– We were paying over 100,000 a year for a tender service we didn't understand

Why Randstad switched to Cobrief

Randstad handled around 150 tenders last year with a small team of three people. Now they've switched tools and gained better control -- over time, costs, and which tenders to submit on.

Randstad has a shared tender team that writes proposals across the group: recruitment, staffing, healthcare services, and digital consulting services.

-- The old system was extremely costly, says Kyrre Engelund, Strategic Sales and Bid Manager at Randstad Digital.

He had spent far too much time trying to understand what they were actually paying for.

-- The invoice was unnecessarily complex, with little transparency around costs. There were also challenges related to terminating the agreement.

Cobrief provides a score and a clear go/no-go

Before switching, Randstad used their own analysis to assess whether they should submit on a tender. The process was thorough, but it consumed a lot of time. The old system resulted in them responding to too many tenders.

-- We probably went after too many, says Engelund.

With Cobrief's own assessment system, that has changed.

-- Cobrief gives us a better basis for go/no-go decisions. It means we use our time more effectively.

Experts are deployed where they create the most value

Much of the specialist expertise at Randstad is deployed at client sites or has other areas of responsibility beyond tenders. This made the experts bottlenecks in the tender process.

-- I no longer need specialist expertise to start a tender. I get a structured first draft directly in Cobrief. The experts come in where they add the most value, not to start from scratch.

A wish for the contracting authorities

He has a wish for those who design tenders:

-- We encourage tenders that facilitate broad competition. More open tenders provide a better basis for decision-making and stronger proposals.

For Randstad, the switch to Cobrief is primarily about delivering better proposals.

-- We've gone from a non-transparent solution to a structure that makes sense. We spend less time, make better choices about which tenders to respond to, and the quality of our proposals goes up. That's the core of the value we get from Cobrief.