In my book, RFPs are evil. I know that’s a big generalization, but I normally avoid responding and actively pursuing any contracts that are solicited in this manner. To me, the RFP process is antiquated and broken, and also neglects what we at Intrigo do well as well as companies should be doing anyway. My experience with RFP seeking companies has lead me to this belief, they should go away. Here’s why I feel this way:

RFP=Inflexibility

An RFP tells me that you and your company has already figured out the exact project, budget, and timeframe in mind. Kudos to you for doing your research and working to understand the project that you’re looking to have. However, our entire philosophy at Intrigo is based upon collaborative partnerships with the people and companies we work with. The talent that we have shuts down when they aren’t allowed to challenge and grow. It’s the reason why our projects turn out the way that they do, and the reason why we have had the success that we have.

I can also tell you that I have never worked on a project where the scope hasn’t changed throughout the course of development. There’s always growth, new challenges, new markets, new competitors, new technology, and we intentionally attempt to build flexibility into our projects to account for changes and challenges in development. When you are strictly locked into an RFP and specific proposal, you can’t really change on the fly.

RFP=Competing on Price

This is the part that I find especially disconcerting as a service provider. Fluctuations in service levels, quality, and a host of other factors tend to get ignored when an RFP goes out. Most business say, this is what we need, who can do it the most cost effectively. Many times this isn’t the case, and you’re curious in hearing approaches from a few different companies, but standardizing it to such a point does not allow you as a business to really engage the companies you are planning on working with, or to see their individual creativity and passion.

That’s why my advice to companies looking for service providers such as Intrigo is this, make real contacts and have real discussions about what your goals are. Then see which companies meet up with your goals and culture the best. Standardizing the solution before you decide on a provider leaves you with little of value to differentiate upon.

Tags: RFPs, Service Providers

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Start-Up Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.