“All roads lead back to Responsive. It’s such a great platform for us. We’ve been able to do our ‘day jobs’ so well and so efficiently that now we’re being asked to do additional things, and we’ve grown our influence across the business.”
— DeeAnn Powers, Sr. Manager Operations at Invicti
What you’ll learn from Invicti’s story
- 3 reasons Invicti upgraded to Responsive
- 6 advantages of a Strategic Response Management (SRM) platform over basic RFP software
- #1: Adoption accelerates revenue growth
- #2: Integrations simplify adoption
- #3: Reporting offers data-driven insights
- #4: Repeatable process eliminates uncertainty
- #5: Trust, without the need to verify
- #6: More opportunities for AI impact
The rundown
Invicti’s response challenge
- Previous RFP software fell short of expectations, forcing the RFx team to manually process half of all questionnaires
- Lack of trust in response content extended sales timelines and frustrated revenue teams and subject matter experts (SMEs)
- RFx content and processes supported only the sales team, minimizing the RFx team’s value and exposure
- Inability to scale and collect data limited accessibility and visibility to other teams and leadership
Impact and results
- Response time: The time taken to answer a single question decreased dramatically, averaging less than a minute, compared to the previous two to three minutes.
- Project throughput: The number of projects completed per year saw a substantial increase, with 433 projects completed in 2023, up from approximately 120 previously — a 360 percent increase.
- Proposal/questionnaire completion time: Reduced the average time to complete a proposal or questionnaire to two days, significantly improving responsiveness to customer inquiries.
- Win rate: With enhanced response capabilities powered by Responsive, Invicti achieved an impressive win rate of 83% in 2023 for sales opportunities where they completed an RFX.
3 reasons Invicti upgraded to Responsive
When DeeAnn Powers started her role as Senior Manager of Operations at Invicti, one man in Turkey answered as many RFx and security questionnaires as he could using a Google spreadsheet. It was slow, manual, and definitely inefficient. So when she added an RFP software point solution to her toolbox, she was excited to be able to escape spreadsheets. Less than 90 days later, she realized the solution was not going to meet their increasing needs.
Invicti develops software to identify vulnerabilities in web applications and is frequently asked by prospects and customers about security, compliance, and privacy policies and strategies. In submitted RFPs, RFIs, DDQs, and security questionnaires, customers need reassurance that Invicti’s product doesn’t subject their IP, confidential information, and sensitive data to any additional risk.
As the business (and incoming information requests) grew, DeeAnn recognized the need for automation to prevent the RFx team from slowing the sales process. Unfortunately, the aforementioned RFP software underdelivered on its promise of automation, so DeeAnn’s team had to continue using manual processes to respond to half of all external requests.
Within 90 days, we started seeing some issues. We were still processing half of our questionnaires manually because the import feature of that tool was not as robust as Responsive’s.
— DeeAnn Powers, Sr. Manager Operations at Invicti
The previous software solution also exhibited limited intake functionality, produced inaccurate metrics, and had a restrictive library structure. This hindered efficiency and caused extended response times averaging five or more days to complete proposals or questionnaires.
Meanwhile, DeeAnn was using Whistic to manage external security assessments and discovered its Responsive integration. After a quick trial and proof of concept, DeeAnn chose Responsive for three primary reasons:
- Comprehensive intake process allows Invicti to respond to any questionnaire (e.g., RFP, RFI, DDQ, security questionnaire, etc.) directly from Responsive.
- Content Library flexibility and control drives a single source of truth that is trusted without question by the entire organization.
- Reporting capabilities give DeeAnn the data infusion she needs to track progress, map content and illustrate value to budget stakeholders.
6 advantages of a Strategic Response Management (SRM) platform over basic RFP software
Strategic Response Management (SRM) is the people, practices, and technology that unlock organizational knowledge for growth. Whereas basic RFP software helps proposal teams answer RFPs, SRM platforms help organizations grow revenue by optimizing responses to all external requests. In addition to increasing RFP win rates, SRM platforms empower all teams to access customer-facing organizational knowledge to answer security questionnaires, DDQs, RFIs, and ad hoc inquiries in emails, sales calls, and virtual meetings.
As an SRM leader (Invicti’s 83% win rate far exceeds the 60% leader benchmark), Invicti identified six advantages to using an SRM platform versus traditional RFP software.
#1: Adoption accelerates revenue growth
Before using Responsive, DeeAnn was viewed as an order taker, or a librarian designated to support the sales team. After adding the Responsive platform and its robust intake, content management, and collaboration features, DeeAnn’s team was designated as the most cross-collaborative role in the organization. That’s a huge leap in a short time frame, and it was the primary driver for her winning the Sales MVP Award at Invicti.
I view it as a one-stop shop. Whether that’s a tool or a group, sales should have one location to get all the information they need to respond to a customer/prospect. Whether that’s a questionnaire, proposal, or somewhere in between for requests for information/quotes/proposals to due diligence to security questionnaires, Strategic Response Management is having a process to provide a response that is on time, accurate, and on brand.
