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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-add they bring to their company. Recently, while configuring a workspace in Privia, I began thinking about how much easier and more hands on my presentation would have been if they had been using Privia.
Proposal Departments add value to their organizations in four ways:
- They provide support directly to proposal efforts, usually in the form of proposal management, coordination, writing, graphics, and production.
- They provide access to resources, such as the proposal production facility, and data tools, such as a boilerplate library, templates, resume database, project summary database, past performance details, etc.
- They develop and document the proposal process to help ensure consistent proposal quality and efficiency.
- They provide training to help technical staff new to proposal work get up to speed.
Within each of these areas, using Privia enables a Proposal Department to add even more value to the organization:
Proposal Support
A centralized Proposal Department can more easily and cost effectively support field offices with a web-based tool like Privia. Without it, the proposal staff must travel to provide support to field offices, which becomes cost prohibitive. It also makes it easier to monitor and participate in multiple simultaneous proposals.
Proposal Resources
Besides being a platform for hosting resources such as libraries and document databases, Privia is also a resource and tool. Using Privia, the Proposal Department adds value to proposals in which they are not personally involved. For your databases, all you have to do it set up the files in a folder and Privia can make them searchable.
Proposal Process
Privia helps you automate your processes, guide people through the processes, and track and manage progress through alerts and reporting features. Privia has a built in workflow system that handles the logistics of assignments, notifications, reminders, delivery of files, etc. The automation increases your value-add through improved efficiency, but it also makes your process more accessible to end users. When you implement your proposal process as a Privia workflow template, you no longer have to evangelize to get people to follow your process --- the software will tell them what to do and when it's due. Handled correctly, you simultaneously make their lives easier, while helping them achieve a better quality outcome.
Proposal Training
You don't usually have the time or budget to implement an effective training program, and even if you do, you cannot pull staff away from their billable work. If you are using Privia, you can bundle training information with the proposal assignments delivered via the workflow system. That way the system not only delivers the assignment, but also includes guidance on how to complete the task. The Proposal Department can use Privia to boost the skill levels and effectiveness of staff without incurring the expense of a traditional training program.
Conclusion
Privia gives you cost-effective options for deploying resources and training that aren't otherwise available to you. It also enables you to help the organization improve proposal processes with minimal effort and cost. And finally, it extends your access to proposals that aren't done within the physical confines of the Proposal Department.
Don't think of Privia as just a tool; think of it as a way to exponentially increase your value to the organization.
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