Strategic Response Management (SRM) is rapidly transforming how organizations approach proposal management and business growth. As the demand for response efficiency, scalability, and data-driven decision-making grows, SRM provides the tools and strategies necessary to unlock organizational knowledge and drive results.
In this article, we dive into insights from industry leaders Carrie Jordan, Global Director of Proposals at Microsoft, and Kristen Carloni, Global Head of Aladdin Business Proposal Strategy Team at BlackRock, to discuss how businesses can activate and scale SRM to achieve tangible outcomes. Carrie and Kristen joined Responsive for Summit24, our annual conference on Strategic Response Management.
Carrie and Kristen explored how SRM empowers proposal teams, builds organizational credibility, and activates AI for scaling impact. The panel also provided actionable strategies teams of all sizes can use for creating business value, increasing executive buy-in, and integrating AI technologies to future-proof proposal management.
Read on to see how proposal leaders at two of the world’s largest organizations demonstrate ROI, capture and communicate impact, and have embraced AI as a transformative tool for SRM across an entire organization.
How Strategic Response Management (SRM) unlocks growth
Strategic Response Management (SRM) is defined as the people, practices, and technology that unlock organizational knowledge to drive profitable growth. This comprehensive approach empowers teams to streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and maximize business outcomes. You can learn more about the fundamentals of SRM here: What is Strategic Response Management (SRM)?
Carrie leads the Microsoft Proposal Center of Excellence, managing a team of 50 professionals who deliver end-to-end support for strategic deals while also enabling self-service tools for field teams to independently generate proposals for smaller opportunities. Under her leadership, the team contributed to $10.4 billion in revenue in the last fiscal year.
Kristen heads the Aladdin Response Management Team at BlackRock, overseeing a global team of 11 that serves both prospective and existing clients. Her team supports a diverse range of products, ensuring a tailored, strategic approach to proposal management across geographies and industries.
Both Carrie and Kristen are pioneering SRM across their organizations for a better way to work.
The role of SRM in proposal management
SRM will continue to shape how organizations approach proposal management, shifting it from a reactive function to a strategic, value-driven discipline that democratizes knowledge, streamlines processes, and elevates the overall function of proposal and field-facing teams.
Carrie said Microsoft leverages SRM to unlock and centralize key proposal content that was once siloed in SharePoint folders or individual hard drives. By using Responsive’s SRM solution, her team ensures that the best content is centralized in a single knowledge base and is readily accessible to everyone. Beyond proposals, Microsoft uses SRM to manage other critical content, such as legal disclaimers and specific customer-facing language, enabling consistency and efficiency across various touchpoints.
At BlackRock, Kristen said SRM has created a unified approach to managing proposals across multiple geographies and product lines. While her team initially focused on administrative tasks, the adoption of SRM has elevated their role into one with greater strategic importance.
Over the years, Kristen’s team has expanded from supporting two product lines to managing 15, contributing significantly to the business’s bottom line. This evolution underscores the shift in proposal management from being a transactional activity to a career path rooted in strategic thinking and measurable impact.
Both panelists also pointed out that SRM is more than just a tool — it’s a framework that empowers teams to scale their efforts, make data-driven decisions, and create meaningful contributions to organizational success. By simple changes such as making critical knowledge accessible and actionable, SRM not only streamlines the proposal process but also positions teams as strategic partners within their organizations.
SRM as the key to building credibility and executive buy-in
Securing executive support for SRM initiatives requires a combination of clear communication, data-driven insights, and demonstrated business impact. You have to build credibility and gain buy-in from leadership by aligning SRM efforts with organizational priorities, which is no easy task.
Carrie credited her “Capture, Quantify, Communicate” framework as a cornerstone for demonstrating the value of SRM. At Microsoft, her team meticulously captures the impact they drive, quantifies it in terms of ROI and business outcomes, and clearly communicates these results to the right audiences.
