The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here!

In this weekly series, we’re going in-depth on the reasons you should take RFPs seriously in 2021. Last week, we were talking about your company knowledge. Today’s blog and the final post in our Five Reasons mini-series is all about the 4th Industrial revolution!

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here, RFPs and questionnaire answering can now be automated using AI

Did you know that in 2018 the NHS was banned from buying any more fax machines after it was discovered that over 9000 were still in use across the UK? We’re not naming names but how many times have you heard someone question cloud security whilst still happily writing down their passwords on post-it notes?

It’s hard to believe but old habits really do die hard

The first industrial revolution brought us the Steam Engine. The second brought us the rapid standardization of technology. The third came with the invention of the semiconductor, mainframe computers & the internet. The Fourth Industrial Revolution builds on the rise of information technology and automation. It includes new technologies like AI, quantum computing, 5G, blockchain, robotics, IoT and genetic engineering and it’s happening right now. 

So why are some industries and businesses resistant to the adoption of new technologies? Obviously, the larger the operation the more disruptive the change can be. But at ground level, it comes down to trust and you trust what works. The systems you have in place might be full of workarounds, many of which were designed to fix, not cause problems. But the world won’t wait for long and neither will your competition. 

‘Life is what happens to you whilst you’re busy making other plans’

John Lennon

RFP automation may be relatively new but it’s fast becoming standard practice. We’re already looking at ways to automatically answer RFPs not just correctly but creatively too. 

So why would you answer an RFP manually or even use technology built in the early 2000s? AI has evolved to the point by which you can now teach a computer what the best answer is to an RFP question even if the question doesn’t use the same phraseology.

If you’re going to get serious about RFPs then you can no longer afford to answer your RFPs and other questionnaires manually. 

Of course, there is always an overlap between revolutions. Fax-machines persist today in the face of blockchain but running the risk of being left behind is not only costly, it could also damage your competitive edge.

If you don’t use modern AI technology to scale your expert response to the tsunami of RFPs, it might just overwhelm your business.

That’s the end of our weekly Five Reasons weekly mini-series. We hope you’ve enjoyed it! If you started here why not go back and take a look at the rest kicking off with; Number One ‘The High Impact of RFPs on your Subject Matter Experts’ Time’