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A streamlined workflow and smart AI solutions bring predictability and time savings to the tendering process.
Aethon is a leading partner in recruitment and staffing services, with a focus on healthcare and government professionals. Bid Manager, Twan Waidijk, faced a significant challenge: in a market where winning tenders is critical, he needed more control and foresight in the tendering process.
The challenge: Lack of overview and forecast
“At Aethon, many tenders came as a surprise,” Waidijk explains. “We'd receive the documents and think: we can bid on this, but this ad-hoc process is far from ideal.” The lack of predictability meant Aethon often lacked the time to prepare a strong proposal or spent excessive time on tenders that had little chance of success. Valuable information was also difficult to locate, and high-scoring tenders were hard to retrieve. “This not only wastes countless hours, but also causes a lot of frustration,” Waidijk notes.
Waidijk's goal was clear: to spend less time on time-consuming administrative tasks and focus more on the substance of tendering projects. A partner leveraging AI and innovative tools to improve efficiency seemed to be the answer.
The solution: Enhanced overview and accelerated processes with smart AI Tools
Aethon chose Altura for its proactive approach and strong focus on innovation in tendering processes. Twan explains: “With Altura, we can now stay ahead of the curve” because we know in advance which tenders are coming. This enables us to send our account managers out early to engage with clients.”
Benefits of Altura:
- Clear forecasting and early response to new tenders:
With Altura, Aethon can now anticipate upcoming tenders and respond proactively. - Efficiently managing multiple bids simultaneously:
Thanks to Altura's intuitive project management tools, the Aethon team can easily manage multiple tender processes simultaneously. This helps monitor deadlines, assign tasks, and collaborate efficiently without losing information. The team can maintain offer quality as every process is tracked in our centralized system. - Smart AI solutions:
Tools like “Document Chat” and “Proposal Search” make Altura particularly valuable. Twan describes: “The AI features at Altura are cutting edge. Document Chat and the content library Proposal Search are incredibly distinctive and save us a huge amount of time—about half a workday per week.”
“Altura's AI tools help me save half a workday per week.”
Implementation: A flying start
Altura ensured a seamless implementation process to give Aethon a strong start. All proposals were sent to the Customer Success team, and within two days, the platform was ready to use.
Finding the right search settings was crucial for Aethon. Twan explains: “We initially struggled to get the results we needed. Thanks to Altura's support team, we now have this perfectly set up.” With a carefully configured search profile, tenders are automatically filtered for relevance, resulting in significant efficiency gains.
Results: A centralized and predictive process
By leveraging Altura's innovative tools, Aethon has made significant strides in efficiency and structure within the tendering process.
1. Proposal Search: Efficiency and time savings
An important feature of Altura's platform is the Proposal Search. This allows Aethon to retrieve previous, successful proposals that are similar to new tenders. Twan explains: “You can easily retrieve proposals that scored highly. It sometimes saves us days of searching because you type in a search term, and the relevant proposal pops up immediately, compared to our old process in SharePoint.”
Twan is also no longer dependent on his manager to ask which old tenders are relevant. Now, you can find them directly through their content library. This not only means significant time savings but also enables Aethon to maintain consistency in their proposals and leverage previously proven successful information. “It prevents us from having to start over every time. For example, do we have an implementation plan that scored a 10? Then we can easily retrieve it,” says Twan.
“The platform not only helps us save time but also allows us to shift our focus to what truly matters.”
2. Document Chat: All facts in order
The Document Chat is another tool highly valued at Aethon. This chat function allows you to interact with tender documents, making it easy to quickly find relevant facts about a client or tender by asking a simple question. “Altura helps us immediately determine whether we meet the reference requirements, so we know right away if we can participate,” Waidijk explains.
This not only saves the team time but also ensures they work efficiently and focus their energy solely on promising opportunities.
3. Bid/No-Bid qualification tool: Objective decisions
In the past, Aethon often participated in tenders without a strong chance of success. The time invested in these could have been better spent on more promising opportunities. Altura's qualification tool, combined with Aethon's custom Bid/No-Bid questionnaire, provides the solution. “We are no longer shooting in the dark. With this tool, we input data and get a percentage that indicates our chances of winning,” says Twan.
The tool prevents unnecessary waste of time and resources. With a clear and objective score, Aethon can make informed decisions not to participate in tenders where the likelihood of success is low. “And sometimes, well, I don't agree because Altura clearly shows the score, and sales still wants to go ahead— that's part of the job,” Twan laughs.
Enhanced efficiency and market insights
The implementation of Altura has delivered clear results for Aethon:
- Half a workday saved weekly on retrieving and reusing relevant documents
- Faster tender processing with AI-driven search functions
- Objective decisions with the Bid/No-Bid matrix
- Predictive capabilities for a proactive tendering approach
- Always up to date by smartly leveraging the document vault, which provides alerts when documents are outdated or need renewal
Waidijk emphasizes how valuable it is that Altura helps automate these manual tasks, allowing the team to focus on the core aspects of their work.
Waidijk's vision for the future is clear: he hopes administrative tasks will be further automated so he and his team can concentrate even more on the substantive aspects of their work. He highlights that Altura's AI solutions are already far ahead and looks forward to further developments that can streamline the process even more.
“Altura is truly a leader in innovation, especially with their AI-based solutions.”
Finally focusing on what truly matters
By transitioning to Altura, Aethon now operates more efficiently and strategically, with improved predictability in tendering processes. With Altura's AI tools and information management, Aethon has the time and resources to improve the quality of their bids and proactively respond to upcoming opportunities.
“Altura is forward-thinking and saves us a lot of time.”
Waidijk concludes. Thanks to this support, Aethon can now fully focus on what truly matters: winning tenders that align with their expertise and client needs.
