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, typically requiring in depth, detailed responses. Managing RFPs historically includes a number of stakeholders and repetitive duties, making the method time-consuming and complicated.
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 method to reinforce collaboration, cut back handbook effort, and enhance effectivity. Over time, its expertise expanded to assist different advanced info requests, together with Requests for Data (RFIs), Due Diligence Questionnaires (DDQs), and safety questionnaires.
At this time, as Responsive, the corporate supplies options for strategic response administration, serving to organizations speed up progress, mitigate danger, and optimize their proposal and data request processes.
What impressed you to start out Responsive, and the way did you determine the hole available in the market for response administration software program?
My co-founders and I based Responsive in 2015 after going through our personal struggles with the RFP response course of on the software program firm we have been working for on the time. Though not central to our job capabilities, we devoted appreciable time aiding the gross sales staff with requests for proposals (RFPs), typically feeling underappreciated regardless of our important position 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 just about 500 staff, serve over 2,000 prospects—together with 25 Fortune 100 firms—and assist practically 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 always pulled by the Gross sales staff into the RFP response course of, spending nearly a 3rd of my time supporting gross sales as a substitute of specializing in my core product administration obligations. My two co-founders skilled an analogous situation of their expertise and implementation roles. We acknowledged this was a widespread downside with no present expertise answer, so we leveraged our nearly 50 years of mixed expertise to create Responsive. We noticed a chance to basically remodel how organizations share info, beginning with managing and responding to advanced proposal requests.
Responsive has developed considerably since its founding in 2015. How do you preserve the stability between staying true to your unique imaginative and prescient and adapting to market modifications?
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 turn out to be vital to rent managers and staff members who can authentically symbolize 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 method is not about appearing on each suggestion, however making a complete understanding of rising developments throughout quite a lot of sources.
We additionally push ourselves to suppose past our instant business and to remain interested by adjoining areas. Whether or not in healthcare, expertise, or different sectors, we regularly discover inspiration for innovation. This outside-in perspective permits us to repeatedly increase the bar, inspiring concepts from sudden locations and retaining our product dynamic and forward-thinking.
What metrics or success indicators are most necessary to you when evaluating the platform’s influence on prospects?
When evaluating Responsive’s influence, our major metric is how we drive buyer income. We deal with two key success indicators: top-line income technology and operational effectivity. On the effectivity entrance, we purpose to considerably cut back RFP response time – for a lot of, we cut back it by 40%. This effectivity permits our prospects to pursue extra alternatives, in the end accelerating their income technology potential.
How does Responsive leverage AI and machine studying to offer 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 supplies on the spot entry to vetted organizational data, enabling quicker, extra correct responses. Third, our Profile Heart helps InfoSec groups rapidly 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 retaining people in management, we assist organizations develop income, cut back danger, and reply extra effectively.
What differentiates Responsive’s platform from different options within the business, significantly by way of AI capabilities and integrations?
Since 2015, AI has been on the core of Responsive, powering a platform trusted by over 2,000 world prospects. Our answer helps a variety of RFx use instances, enabling seamless collaboration, workflow automation, content material administration, and undertaking administration throughout groups and stakeholders.
With key AI capabilities—like sensible suggestions, an AI assistant, grammar checks, language translation, and built-in prompts—groups can ship high-quality RFPs rapidly and precisely.
Responsive additionally presents unmatched native integrations with main apps, together with CRM, cloud storage, productiveness instruments, and gross sales enablement. Our buyer worth packages embrace APMP-certified consultants, Responsive Academy programs, and a vibrant neighborhood of 1,500+ prospects sharing insights and finest practices.
Are you able to share insights into the event course of behind Responsive’s core options, such because the AI suggestion 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 suggestion engine and automatic RFP responses. AI alone can not resolve conflicting or incomplete information, so we’ve prioritized instruments like hierarchical tags and strong content material administration to assist customers set up and preserve their info. By combining generative AI with this dependable information, our platform empowers groups to generate quick, high-quality responses whereas preserving credibility. AI serves as an assistive software, with human oversight making certain accuracy and authenticity, whereas options just like the Ask product allow seamless entry to trusted data for tackling advanced initiatives.
How have developments in cloud computing and digitization influenced the way in which organizations method RFPs and strategic response administration?
Developments in cloud computing have enabled higher effectivity, collaboration, and scalability. Cloud-based platforms enable 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 information, making it simpler to leverage AI-powered instruments like suggestion engines and automatic responses. With these developments, firms can focus extra on technique and personalization, responding to RFPs with higher velocity and precision whereas driving higher outcomes.
Responsive has been instrumental in serving to firms like Microsoft and GEODIS streamline their RFP processes. Are you able to share a selected success story that highlights the influence of your platform?
Responsive has performed a key position in supporting Microsoft’s gross sales workers 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 staff 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 could possibly be redirected towards fostering stronger buyer relationships.
As one other instance of Responsive offering measurable influence, 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 consumer 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. Total, 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 improve and 15X ROI by utilizing Responsive’s AI for content material moderation, response creation, and Necessities Evaluation, which improved decision-making and effectivity. Consumer 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 guide on this area?
Within the subsequent 5 years, I see the response administration business being reworked by AI brokers, with a deal with retaining 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 guide this transformation. We have processed over $600 billion in proposals and constructed a database of virtually 4 million Q&A pairs. Our huge dataset permits us to grasp advanced patterns and develop AI options that transcend easy automation.
Our method is to embrace AI’s potential, discovering alternatives for constructive outcomes relatively than fearing disruption. Firms with strong market intelligence, complete information, and confirmed utilization will emerge as leaders, and Responsive is on the forefront of that wave. The bottom line is not simply implementing AI, however doing so strategically with wealthy, contextual information that permits significant insights and effectivity.
Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to Responsive,