From weeks to hours: – Tendering is no longer a time drain

– We are everywhere, without anyone really knowing it. The customer should be the one to shine, not us, says CEO of Eurosign, Marius Barhaugen.

He proudly shows off the showroom at the headquarters outside Oslo. Signs of all sizes, colours, and shapes for Telenor, Synsam, Apotek 1, and Narvesen, among many others.

The iconic Freia sign on Karl Johan. Signs in parks and similar spaces, by and for Oslo municipality. All produced, distributed, and installed by Eurosign.

Eurosign is at the forefront of adopting new technological solutions to work better and smarter, but when it comes to the signs themselves, much remains the same.

– We use technology to streamline and free up time – but not at the expense of the signs themselves. They are and will remain a manual craft. This is not where we should be cutting corners – quite the opposite.

– We want to use the time we free up to put even more care and quality into every sign. The signs are our core product, and they must meet the highest standards, says Barhaugen. Photo: Eurosign

Public tendering hasn't kept up with the times

Eurosign is the largest player in Scandinavia within signage. The group, which has an annual turnover of around 200 million NOK in Norway and Sweden, has over 50 employees.

When Barhaugen took over as CEO in January 2025, he brought broad leadership experience from industry, private equity, and family-owned companies.

He is well acquainted with tendering – it has been a recurring theme throughout his entire career.

– Even though a lot else has changed, public tendering is still the way it has always been. Same requirements, same documents, and often a fair amount of subjectivity in the award criteria. The public sector quite simply has significant room for improvement, says Barhaugen.

He points particularly to how requirements for "unit prices" on complex products force suppliers to price in risk – which in practice makes the final bill higher for municipalities.

– If they had used more specific, targeted tenders to a greater extent, they could have achieved both better quality and lower prices. Many in the public sector should have greater insight into how things actually work on the supplier side, he says.

Eurosign delivers a lot of signage to the public sector. Both national and municipal governments need signs in public spaces, including parks, kindergartens, schools, swimming pools, to name a few.

From weeks of work – to hours

But one thing has changed: the time it takes to deliver a tender. Where Eurosign previously spent weeks on a single application, it can now take days – or just hours. The reason? Cobrief.

Barhaugen has been using the tool since the beginning of 2025.

– Public tendering is and remains very much the same, but now you can actually get it done in a fast and efficient way, says Barhaugen.

Instead of hiring a dedicated bid manager, he and the team handle the work themselves. He believes it is entirely feasible.

– I'm in Cobrief several times a week, and I do a lot of the work myself together with others. It's so efficient that we save both time and a full-time position. That alone means savings of well over one million NOK per year, all costs included, he says.

– I was quickly convinced. Cobrief gives you an overview of new tenders, analyses the documents, and extracts the most important information, says Barhaugen.

– Tendering doesn't have to be a time drain

Barhaugen particularly highlights the brief feature, which extracts the key points from extensive tender documentation, so you don't have to read hundreds of pages.

– You quickly see what matters and how you should respond. It makes the process more targeted and far less time-consuming. It provides both better workflow and better quality in our deliveries. When the quality is high, we increase our chances of winning.

Cobrief is used today to handle both public and private tenders – and is an integrated part of Eurosign's strategy for working smarter.

– The tool makes it easier to understand the requirements and assess whether we should actually participate. It also gives us flexibility – and the freedom to prioritise our resources more wisely, says Barhaugen.

He is clear on one thing: Technology should not be decorative – it should be solution-oriented and provide real advantages. Eurosign aims to be among the industry leaders in efficiency and technology.

– Tendering is no longer a time drain. It should be a competitive advantage. And it will be, if you have the right tools, says Marius Barhaugen.