Companies Are Driving Higher Revenue Growth With AI-Powered SRM Platforms: Research

Leading companies with higher revenue growth are three times more likely to use artificial intelligence-powered strategic response management platforms than novices, according to research sponsored by SRM company Responsive in collaboration with the Association of Proposal Management Professionals.

Organisations are driving greater revenue by investing in platform-level capabilities that extend beyond generative AI functionality for generating responses. Forty-five percent of leading companies that experienced year-over-year revenue growth, use SRM platforms with natively embedded AI.

The 2024 State of Strategic Response Management Report, based on a survey of sales, proposal, and IT executives and practitioners, including those from India, highlighted the contribution that bid and proposal teams make to topline revenue. Participants were categorised as leaders or novices based on win rates, revenue growth, or employee satisfaction. According to the report, more than 90% of survey respondents recognised proposal teams as central to revenue generation.

“Bid and proposal teams have always been key growth drivers. As they face even more pressure to contribute to revenue, they are rising to the challenge and, in doing so, raising their profile in their organisations,” said Rick Harris, chief executive officer of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals.

Additionally, 77% noted an increase in the volume of RFPs and other strategic responses over the past year. Nearly half of the respondents identified tighter buyer budgets, demands for more information to be delivered faster, and increased competitive pressure as key challenges.

There is a divide between leading companies, which report increased revenue through the use of a response platform incorporating AI, and Novices, who use traditional productivity tools and ad hoc processes, the report showed. Most Leaders view AI as augmenting human input rather than replacing it, with 56% of Leaders anticipating that AI will optimise staff time without increasing team size.

“With an increase in the variety, complexity and volume of information requests, combined with greater pressure to grow revenue, the benefits of AI-powered strategic response management are clear. Today, AI is bringing measurable value to bid and proposal teams, not only by increasing productivity but also by driving more revenue,” said Responsive Chief Executive Officer Ganesh Shankar.

Eighty-nine percent of respondents are experimenting with or have already used AI software to respond to information requests. But it’s the leading organisations that are driving greater revenue by investing in AI-embedded SRM platforms.

“By embracing AI and linking strategic responses to better outcomes like higher win rates, increased revenue and better employee experiences, these teams are elevating their profession, gaining more investment, and raising their visibility as a critical part of the revenue engine,” said Harris.

According to the report, 85% of proposal teams designated as Leaders shape their company’s go-to-market strategy. Additionally, 80% of Leaders are more likely to use data and analytics from response systems to improve processes and increase win rates, compared to only 61% of Novices.

Less than half of Novices have self-service tools for bids and grant access to users outside of the response team to content used in strategic responses, while 84% of Leaders do, improving employee satisfaction.