Ganesh Shankar, CEO and Co-Founding father of Responsive, is an skilled product supervisor with a background in main product growth and software program implementations for Fortune 500 enterprises. Throughout his time in product administration, he noticed inefficiencies within the Request for Proposal (RFP) course of—formal paperwork organizations use to solicit bids from distributors, usually requiring intensive, detailed responses. Managing RFPs historically entails a number of stakeholders and repetitive duties, making the method time-consuming and sophisticated.
Based in 2015 as RFPIO, Responsive was created to streamline RFP administration by way of extra environment friendly software program options. The corporate launched an automatic strategy to boost collaboration, scale back guide effort, and enhance effectivity. Over time, its expertise expanded to help different advanced info requests, together with Requests for Data (RFIs), Due Diligence Questionnaires (DDQs), and safety questionnaires.
At present, as Responsive, the corporate offers options for strategic response administration, serving to organizations speed up progress, mitigate danger, and optimize their proposal and knowledge request processes.
What impressed you to begin Responsive, and the way did you establish the hole out there for response administration software program?
My co-founders and I based Responsive in 2015 after dealing with our personal struggles with the RFP response course of on the software program firm we had been working for on the time. Though not central to our job features, we devoted appreciable time aiding the gross sales group with requests for proposals (RFPs), usually feeling underappreciated regardless of our very important function in securing offers. Pissed off with the dearth of expertise to make the RFP course of extra environment friendly, we determined to construct a greater answer. Quick ahead 9 years, and we have grown to almost 500 staff, serve over 2,000 prospects—together with 25 Fortune 100 corporations—and help almost 400,000 customers worldwide.
How did your background in product administration and your earlier roles affect the creation of Responsive?
As a product supervisor, I used to be consistently pulled by the Gross sales group into the RFP response course of, spending virtually a 3rd of my time supporting gross sales as a substitute of specializing in my core product administration duties. My two co-founders skilled an identical subject of their expertise and implementation roles. We acknowledged this was a widespread downside with no current expertise answer, so we leveraged our virtually 50 years of mixed expertise to create Responsive. We noticed a possibility to essentially remodel how organizations share info, beginning with managing and responding to advanced proposal requests.
Responsive has advanced considerably since its founding in 2015. How do you preserve the stability between staying true to your authentic imaginative and prescient and adapting to market adjustments?
First, we’re meticulous about discovering and nurturing expertise that embodies our ardour – primarily cloning our founding spirit throughout the group. As we have scaled, it is grow to be vital to rent managers and group members who can authentically characterize our core cultural values and dedication.
On the similar time, we stay laser-focused on buyer suggestions. We doc each piece of enter, no matter its dimension, recognizing that these insights create patterns that assist us navigate product growth, market positioning, and any uncertainty within the business. Our strategy is not about performing on each suggestion, however making a complete understanding of rising tendencies throughout a wide range of sources.
We additionally push ourselves to suppose past our instant business and to remain inquisitive about adjoining areas. Whether or not in healthcare, expertise, or different sectors, we frequently discover inspiration for innovation. This outside-in perspective permits us to repeatedly elevate the bar, inspiring concepts from sudden locations and conserving our product dynamic and forward-thinking.
What metrics or success indicators are most essential to you when evaluating the platform’s affect on prospects?
When evaluating Responsive’s affect, our major metric is how we drive buyer income. We concentrate on two key success indicators: top-line income technology and operational effectivity. On the effectivity entrance, we purpose to considerably scale back RFP response time – for a lot of, we scale back it by 40%. This effectivity allows our prospects to pursue extra alternatives, finally accelerating their income technology potential.
How does Responsive leverage AI and machine studying to supply a aggressive edge within the response administration software program market?
We leverage AI and machine studying to streamline response administration in three key methods. First, our generative AI creates complete proposal drafts in minutes, saving effort and time. Second, our Ask answer offers on the spot entry to vetted organizational data, enabling quicker, extra correct responses. Third, our Profile Heart helps InfoSec groups shortly discover and handle safety content material.
With over $600 billion in proposals managed by way of the Responsive platform and 4 million Q&A pairs processed, our AI delivers clever suggestions and deep insights into response patterns. By automating advanced duties whereas conserving people in management, we assist organizations develop income, scale back danger, and reply extra effectively.
What differentiates Responsive’s platform from different options within the business, notably when it comes to AI capabilities and integrations?
