Category Archives: RFPs

Politely refusing to respond to RFPs

By Simon Coles | Published: March 10, 2010
Here’s a nice example of a company respectfully declining to respond to an RFP with the thought process that the supplier went through, and the letter they sent. I wonder what the company going through the RFP process thought about this refusal. Ideally they would take it as a possible warning sign that there might [...]
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Electronic Lab Notebook Requirements – possible pitfalls

By Simon Coles | Published: March 2, 2010
Project teams have been drawing up lists of requirements since the dawn of time, and since that first list the fate of a project has to a great extent been sealed the moment the requirements have been finalized. I wrote this article by accident but I thought it was worth blogging as it explores the specific problems with requirements gathering and RFPs in the ELN industry and suggests some probably unrealistically hopeful solutions. Wouldn't it be delightful if RFPs contained a final sections with questions such as:
  • “If you could remove 5 of our requirements what would they be and why?”
  • “What are the most expensive/troublesome requirements listed above?”
  • “Which of these requirements do you think we don’t really need, based on your experience of similar projects?”
  • “What are we missing?”
  • “If you were us, what are the three things you would be most worried about going forward?”
  • “Please rate our chance of success if we go with you, and if we go with another vendor, with reasons”
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A salesperson’s view on RFPs

By Simon Coles | Published: November 9, 2009
Whilst I am not strictly part of the sales team, my position as Chief ELN Geek means most RFPs that come in to Amphora end up on my desk – often with a salesperson’s first attempt at answering the many detailed but conflicting questions. Of course the salesperson generally gave up after the first couple [...]
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