Call for Projects: Digitalisation of the pricing of proposals process

Read in Portuguese

Warning : the answer to this call for projects must be in Brazilian Portuguese

ENGIE Brazil is looking for an innovative solution for building quotes and commercial proposals. Budgets and commercial teams must have more agility in budgeting, access to more reliable information and a better relationship with customers. The solution must be capable to offer a commercial proposal consistent with the needs of the company’s leads and clients.  

The main objective of this call is to decrease the time required and the cost involved when preparing a proposal. The budgeting process combines efforts from marketing, finance, accounting, human resources, procurement and legal teams. So, the project should include the following features:

• Minimize the risk of human error with standard calculations, taxes and shipping calculations automation, completion of the technical descriptions...
• Propose standard models
• Update basic information automatically
• Be modern and innovative
• Provide a well-designed digital document, that can be sent quickly and accurately online
• Enable the input of additional details and information if required
• Reduce costs by sending the proposal online 
• Keep a digital record of the negotiations
• Develop budget proposals for different cities, considering local taxation and laws. 
• Integration with SalesForce platform.
• Parameterization of the budget being drawn up according to the client’s needs
• Function of exporting, importing, and extracting information in various formats (pdf, doc, xls, etc ...)

Earnings and Benefits for selected projects: 

The successful candidate will benefit from a collaborative development and a win-win business partnership with ENGIE with access to:

• Implementation on a wider scale and pilot project funding.
• Access to our network and contacts.
• Visibility in special events organized or sponsored by ENGIE. If applicable, ENGIE will deliberate based on the evaluation of the proposal, its merits and its value creation potential.
• Potential of ENGIE financing the development of the project (the amount and financing schedule will be defined by ENGIE, based on the proposal evaluation, its merits and its potential to create value).

Detailed Description

The main objective of this call is to decrease the time required and the cost involved when preparing a proposal. During the definition of the projections almost all areas are involved and, during this period, several revisions and versions tend to be elaborated. The budgeting process combines efforts from marketing, finance, accounting, human resources, procurement and legal teams. Therefore, all the information required must be updated constantly and available in real time.

There are several activities that are purely mechanical. They are bureaucratic tasks that consume a significant amount of time of budget analysts. These man-hours could be better used in activities that really add value to the customer. Automating this task can optimize the process and improve the allocation of budget analysts working hours.

Taxes and accounting calculations are an important part of the budgeting process and must be performed accurately. It is an activity that takes a lot of time and is highly susceptible to human error. So, adopting a software can promote a better use of time and improve precision of the process. Another benefit that automation can provide is the integration of sectors such as procurement. Costs associated with materials and tools needed for the completion of a contract can be integrated in the system and accounted in the budgets. 

The solution must be capable to offer a commercial proposal consistent with the needs of the company’s leads and clients. So, the project must:

• Minimize the risk of human error. A document with standard calculations also helps to reduce calculation errors. It should present taxes and shipping calculations automation.
• Optimize the time required to prepare the proposal through the development of a standard model.
• Update basic information automatically, such as salaries and benefits. These data can be filled in a database by the responsible department and exported without involvement of the budgeting sector.
• Modernize, present innovation and technology in all sectors and procedures. A company that cares about these aspects usually creates a favourable image with the public.
• Provide a well-designed digital document, with attractive layout and format, that can be sent quickly and accurately. The purpose of this document is to transmit to the client the idea that he is making an investment in quality.
• Provide the customer the possibility to input additional details and information if required. 
• Sending the proposal online eliminates several costly steps such as printing on paper, displacement and working hours.
• Facilitate the work of budget analysts. When the calculation process and completion of the technical description being done automatically, the amount of additional adjustments that need to be done by the salesperson decreases considerably.
• Keep a digital record. In a reality that the strategy is essential for the relationship with customers, keeping track of the negotiations is mandatory. Having a quick and organized access to submitted proposals and prices facilitates customer service and after-sales. In addition, it provides new business opportunities.
• The solution should be able to develop budget proposals for different cities, considering local taxation and laws. The technology should be developed according to our needs and should be able to be revised and generate simulations quickly and reliably.
• Besides the cost reductions with employees hours, the project is expected to reduce costs related to materials used, such as paper, folders for storing files and other office materials.

It also must have:

• Integration with SalesForce platform.
• Parameterization of the budget being drawn up according to the client’s needs.
• Function of exporting, importing, and extracting information in various formats (pdf, doc, xls, etc ...)

Eligibility and selection criteria:

The platform should be preferentially in Brazilian Portuguese.

• The answer must be submitted in Portuguese
• We prefer candidates from Brazil and South America, but we are open to all solutions that can be easily deployable in Brazil. 
• Only companies (or startups) can submit a proposal.
• Innovative nature of the proposal.
• Economic viability.
• Development potential.
• Maturity of the project / solution.
• Ability to launch the project quickly.
• Price / quality ratio.
• Time for the return over investment.
• Ease of implementation.

Selection procedure and provisionnal timetable:

• Launch of the call for projects on 06/01/2019.
• Deadline for sending the proposals : October 9, 2019
  Analysis and selection of finalists projects : October 30, 2019
• Presentation of the selected projects to the members of the selection committee for a better comprehension the selected projects, facilitating winners’ final selection : November 2019
• Winners final selection: December 2019