“I think asking why you’re doing an RFP is a very important thing. If you are just looking to check a box, that’s not a good use of the RFP. That’s the crux of why the RFP has become a bad word over the years.”
The scope of responsibilities associated with enterprise procurement has grown significantly over the last decade, and yet we keep coming back to the ‘good old’ RFP. This one enabling tool often defines our reputation as a function, and not always in a good way. At the same time, no other approach has been able to unseat the RFP, and it remains the best way to evaluate supplier costs and capabilities in a standardized and structured way.
Dave Hulsen, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of RFP360, joined us for an AOP Live session on March 31st. His topic – reclaiming the power of the RFP – clearly struck a chord with the procurement community, because we’ve never had so many excellent questions submitted by audience members before.
In this podcast, which is based on the AOP Live session, Dave addresses a range of RFP-related topics such as:
How to best leverage all of the different kinds of RFxs, depending on the specific sourcing strategy being leveraged
The critical process elements – both internal and external – that contribute to successful RFP outcomes
Including and engaging internal stakeholders in the RFP process so that they understand and actively support the resulting decisions
Enabling suppliers to put their best proposal forward without losing the ability to analyse and compare the results
