QuoteWerks vs. Qvidian RFP & Proposal Automation

The sales department is satisfied with QuoteWerks and this generates satisfaction throughout the company. The main recommendation is to use the free trial first in order to know what the goals of each company are according to their size and futuristic vision. QuoteWerks opening easy and robust integration with our CRMs, this also improves workflow. It works as an electronic signature that has improved working time and in general the relationship with our clients because we no longer have to ask the client to print the document and then sign it.

Incentivized

This software is very well-suited to companies who find themselves expanding their footprint, the number of their Sales representatives, their territories, and/or their products and services and need to maximize their ability to both keep up with those demands whilst streamlining their proposal resources. Further, this is a very powerful tool with a lot of features and functionality including CRM plug-in and reporting. Thus, it may be less appropriate for a very small organization with only one product and that is also blessed with lengthy cradle-to-grave turnaround windows. In addition, to better the odds for success an investment in upfront personnel training and either a dedicated periodic window of time and/or dedicated person(s) for content upkeep are prudent. Finally, working with the vendor is a delight as they make every effort to maintain and deliver a product that both meets your needs and on which you can rely.

• It offers a robust API Integration with Connectwise Manage as well as several other CRM and accounting packages.
• It offers a robust templating system that has allowed us to remove large amounts of manual labor from our quoting system.
• It allows you to integrate rate sheets from your leasing partners for easy leasing options.

Incentivized

• Using Qvidian as an RFP tool has made a difference in our RFP process, turn-around time, and content development. It's helped us streamline our RFP process so that we are able to produce the majority of the document before the kick-off meeting, which means we have more time to customize and refine the document before it goes to print.
• Additionally, it took several hours before to gather all of the basic data we needed for an RFP, but now we can have the majority of the response ready in under 15 minutes in most cases. We are also able to start projects from our phones (iPhone thru Safari) or on an iPad. This has been extremely helpful while traveling.
• Finally, our content is centrally located on a searchable database. Previously we had used several free tools to aid in content storage that would allow us access easily via search. It never seemed to do what we wanted, and when we did find something, we weren't sure if it was the most current or usable. The library functions in Qvidian have been a huge help, and has changes the way we collect data, and retrieve it.

• QuoteWerks can be a little clunky at times, but overall is easy to use.
• QuoteWerks could be a little more visibly attractive, but it gets the job completed.
• QuoteWerks Has added a couple of features that I would rather not see there - a view of all of the open quotes for a customer just muddies up the screen and it asks you if you want to save a quote at the most inopportune times.

Incentivized

• One area where Qvidian occasionally struggles is feature regression. For instance, the editing option that puts multiple records into one document had always been present in Qvidian; however, when the multi-edit feature that only allows editing one record at a time was released in version 9.1, the original editing functionality was removed. This caused me a lot of frustration, as it severely slowed down my work flow since I could now only see and edit one record at a time. It wasn't until a year later when version 10 was released that the old editing functionality was added back. However, one bright spot of version 9.1 was an added feature that allowed organizing records by simply dragging and dropping them into different categories. This was much easier than having to right click on a record, select Move, then right click on a folder and select paste. However, with version 10, this feature was removed and I'm now back to having to right click on records instead of dragging and dropping. It seems that with each release, I never know if something I like will be taken away or if something I don't like will be added -- sometimes it's both.
• A recent change that was added in version 10.1 that I personally view as a negative is that Qvidian now handles all requests server side instead of on the user's computer. This means that if a user wants to export or edit a large number of records, they have to wait for Qvidian's server to generate a report of those records. Depending on the number of records, this can be very quick (a few seconds) or very long (I've waited up to 20 minutes before) depending on how taxed Qvidian's servers currently are. I understand the reasoning behind the move, in that it takes the load off of a user's computer so that other applications they currently have open aren't affected by added memory usage, but in practice I find that it only slows down my workflow. Any somewhat modern PC shouldn't have any trouble handling a large report request from Qvidian.
• Although Qvidian is certified for use in several different browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome for Windows), it doesn't offer the same functionality in each one. For instance, in Explorer, when a record is selected for editing or export, it will automatically open in Word. In Firefox, a pop-up dialog appears and a user has to click Open in order for the record to appear in Word. And in Chrome, the file is added to the download bar and a user must click on the file there for it to open, unless they add an exception to .docx file types to automatically open in Word (which I had to do, since I prefer using Chrome). Other simple features such as right clicking on a folder or record to bring up Qvidian's context menu are hit or miss depending on the browser. In Explorer, everything is generally smooth, though the browser itself is slower than the other choice. In Firefox, right clicking generally works but sometimes has some hiccups, and in Chrome, more often than not right clicking brings up Chrome's context menu instead of Qvidian's, which often leads to having to first select a folder and then click the dedicated Actions button in Qvidian to perform the desired action. No matter which browser you use, there will be some sort of functionality that doesn't quite work as expected.