— DeeAnn Powers, Sr. Manager Operations at Invicti
Invicti includes a Responsive module in their learning management system, and every revenue team member is required to complete it during onboarding. The RFx team also conducts refresher training through team meetings and Slack reminders.
To keep SMEs engaged, DeeAnn makes sure she stays top of mind for them. Refresher training and Slack reminders help, but she gains the most traction in her monthly and quarterly meetings with department heads. “I can’t emphasize enough the importance of face time with SMEs and content owners,” DeeAnn said. “If you’re persistent at it, they will come to you. It takes persistence and follow-up to get there.”
Every Invicti team sees value in scaling SRM organization-wide as a business-critical asset. Proposals and questionnaires are completed more than 2X faster, accelerating deal velocity. Prospects and customers have revealed that Invicti’s response quality is unprecedented. And compelling, current, and compliant content can be found in just a few clicks, especially through native Responsive integrations.
#2: Integrations simplify adoption
The Responsive/Whistic integration enables Invicti to automate 67 percent of their security questionnaires, but it’s not the only integration Invicti relies on. They’re also heavy Salesforce and Slack users and appreciate how Responsive integrates with them.
Revenue teams use the Responsive-Salesforce integration to begin and end a response project. Invicti’s prior RFP software provider continually promised to provide an integrated Salesforce dashboard, but never delivered it.
The rest of the organization uses the Responsive-Slack integration for two primary purposes. First, it’s the preferred method of communication between SMEs and the RFx team. Second, everyone searches Slack for the most recent and relevant Responsive content. For example, an attorney that needs the latest ISO document will find it using the Responsive-Slack integration.
These platform integrations ease the workflow transition and allow teams to continue working in the applications with which they’re most familiar. According to DeeAnn, “The single biggest thing we’ve had success with SMEs and internal resources is keeping them working in the systems they already work in. So for project requestors, it’s keeping them in Salesforce. For SMEs, it’s communicating via Slack.”
#3: Reporting offers data-driven insights
Data visibility through an SRM platform provides much more value than through a point solution, primarily because SRM impacts so many teams in an organization. For DeeAnn, the visibility helps her with project management tasks such as content planning (through content usage reports) and SME identification (through AI-driven monitoring of which SMEs focus on specific content areas).
For the organization, Responsive reporting enables DeeAnn to show the impact the platform and her team are making on revenue and efficiency.
| Before Responsive | After Responsive | |
| Time to answer 1 question | 2-3 minutes | Less than 1 minute |
| Time to complete a proposal or questionnaire | 5 days | 2 days |
| Number of projects per year | 120 | 433 (2023) |
| Win rate for sales that included an RFx | NA (data not tracked) | 83% |
#4: Repeatable process eliminates uncertainty
The key to efficiency is a repeatable process, especially when you can build it on top of a powerful platform that streamlines complexity.
DeeAnn has achieved a 250% increase in RFX throughput with her repeatable process, which is centralized on the Responsive Platform and native integrations. A salesperson starts the process from Salesforce, and then DeeAnn’s team imports the RFX and answers questions in Responsive. They collaborate with SMEs via the Slack integration on any outstanding questions to complete a first draft. The RFX goes through a review cycle, and after the final edits are made, it’s exported back to Salesforce, ready for the salesperson to submit.
This process underpins forecasting, resource planning, and scalability at Invicti. Knowing her average process times, DeeAnn accurately estimates quarterly RFX volume within 5-10 requests. If sales predicts higher volumes, she adjusts by planning additional support. The streamlined workflow also helps DeeAnn manage multiple projects efficiently, especially when SMEs can use self-service search for information in Responsive without relying on her.
#5: Trust provides more time to be strategic
Greater flexibility and control over their response content has created an unprecedented level of trust at Invicti. “Before Responsive, revenue teams had a ‘trust, but verify’ mentality,” DeeAnn said. “They thought, ‘I’m going to trust you, but I’m going to verify everything, too.’ Now (with Responsive) that doesn’t happen at all anymore.”
All proposal and questionnaire responses are built on content that is vetted and well-written. Additionally, DeeAnn’s ability to work cross-functionally has expanded her expertise so that she can think strategically about every response. Rather than simply verifying that the wording and language are accurate, she has the insight to see a few steps ahead in the sales process. A quick conversation with an account executive helps her identify the most important value propositions that need to appear in the proposal. She can build that insight into the proposal, improving its quality and helping to engineer an optimal solution for the customer.
#6: More opportunities for AI impact
Responsive has AI at its core and has been AI-powered from its start in 2015. Only an SRM platform as comprehensive as Responsive surfaces AI advantages across everything from RFP shredding to AI-generated first drafts.
Invicti currently uses Responsive AI to assist with multiple tasks, including:
- Easy import of Word, Excel, and PDF-based RFXs and questionnaires
- Knowledge management to ensure content is always current in their library
- Generating a first draft of responses using knowledge from their library
- Crafting winning responses using smart recommendations from Responsive AI
Ready to upgrade to an SRM platform to increase your win rate, respond faster, and use valuable organizational knowledge for more than RFPs? Request a demo.