For example, Carrie shared that her team achieved an ROI of 746-to-1, delivering $746 in value for every dollar invested in her team. This was an obvious metric any executive can appreciate, demonstrates a clear connection to revenue generation and time savings, and allowed Carrie to successfully position SRM as a critical driver of Microsoft’s success.
Kristen echoed the importance of tying SRM efforts to tangible business outcomes. At BlackRock, she emphasized that executives care less about how busy your team is and more about the impact of their work.
To illustrate this, she shared how her team integrated new RFP technology from a merged business unit without adding headcount. This strategic move not only streamlined processes but also contributed millions to the firm’s bottom line. Kristen’s ability to deliver results and communicate their significance has secured ongoing support for her team and their initiatives.
The important role proposal AI plays in scaling SRM
AI will continue to revolutionize how organizations approach SRM, enabling teams to better scale their efforts, save time, and enhance the quality of their work. Already ahead of the curve, Microsoft and BlackRock are leveraging AI to transform proposal management with incredible success.
At Microsoft, Carrie’s team is piloting generative AI (GenAI) to automate key aspects of the proposal process. Through thoughtful introductions of AI, her team has streamlined tasks such as email drafting, meeting recaps, and content generation for RFPs.
Kristen highlighted BlackRock’s methodical approach to preparing for AI adoption. AI requires clean and structured data to perform effectively, so her team revamped their Content Library to remove internal comments and optimize workflows for automation. Learn how to get your own knowledge base ready for AI: [Webinar] Knowledge management for the AI era.
BlackRock’s team also invested time in mastering prompting techniques to maximize AI’s potential. While Kristen acknowledged that AI isn’t yet a “push-button” solution, BlackRock’s commitment to testing and refining its use cases has helped the team unlock its transformative potential far earlier than other global organizations.
While AI is already incredibly powerful and transformative, both panelists emphasized the importance of perseverance when adopting AI. Early results are likely to fall short of expectations, requiring structured testing and innovation to pave the way for impactful use cases. For instance, Kristen envisions AI-powered tools recommending subject matter experts, drafting executive summaries, and automating more complex workflows.
Actionable tips to scale and activate AI and SRM
Both Carrie and Kristen shared practical advice for strategic response leaders aiming to elevate their teams and maximize the impact of SRM across their organizations.
Adopt AI proactively:
- AI is not just a passing trend — waiting for executive leadership to dictate its adoption could be a missed opportunity.
- Start experimenting with AI tools now to understand their impact and identify high-value use cases.
- Present a clear, strategic plan to leadership to stay in control of AI implementation and drive efficiency and innovation.
2. Demonstrate team impact:
- Reflect on how your team contributes to the organization’s bottom line.
- Share success stories and provide executive-friendly metrics, such as ROI and time saved, to showcase the value of SRM.
- Use data-driven insights to secure continued investment in your team.
3. Leverage SRM as a career growth opportunity:
- SRM is evolving into a career-defining field, offering leaders a chance to showcase expertise and drive meaningful change.
- Becoming an AI and SRM advocate positions leaders as key contributors to organizational success.
- Proactively engaging in AI-driven SRM can open doors for career advancement and leadership recognition.
Key takeaways for advancing SRM for future success
Strategic Response Management (SRM) is no longer just a support function — it’s a clear and critical driver of business value and growth, trusted by some of the largest global organizations, such as Microsoft and BlackRock.
As Carrie and Kristen discussed, SRM empowers organizations to unlock knowledge, scale efficiently, and embrace transformative tools like AI to achieve measurable impact, communicate value to leadership, and proactively integrate new technologies.
As SRM evolves, it brings new opportunities for growth, collaboration, and impact. By embracing SRM and AI now, teams can drive meaningful change and achieve lasting success, while also securing their position as strategic partners within their organizations.
Ready to learn more about Responsive’s approach to AI and SRM, or interested in seeing how both can help you make more of an impact — fast? Request a demo.