In the complex world of European government tenders, small and medium-sized businesses often find themselves at a disadvantage. While larger companies can dedicate entire teams to reviewing and responding to tenders, smaller organizations must find ways to compete efficiently with limited resources. This was the challenge facing Harald Wagener and his team at BusinessCode, a German software company developing tailor made solutions for industries like Logistics, Government, Legal and others.
The Challenge: Managing Complex Government Tenders
With a team of 35 people, BusinessCode needed to find a more efficient way to handle government tenders. Each opportunity they encounter can include up to 10-50 documents totaling over several hundreds of pages. These materials range from legal documents about working processes to detailed technical requirements, making the review process extremely time-consuming for a smaller team.
“Bigger companies have big dedicated teams sitting around doing nothing else than tender management, Harald explains. His team needed a way to efficiently evaluate and respond to these opportunities without dedicating extensive resources to the process.”
Transforming the Process with AI Drive
Harald's team has revolutionized their approach using AI Drive, achieving what he estimates as a 70% time savings in their tender response process. The transformation began with Harald developing a detailed three-step prompt that helps them quickly analyze new tenders. The first step creates a summary of the tender's requirements and technical challenges. The second step matches these against BusinessCode's capabilities and team composition. The final step checks if the tender might be designed with a subset of vendors in mind - a common situation where certain requirements might effectively limit who can apply.
When BusinessCode decides to pursue an opportunity, AI Drive becomes even more valuable. Recently, Harald's team needed to create a technical concept document for migrating an application to Azure cloud. The document needed to cover everything from security and monitoring to support concepts and service levels - all scattered across multiple source documents.
Using AI Drive, they took an iterative approach. The system helped generate an initial high-level document structure with relevant content from all the source materials. Then, chapter by chapter, Harald refined the content, asking for more specific details about database tables and Azure implementation specifications. The system even helped identify gaps in the original tender documents, such as missing information, which they could then clarify with the issuer.
Making Tender Response More Accessible
The efficiency gains have transformed what's possible for BusinessCode. Their systematic approach starts with analyzing each tender through AI Drive before deciding whether to invest more time in a detailed response. This initial screening helps them focus their efforts on the most promising opportunities.
For tenders they pursue, AI Drive helps them create comprehensive responses that consider all requirements across dozens of source documents. The system helps ensure nothing is overlooked while dramatically reducing the time required to create detailed technical documentation.
While the technology is impressive, Harald emphasizes the importance of human oversight. His team carefully reviews all AI-generated content, ensuring accuracy and adding their expertise where needed. The result is a hybrid approach that combines the efficiency of AI with human judgment and experience.
“I'm glad that we have AI Drive because it really helps us to get faster to where we want to go, Harald reflects.”
By transforming what was once a daunting challenge into a streamlined process, AI Drive has helped BusinessCode compete more effectively in the government tender space. For Harald and his team, it's about using technology strategically to level the playing field, allowing them to pursue opportunities that might otherwise have been out of reach for a company of their size.