuses on Collaboration is Better than a Template Focusing on creating proposal templates is focusing on automating the wrong things. Collaboration software can make propoasl writing easier while simultaneously improving quality and lowering costs. What's wrong with templates? How is collaboration software better? A Better Interface for Proposal Software Leads to Better Proposals If you are implementing proposal software, you should give some thought to improving the user interface. You want the interface to make things easier, because if the authors find it difficult to use you will find it harder to get them to adopt the software and to complete their assignments on time. Well designed proposal software helps people focus on their win strategies rather than on administering the file system. Improve your proposal reviews by using Privia A lot of the pain felt during proposal development centers around the review process. Over and above all of the issues regarding maintaining focus and coping with egos, the logistics of a formal review require a lot of effort. Proposal software can not only help with the logistics, but can also provide other benefits. Successful proposals with remote participants How do you have a successful proposal with people you've never met and may never see face-to-face? If you go into it without preparing ahead of time you are just asking for trouble. Here are some of the issues that you need to address. For each item discussed, we describe the best practices we've developed, including examples that are based on using Privia, a proposal software platform developed by Synchris. Tracking Pre-RFP Opportunity Pursuits Most companies do a lousy job of managing their business opportunity pursuits. They think if they can name all of their pursuits and are hitting their numbers, they've got it covered. The truth is, they aren't managing them at all. They are barely even tracking them. Automating a Process Using Privia We want to automate our process. However, before we jump into it, we need to prepare. This article is a collection of things that we must consider in order to automate our process. It should, however, have broad application and provide insight for anyone who has an existing process but is thinking about introducing proposal software like Privia. Find out what you need to do to prepare. How to Get Ready for an RFP Using Privia Most companies are not well prepared for the RFP when it finally hits the street. This is true even when they know in advance that the RFP is coming. This is a problem that can be solved with the right information management tool. Automating Proposal Quality Validation In addition to lending itself to a forms-driven process, Proposal Quality Validation also lends itself to automation when using a tool like Privia. As you defining what you need to validate and how you want to validate each item, they can be entered into Privia's workflow system. Privia can then automate the routing and tracking of each validation item. How Privia Makes It Easier to Evolve Your Proposal Process. Implementing a process in Privia starts off the same as implementing a manual process, and suffers from similar risks. In the same way that it can be better to evolve your manual process, you can evolve your process using Privia. Only Privia will make it easier to distribute and update your process as it evolves. How Privia Enables The Proposal Department To Increase Its Value-Added. I was once engaged to speak to the Proposal Department of a multi-billion dollar contractor on the topic of how they could increase the value-added that they bring to their company. Recently I was configuring a workspace in Privia and was thinking about how much easier and more hands on my presentation would have been had they been using Privia. Automating Past Performance Data Base Management These days, winning Federal Government proposals often comes down to past performance. If you are struggling with managing your Past Performance data or if you need a less effort-intensive approach, you need a tool to help. Find out how properly managing your Past Performance Data Base will not only make life easier, but can also improve your win rate.
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Business proposal software and the 80/20 rule This rule applies so well to proposal software, that you may want to think of it as the 90/10 rule. How to break proposal software When purchasing software it really helps to know how to break it. You might decide to buy it anyway, but at least you’ll know its limitations … Storyboards for the electronic age Nothing electronic can be as convenient as the "walking the wall" approach to storyboard reviews. However, electronic storyboards have their own advantages. What type of proposal technology fits best? The answer depends more on the type of proposal than the type of technology. Here is a table cross-referencing types of proposals to types of technology. Where do you get the best proposal software return on investment? When people look for an automated solution, they tend to take the hardest part of their job and try to automate it. The problem with this is that the "hardest" part of a job (like developing proposals) may not be were the best return-on-investment for developing a software infrastructure can be found. Databases vs document management systems for proposal information Companies with online resume and project summary resources tend to call them “data bases.” In most cases, they incorrectly use the term. A collection of files is not a database. Two For The Price Of One: Use Your Proposal Software For Project Management Almost every professional service bid can increase the value-added offered to the customer by including a web-based project management portal. Finding and installing such a web-based project management solution, however, often causes professional service firms much pain. Coincidentally, many companies suffer similar pains when searching for and installing a proposal software solution. Find out how you can get both at the same time. How To Get A Proposal Software Purchase Approved No matter how much it could help, no matter how big the potential efficiencies or cost savings, if you hope to get your proposal software purchase approved you must carefully evaluate and present the costs and benefits to those who control the purse strings. Read this article for some tips. Starting a Company Right Using Privia® The most efficient and cost effective way to "automate" a company may be to do it at the beginning. Not only is it costly to establish the manual procedures and infrastructure required to operate a company, the phrase, "This is how we've always done it" carries with it so much institutional inertia. Imagine with us how differently things could be if you started right at the beginning. Using Privia to Enhance Your Lead Tracking System Privia combines lead tracking and reporting with lead pursuits and proposal development. This greatly enhances its value as a platform. Privia as a training tool One of the most frustrating aspects of business development is dealing with different operations staff on every pursuit. For many of them, it will be their first proposal. In addition to using Privia to manage your proposals, you can also use it to host and manage a training program to help inexperienced staff develop better proposals. Automating a Process Using Privia We want to automate our process. However, before we jump into it, we need to prepare. This article is a collection of things that we must consider in order to automate our process. It should, however, have broad application and provide insight for anyone who has an existing process but is thinking about introducing proposal software like Privia. The Impact of Proposal Software on Real World Proposals If you think that only those who do a lot of preparation will get the most out of proposal software, then you're in for a pleasant surprise... Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Applied to Proposal Software Most people look for proposal software by writing down every feature they can think of in a “wish list” and then surveying software packages for those features. But there is a better way to understand your proposal software needs... How software can help solve the unsolvable problems of proposal development Proposal software can contribute to solving many of the "unsolvable" problems of proposal development. Find out how... Is Privia Flexible Enough to Keep Up? I was thinking about how to automate the implementation of some new process ideas I had. That's when I thought about using Privia's workflow capability. Find out if it's flexible enough to keep up... Doing Things Manually vs. Using Proposal Software I’ve always thought that being a somewhat talented geek I could kludge together a manual method for doing just about anything that proposal software does for you. But I think that is missing the point… Find out what the real value to using proposal software is. Proposal Software Case Study: Base Technologies Base Technologies knew that their process was more difficult than it needed to be. It was cumbersome to check out documents, and version tracking was a big issue. Remote access was also a challenge. When the company decided to pursue ISO 9001:2000 certification, they brought in software to help. In addition to achieving their ISO certification, Base Technologies achieved a 50% boost in productivity and a 15% increase in their win rates. Find out how they did it. |
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Our process shows your staff exactly what they need to do to get ready and gives you the means to verify what they've accomplished. We provide you with the right framework and a clear set of goals, action items, and objectives combined with the means to measure progress. Click here to get your copy
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Privia™ is the Government Bid and Proposal Solution from SpringCM, the recognized market leader in enterprise-class, on-demand content management. Privia is specifically designed to help government contractors boost team productivity while reducing business development costs. Today, Privia is used by nearly 10,000 professionals across 57 Federal, State, and Local Government contractors, including 15 of the top 100 Federal system integrators, to automate bid and proposal management. View the Privia Demo today. For more information visit www.privia.com, email privia-info@springcm.com or call us at 571.434.2982, Option 1 (for Sales).
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