The decision process
In the search for a proposal management platform that could handle its sophisticated content management and security requirements, TRC received demos from multiple proposal management software companies to evaluate which solution would best serve its needs and integrate smoothly into existing proposal workflows.
“As part of a corporate software streamlining effort, we participated in a six-month trial with a proposal management competitor but ultimately selected QorusDocs as the best solution, in part because of its integration with Microsoft SharePoint and our other existing Microsoft systems and tools,” said Galati. “Plus, QorusDocs has the right level of flexibility to meet our business needs and facilitate quick adoption.”
The rollout
TRC deployed QorusDocs AI proposal management software to its Strategic Proposals and Advanced Energy groups in late 2022. “At the point that we started using QorusDocs, most of our content wasn’t centralized so we had a significant learning curve with mapping out how to categorize and tag our content,” said Galati. “We took our time to properly find all the locations where our proposal content resided, including office servers, individual directories, OneDrive, MS Teams collaboration sites, ProjectWise, and even laptop hard drives.”
“Throughout the process, QorusDocs staff met with us regularly, not only to help us through any issues and come up with solutions, but to teach us how to use the tools and fix issues on our own,” added Galati. “The QorusDocs staff have been extremely patient, receptive, incredibly helpful, and a pleasure to work with.”
After nearly two years of successful execution within the corporate proposals group, TRC decided to roll out QorusDocs’ sophisticated content management and proposal automation capabilities to the entire company and is working with the sectors to integrate their current environments with QorusDocs.
QorusDocs in action
TRC uses QorusDocs as a CMS and proposal automation tool, including the Pursuits function, to simplify content management, streamline collaboration, and expedite the proposal process to accelerate the sales cycle and generate more client wins. After working with QorusDocs, the proposal team reported very positive feedback related to time efficiencies, the reduction of global email requests about content, ease of use, and accessibility to clean, approved content for proposals.
“We use the platform to centralize and automate information for our growing company, creating a single source of truth for our data and enabling us to share information efficiently throughout the company,” said Galati. “The centralized and tagged content repositories make it so much easier to locate and share quality content and data relevant to TRC. We’ve noticed significantly less questions and group email requests and messages about where to find important information.”
Built on the secure Microsoft Azure platform, the user-friendly QorusDocs platform integrates seamlessly with frequently-used Microsoft applications, such as Word, Teams, or SharePoint. As a result, the Strategic Proposals Group can work in a familiar and secure Microsoft environment that is built and administered by TRC. “The proposal team quickly adapted to using the Microsoft add-ins, seamlessly fitting into our proposal process,” said Galati. “Our team loves the ease of starting a proposal from Word, plus the centralized and organized working files which we can share with non-licensed users.”
QorusDocs AI proposal management software is tailored to the way TRC conducts business across multiple sectors and divisions. The easy accessibility of data in TRC’s current SharePoint environment and the flexibility of that environment means multiple proposal teams can utilize the platform, from subject-focused groups to the corporate level proposal team.
Galati noted, “We appreciate the level of data security, accessibility, and flexibility QorusDocs provides. For example, any staff can review the whole proposal, instead of pieces. Since content isn’t stored on a third-party site, we have the assurance that our data is wholly accessible, secure, and housed internally.”
Looking ahead, TRC is planning to further integrate QorusDocs with some of its current systems for content storage outside of SharePoint. “For example, we intend to integrate ProjectWise, our company-wide project management platform, with QorusDocs for cleaner platform-to-platform, bi-directional communication. We’re also looking to integrate QorusDocs into our instance of Salesforce used for soft backlog and opportunity tracking,” said Galati.
Gelati added, “I’ve found the experience working with QorusDocs to be professional, positive, and collaborative. Armed with fantastic training and knowledge resources, the team has been focused on delivering value and has kept us abreast of their product roadmap, including the QorusDocs generative AI strategy.”
