New Year, Better Workflows: The Best Proposal Management Tool Alternative to Upland Qvidian and Loopio in 2020

It’s that time of year again – reevaluating what works, what doesn’t, and what is best for your team. Your hard-working team drudges through mountains of government request for proposals (RFPs), combs through months of previous proposals for SME intel, and patiently waits for updates on the progress of individual task assignment, all while attempting to craft quality proposals that will land renewable contracts.

They’re frustrated… and now the next influx of government RFPs are on the way. The only recourse is to find a timesaving, cost-effective solution.

What’s the best solution for proposal teams?

In today’s technology-driven world, there are enough platforms, devices, and software to take the frustration out of human error – and give complex teams peace of mind. Proposal teams of all sizes and structure have options for relief in some of the industry’s best proposal management tools.

The search for the right one does not have to be overwhelming.

You want a proposal management tool that provides complete support, is easy to use and simple to learn and does not cost an arm and a few legs to purchase. Right?

The next step is to decide what tool works best for your team, whether a small, cross-functional team working with local partners, a large team of several in-person and remote SMEs, or a mix of both.

While there are several tools to choose from, there are some that offer advantages for small to corporate teams in different ways: collaboration, content tracking, affordable pricing, and competitive edge.

That said, Zbizlink offers that value and a free trial offer if your team just wants to feel it out.

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Up there with Upland Qvidian, Loopio, and RFP360, Zbizlink keeps pace with the industry’s top competitors. Take a look at the features chart to see how competitors stack up.

Features comparison chart

Let’s talk about these features. Generally, several industry-standard features provide the automation support you need to speed proposal development and team productivity.

This is how:

• Cloud/SaaS tools are web-based and easily accessible anywhere. Your information is saved to the cloud with unlimited storage and are easily integrated with other web-based tools.
• A content library increases automation and helps answer FAQs so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for every…single…proposal.
• An audit trail enables tracking for all changes and updates to information sections or documents (depending on tool capability). Zbizlink allows both.
• Signature tracking enables your team to require signature for contractual agreements and provides a safe and secure way to manage contracts right in the tool.
• Autofill saves lives. You don’t have to worry about rewriting the same content for other required sections. Autofill maps data to fill similar responses where applicable.
• Templates save time in proposal design and the organization of information. They also set a standard for your team’s proposals. Zbizlink’s templates are customizable.
• Mobile compatibility enables your team to have 24/7 access to important updates and work seamlessly while you’re traveling.

Now what about the RFP and Resume Parser, and pricing? Thought you’d never ask.

6 ways Zbizlink outpaces competitors

Zbizlink has the features proposal teams need to get the productivity and maximized value they want for long-term measurable results. On top of that, Zbizlink boasts these unique features and benefits:

• Transparent, Affordable Pricing. Zbizlink is transparent and upfront about pricing – it’s right on the website. To be fair, Upland Qvidian, Loopio, and RFP360 are great tools, but the cost must be so outrageous that they don’t want it listed on any public space. You must “contact vendor” to request a demo. Zbizlink helps small to large companies stay competitive with monthly subscriptions.

Choose your Plan

No credit card required.

Zbizlink’s affordable pricing packages

• RFP and Resume Parser. The next time you have a 20+ page government solicitation document or a lengthy IT resume to review and edit, think of all the time you will save using Zbizlink’s Parser. The Parser extracts information and organizes it into manageable sections or requirement-specific templates…in under a minute.
• Task Assignment Status Tracking. No longer do you have to wonder, “who is doing what and when will they be done?” Zbizlink allows proposal managers and writers to assign tasks based on requirement and employee role. It then gives a full picture of who is assigned to each individual task and how long it takes to complete. The whole team will know who is holding up progress. Imagine how that discourages delays.
• File Recovery. Zbizlink is one of very few tools that offer easy file recovery. How? Nothing is deleted. As you declutter, files are simply archived — not deleted— and only if you choose can files be permanently removed.
• Calendar Sync. Every person on the team is busy – at work and at home. Zbizlink’s calendar sync option makes it easy for your team to stay on-track with all upcoming assignments, as well as other calendared priorities. Sync your Outlook or Gmail calendar with the Zbizlink Scheduler and get a complete schedule with automatic reminders.
• Social Sharing Platform. Stay connected with your professional community. Just one more step ahead, the Zbizlink Activity Panel allows you to share information (company updates, candidate openings, and so on) with your business partners and our robust user community. You can even share internal posts directly to LinkedIn and Facebook.

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Competitors At-A-Glance

There’s a reason Zbizlink can compete. Upland Qvidian, Loopio, and RFP360 offer viable solutions that help proposal teams and individuals with proposals, just in different ways.

Here are the core solutions in a nutshell:

Zbizlink is a niche proposal management tool that helps small to large companies secure business with the public sector and commercial.

Upland Qvidian is a proposal automation tool that is great for fast proposal completion, but not so good with team communication, opportunity assessment, or resource matching.

Loopio and RFP360 support infosec and the RFP issue and proposal response process respectively.

In the end, it all comes down to what will save your team from the most stress and your company the most money.

Still can’t decide, huh?

Zbizlink offers even more

Zbizlink solutions are ideal for proposal teams apt for government solicitations, collaboration with several SMEs and internal or external business partners, and those that seek affordable, transparent pricing packages.

Zbizlink Capture Management and Opportunity Tracking

Solutions include, but are not limited to:

• Proposal Management. Maintain visibility into the full proposal management process with tracked updates and role-specific dashboards. Foster collaborative communication amongst the entire team using instant messaging and an email integration feature. Streamline document sharing and contract sign-off with secure signature tracking, and automate the proposal lifecycle with global autofill, customizable templates, and a content library.

• Capture Management. Develop capture strategy based on the evaluation of opportunity-specific information and overall opportunity assessment of win/loss metrics and centralized knowledge. Your team makes Go/No-Go decisions faster based on Qualification Scores and partner ratings.

• Resource & Partner Matching. Simplify recruiting and teaming management with direct invitations, search functionality drilled down to skill, past performance, and unique capability, visibility into robust profiles, and resource sharing. With access to a database of resumes and skills matrices, your team spends less time finding and onboarding qualified talent and can choose competitive resources or partners right in the tool.

Additional Features: Single sign-on, drag and drop editing, customizable dashboards, resume builder, version control, and notifications.

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Whichever solution you choose to help ease your team’s RFP pipeline woes, just make sure it helps you win more business, grows your teaming potential, and you won’t need a whole tech support conference just to recover previous files.

Happy Proposal Writing!

Let us know in the comments how you think Zbizlink stacks up, or if there are other competitors that compare.