Since 2015, AI has been on the core of Responsive, powering a platform trusted by over 2,000 international prospects. Our answer helps a variety of RFx use circumstances, enabling seamless collaboration, workflow automation, content material administration, and mission administration throughout groups and stakeholders.
With key AI capabilities—like good suggestions, an AI assistant, grammar checks, language translation, and built-in prompts—groups can ship high-quality RFPs shortly and precisely.
Responsive additionally provides unmatched native integrations with main apps, together with CRM, cloud storage, productiveness instruments, and gross sales enablement. Our buyer worth applications embrace APMP-certified consultants, Responsive Academy programs, and a vibrant group of 1,500+ prospects sharing insights and greatest practices.
Are you able to share insights into the event course of behind Responsive’s core options, such because the AI advice engine and automatic RFP responses?
Responsive AI is constructed on the inspiration of correct, up-to-date content material, which is vital to the effectiveness of our AI advice engine and automatic RFP responses. AI alone can’t resolve conflicting or incomplete knowledge, so we’ve prioritized instruments like hierarchical tags and strong content material administration to assist customers manage and preserve their info. By combining generative AI with this dependable knowledge, our platform empowers groups to generate quick, high-quality responses whereas preserving credibility. AI serves as an assistive instrument, with human oversight making certain accuracy and authenticity, whereas options just like the Ask product allow seamless entry to trusted data for tackling advanced tasks.
How have developments in cloud computing and digitization influenced the best way organizations strategy RFPs and strategic response administration?
Developments in cloud computing have enabled better effectivity, collaboration, and scalability. Cloud-based platforms permit groups to centralize content material, streamline workflows, and collaborate in actual time, no matter location. This ensures quicker turnaround instances and extra correct, constant responses.
Digitization has additionally enhanced how organizations handle and entry their knowledge, making it simpler to leverage AI-powered instruments like advice engines and automatic responses. With these developments, corporations can focus extra on technique and personalization, responding to RFPs with better velocity and precision whereas driving higher outcomes.
Responsive has been instrumental in serving to corporations like Microsoft and GEODIS streamline their RFP processes. Are you able to share a selected success story that highlights the affect of your platform?
Responsive has performed a key function in supporting Microsoft’s gross sales employees by managing and curating 20,000 items of proposal content material by way of its Proposal Useful resource Library, powered by Responsive AI. This expertise enabled Microsoft’s proposal group to contribute $10.4 billion in income final fiscal 12 months. Moreover, by implementing Responsive, Microsoft saved its sellers 93,000 hours—equal to over $17 million—that might be redirected towards fostering stronger buyer relationships.
As one other instance of Responsive offering measurable affect, our buyer Netsmart considerably improved their response time and effectivity by implementing Responsive’s AI capabilities. They achieved a 10X quicker response time, elevated proposal submissions by 67%, and noticed a 540% progress in person adoption. Key options similar to AI Assistant, Necessities Evaluation, and Auto Reply performed essential roles in these enhancements. The combination with Salesforce and the institution of a centralized Content material Library additional streamlined their processes, leading to a 93% go-forward charge for RFPs and a 43% discount in outdated content material. General, Netsmart’s use of Responsive’s AI-driven platform led to substantial time financial savings, enhanced content material accuracy, and elevated productiveness throughout their proposal administration operations.
JAGGAER, one other Responsive buyer, achieved a double-digit win-rate enhance and 15X ROI by utilizing Responsive’s AI for content material moderation, response creation, and Necessities Evaluation, which improved decision-making and effectivity. Person adoption tripled, and the platform streamlined collaboration and content material administration throughout a number of groups.
The place do you see the response administration business heading within the subsequent 5 years, and the way is Responsive positioned to steer on this house?
Within the subsequent 5 years, I see the response administration business being reworked by AI brokers, with a concentrate on conserving people within the loop. Whereas we anticipate round 80 million jobs being changed, we’ll concurrently see 180 million new jobs created—a web constructive for our business.
Responsive is uniquely positioned to steer this transformation. We have processed over $600 billion in proposals and constructed a database of just about 4 million Q&A pairs. Our large dataset permits us to grasp advanced patterns and develop AI options that transcend easy automation.
Our strategy is to embrace AI’s potential, discovering alternatives for constructive outcomes slightly than fearing disruption. Corporations with strong market intelligence, complete knowledge, and confirmed utilization will emerge as leaders, and Responsive is on the forefront of that wave. The secret’s not simply implementing AI, however doing so strategically with wealthy, contextual knowledge that allows significant insights and effectivity.
Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to Responsive,