Loopio vs. Negotiatus

I use Loopio specifically for RFP's mostly. I think it is a great and adequate tool for this and much of what I think that needs to improve are not large needle movers for me since the software as a whole is fantastic. It is very easy to upload an RFP into Loopio and begin answering those questions or pulling from previously answered questions. I also will use Loopio for large client proposals and I often use the "search functionality within Loopio to see if I can find answers to clients questions. I like that I can also pull images from Loopio as well and often use those visualizations in my proposals.

Incentivized

Negotiatus is well suited for multi-location--many locations doing the same thing, such as a franchise model. However, if you really want to have tight control on costing, the reporting is not robust enough that, with scale, it would make more sense to bring this in house and create your own vendor relationships

Incentivized

• Ease of use - a few minutes' tutorial is enough for a newcomer to start using the tool.
• Handy options - i.e. support in searching for the right answer
• Often meaningful & useful releases

• Consolidated invoicing--Negotiatus consolidates all invoices into one monthly invoice for us to pay by the 15th of the subsequent month.
• General ledger mapping--products on the platform can be mapped to one or more entities or cost centers through a monthly consolidated file, which has great value when it comes to process efficiency.
• Ease of use--the platform is fairly easy for both users and administrators. With many locations that are geographically dispersed, it allows us to manage purchasing without an excess training need.

Incentivized

• Adding new answers to the library was easier and better with the "close the loop" functionality. Now, it seems like it is easier to miss questions to add to the library.

Incentivized

• Communicating Savings: Negotiatus sells itself on its vendor network--the ability to search for the best possible price according to what is available. However, it is challenging to tell what that savings would have been (e.g., WB Mason vs. Amazon).
• Speed of Resolution: it sometimes takes a few months to come to a resolution when it comes to analysis/reporting. As they do not have great reporting around savings, we often ask for them to provide some periodic analysis. The account manager will put in the request, but it may not get completed or be up to the appropriate standard due to lack of understanding of the requirements.
• Cancelled Orders: at some points early on (2+ years ago), many of the orders were cancelled and we were left scrambling to replace them. That has gotten much better.

Incentivized

Usability is good but falls short of excellent. The interface is clean and well organized. They clearly spent some time working on the UI and took some feedback from focus groups to help keep it tidy. On a few occasions, we have experienced a little bit of lag while updating the question database. I'd like to see just a little faster response time on a consistent basis.

Incentivized

They're very supportive and reply in a timely manner. Whenever I contacted the support I received a helpful reply that actually solved my issue. Quite often when my team suggested an improvement that would simplify and speed up our work it happened not long after which is perfect for us.

• User friendly--very simple
• Reviews of libraries can be assigned
• Non-named user licenses can be used by various people
• Close Loop--changes can be added to library with just a few clicks
• View text in library and can copy content
• Reporting on reviews and usage and projects
• Help center and assigned representative
• Library duplicates functionality

Incentivized

• I have saved hundreds of hours working in Loopio instead of answering RFP's on my own. This has allowed me to spend other hours elsewhere. Having an RFP management tool has been an incredible timesaver
• The creation and management of questions has also saved me hours of time in searching out tough questions to answer and has also saved my colleagues time as well since we don't need to collaborate to find answers.
• Have had some issues with downloading the proposal in a readable format for clients to view. I've sometimes had to go back and figure out what went wrong when exporting which can be frustrating- especially when dealing with very tight deadlines.

Incentivized

• Positive efficiencies (major positive)
• Negative monthly costs per location
• Positive control

Incentivized