Building the ultimate bid vault
If there’s one thing that makes bidding for architectural projects easier, it is having a great bank of resources in your library. Expert bidding professional Mary Sweeting talks us through the process of building the ideal vault of resources, and some of the current digital tools that are using AI to help with the flow of information
The ideal bid vault should include the following essential assets. Once this is in place, the steps of developing your win strategy and production timeline can easily flow:
– Well written texts
– Robust process diagrams
– Inspiring images and captions
– Convincing client quotes and evidence; and
– Engaging information on your talented team, approach and projects
But that is only half the story. Accessing all this data efficiently is essential to make your next bid as easy as possible to prepare.
Our new friend in the corner could be AI. Instead of feeling threatened by how unnervingly quickly AI might do us out of a job, we can take the brave step of seeing how it can help us.
Spoilt for choice
The bid management software market is vast, with over 230 providers competing for attention. Many platforms now leverage AI to streamline bid analysis, quickly identifying key requirements, scoring criteria, and matching them with existing content.
Finding the right tool for you is almost like a full time job. That’s where people like Darell Woodward from Prosfora Solutions come in. They are experienced in helping companies work out how to automate the proposal process and choose the best route for them – often advising people to make the most of the systems they already have rather than adding another level of complexity with new software. Prosfora offers a free audit of your current tools to see what your next steps could be.
Keeping it simple
As a basic starting point, Microsoft’s Sharepoint is usually a solid choice for most smaller practices, especially if teams are already familiar with it.
As practices grow, demand for bid collateral can get more difficult to manage.
At this point, there are established names like Loopio, Responsive or Altura to consider. Altura, for example, uses AI in a few ways, helping you find opportunities, extract texts from your previous bids, and automate the admin. They have a tiered pricing policy depending on the number of staff using it and the features you have access to, such as analysing the brief to help decide whether to bid or not to bid. Costs for Altura begin at £25,000 per annum and are suited to practices who are bidding for around 20+ projects a year.
There are more options with some newer companies on the market like Bidbot, which was set up to automate and give insight into bids, giving real-time bid response scoring. They are offering free access to early adopters of the new software, in return for user feedback to shape the platform’s development.
Make Architects are one forward-thinking practice who have been proactively looking into information storage and efficiency. They are using their existing image library cloud-based software OpenAsset to test out storage of CVs, project and general information for bids and other uses. Make’s Connie Suffren has been impressed so far by OpenAsset’s good customer service and the ease with which architects across the practice can now access up to date information. OpenAsset aren’t currently using AI in all areas but Connie predicts they will be later this year and the practice is also investigating AI solutions itself for additional bid information needs.
Checklist
If you’ve already decided to take the plunge and try a bid system, optimise your search by:
– Identifying your current pain points and what would best help you and colleagues trying to access information
– Seeking a free trial or demos from a range of providers
– Setting a realistic budget
– Training your team to get them excited about the new system
Taking these steps will help you get your information polished and safely stored in your bid vault and cut down the frustrations you experience the next time another competitive bid arrives.
The result? The creation of a powerful resource that can turn new bid opportunities from nightmares into dream projects.
Mary Sweeting established The Bid Studio to help architects create compelling bid information and build bid vaults that win dream projects. Her vast experience includes the roles of Head of Communications and Business Development at Architype for almost 5 years, and has been a freelance for a range of studios for over twenty years, inclusing Stanton Williams. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-sweeting-communications/
Advertisements