We will renew because QuoteWerks has all the capabilities we require for our business processes and our reps like it. The support is top notch and the pricing model saves us considerable money over SaaS models. I also feel confident that Aspire Technologies will continue to improve and add features

Incentivized

The tool provides us with the functionality we need to perform more efficiently and we have not identified another product that offers enough "nice to haves" in addition to the "must haves" to warrant a compelling reason for changing tools.

In my experience, QuoteWerks is incredibly easy to get started with and very intuitive to putting together your first quote. It also has a depth of features that has not only allowed us to enhance our own internal quote / order / invoice production, but also implemented into other businesses has increased their quote production significantly.

The shift they made in architecting documents from content to outline, is now reversed allowing outline creation first, then content which is more natural. But, due to the fact that we went through a migration of content to get to the new version, it feels less optimized than if we would have re-implemented.

End users having to configure settings more often than desired

QuoteWerks is a very stable, robust solution. In my experience: bugs in the software are rare; any crashes or system failures are usually due to other infrastructure issues rather than the software itself, i.e. a problem with the network or server, an issue with a.n.other piece of software on the User's workstation that has a knock-on effect on QuoteWerks.

Qvidian system maintenance is performed on weekends, usually at odd hours, and advanced notice is given so that teams can plan accordingly.

Once set up and running, and particularly when running the more reliable, faster Corporate edition rehosted to SQL Server, then QuoteWerks performs very well. The only reason for the slight mark down here is that QuoteWerks is very sensetive to having a database connection. If there is an issue whereby the connection to the server is lost (network glitch for example) then whereas Outlook (or a.n.other piece of software) might just wait and poll in 30 seconds time, QuoteWerks will crash and potentially a User lose all changes to the document(s) that they were working on.

Remote or VPN employees seem to have somewhat slower access time. Server maintenance has improved performance.

Finding occasional recurring prompts to update settings in Microsoft (Explorer, Word, Excel, Powerpoint)

Quotewerks Support and the UK Distributor here have always been responsive to our requests and in particular helped us out when we need some new functionality which then got added in the next build...this really impressed me and showed that where case was made, they readily embraced it and the new build was completed within 60 days.

They are very much in support of great customer service. They respond quickly with emails and in some cases phone calls to resolve any issues and often times user questions in the past when I could not figure something out.

Incentivized

There is in-person training offered in Orlando, but our company did not want to spend the money.

Incentivized

Live instructor training is expensive, though we have had instructors come to our offices for a ‘refresher’ before. The refresher was more of a “let us fix that for you” than a training on how to do it ourselves.

Originally it was weak, but they have really stepped up.

Incentivized

Online training is limited in my opinion.

I do not have any key insights on the implementation so I cannot provide any valuable information here. I do know, however, that the process went well when we switched from a old platform to a new hyperconverged solution to host Quotewerks. It seemed to be a quick process and our engineer was able to do so almost seamlessly.

Incentivized

IT works great. UPgrades are handled automatically. I was not involved in setup but I know they are there when we need them

Incentivized

Both this software were similar in what they do and pricing, however, the QuoteWork software in my opinion does a better job recording and tracking communications between personnel and clients. QuoteWerks also gives a lot of data that might seem like overkill, but having too much information is better than too little.

Incentivized

We have been using Qvidian for years, when Compass was introduced in our company. Having spent over a year using Compass, I would not recommend it for writing proposals. In all fairness, that is not Compass' strength. Compass is ok for general document sharing for informational purposes. It does have a Presentation Builder function for creating PowerPoint presentations, but it is cumbersome and not very flexible. Specifically, the linkage is awkward and files may have to be re-linked when they are updated. In addition, the architecture only allows you to create a couple of levels of content. The search function is very limited. Compass is a newer project and has not fully matured.

We've implemented QuoteWerks in both micro ("one man band") businesses as well as much larger organisations. With QuoteWerks Corporate editions option to host the backend database on SQL Server (a very powerful and scaleable database platform) it's possible to work effectively with QuoteWerks in an organisation with many 100 Users. The flexibility of the product also lends itself very well to evolving with a growing business and having various individual user configurations to help them work best with the software in their individual role in the organisation.

• QuoteWerks definitely allows us to be more responsive to our clients purchasing and planning requirements.
• QuoteWerks ease of use and more structured sales quoting process makes it easier to bring new staff on-board and maintain better consistency to our sales quoting approach.

• The positive impact has been to know we have a system that can house legally-approved responses to questionnaires. The good about this is that if we have a simple RFI that does not require a lot of response customization, we can draw upon previously-approved responses and create output MUCH quicker, without the need of laborious and time-consuming legal reviews of RFIs or DDQs we produce for prospective clients. Quicker, easier output with less internal review = efficient RFI process and quicker turnaround time to respond to our client/prospective client base.
• The negative impact has only been the time it takes to orient oneself with the program, and REMAIN oriented. As we do not do RFIs on a daily basis, it is easy for us to become rusty, or to take short-cuts because we do not have time to re-train on the program. Those shortcuts and workarounds tend to cause us not to use the program to its full potential and lead to counter-productivity in some cases.