Tendersinfo Bidding Consultancy And Facilitation Services Information Technology Essay

TendersInfo has a very robust customer-centric business models. It is continuously innovating in terms of products and services and has a spectrum of highly differentiated services which competitors are not offering as yet. It has an established set of loyal customers which is evident from the many testimonials on TI’s website. It also has experienced employees who add value to clients due to their vast expertise in the public procurement domain. Hence one can only foresee TendersInfo at least continuing to hold its market share if not growing, in the near future. 13

My personal experience with TendersInfo 13

Appendix 1 15

References 16

Introduction

For the purpose of business model analysis I have selected TendersInfo.com. TendersInfo.com is a public procurement portal and operates across many countries. It is B2B website and offers a wide spectrum of services. They are pioneers in this field and are one of the first procurement websites to have end-to-end services. There are many procurement website on the internet, which operate on various interesting business models, but I have selected tendersinfo.com because of the uniqueness of its operations.

During my five month long Technical Internship Program with KPMG, I was heavily involved in Business Development activities and worked extensively with tendersinfo.com. I even got the opportunity to interact with a TendersInfo manager. tendersinfo.com’s primary focus is customer satisfaction and to this effect and they have regular follow-ups with all their customers.

TendersInfo is currently one of the world’s largest public procurement websites. It is a Business to Business portal. It publishes tenders of companies that require certain goods and services and acts as the intermediary and helps prospective bidders to identify and respond to these opportunities. It boasts a comprehensive and extensive database of international tenders, requests for Proposals, requests for information, request for quotations, contract awards, bids and a list of upcoming projects and procurement plans.

Currently TendersInfo has 10,000+ subscribers, globally.

Organization

TendersInfo is owned by Euclid InfoTech Pvt. Limited. Mr. Sanjay Vyas, Director, Euclid (Tendersinfo.com) was one of the founder members of this organization. Mr. Rakesh Verma, Vice-President (International Projects) Euclid is the second-in-command of the entire operation.

Euclid which has its headquarters in Kandivali, Mumbai was founded in 2000. Its operations are spread across 60 countries and it has developed a strong associate network in these countries. They have a team of more than 300 research analysts who help in delivering value to the customer by obtaining quality business information. EIPL (Tendersinfo.com) is a pioneer in the field of providing Tenders and Contracts Information and Bidding Consultancy in the public procurement domain. EIPL employees also participate and organize many conferences across the globe to help educate bidders about opportunities, agencies, procurement etc.

Intriguingly TendersInfo had its humble origins in a 1 BHK flat in Kandivali, which was Mr. Sanjay Vyas’ office during the day and his residence in the night. They started with less than 10 employees and now have a network of more than. They started with publishing 20 tenders a day and currently publish about 5000 a day. They have also introduced a whole array of consultancy services.

Services1

Apart from being a one-stop-shop for procurement opportunities Euclid has also developed a large knowledge base. With the help of this base and their extensive network, Euclid is in a great position to provide end-to-end services as far as public procurement is concerned. Euclid offers its clients bid consultation services which range from opportunity identification; focused research, pre bid and post bid activities, document procurement, to payments, communication, and bid process management.

The following are the services that TendersInfo provides to subscribers:

1) TendersInfo Biz Opportunities

TendersInfo has an extensive database of opportunities with 5000 new opportunities being added everyday. Its simple and intuitive search allows companies access to over 20,000 live opportunities encompassing requirements from 230 countries and all Industry segments.

2) TendersInfo Projects, Procurement News & Contract Awards

TendersInfo provide companies prior information on upcoming projects, procurements and contract awards

3) TendersInfo Bidding Consultancy & Facilitation Services

TendersInfo membership allows companies access to services such as:

Procurement of Tender Document

Timely Submission of Bid Response

Clarifications from the Purchaser

Providing Market Intelligence

Information on local Taxes and Duties

Translation of Documents

Help in Bid Bond [Bank Guarantee]

Attending Bid Opening

Tie Up with Local Partner for Project Execution

4) TendersInfo Research Archives

As members companies can access extensive Research Archives which have been created over several years by TendersInfo research analysts

5) TendersInfo Key Account Manager Services

KAM’s are assigned to all members to assist them in any way possible.

6) Local Agent Services

7) Tender Document Procurement

Market and Competitors

EIPL were the first company in the market who dared to make bidding consultancy services a paid service when the competition was distributing these services for free, but due to the efficacy of their operations, the concept clicked and now the estimated value of the website alone is $ 154,402 This is based on an advertisement driven business model combined with their estimated traffic (1,021,140 page views per month) which is estimated to turn into a revenue of $ 6,416 a month2

EIPL were the pioneers in this field, but over the years several serious competitors have entered the market. Being an e-business EIPL had to compete not only with other local firms but it also had to lock horns with major international players. In spite of such intense segment rivalry, EIPL has managed to hold its own in this segment and has captured a significant market share. What gives EIPL an edge over its competitors is its partnerships with various firms, which ensures that their database is comprehensive, its unique customer care- all clients are assigned an account manager who caters to their customized needs, and its bid consulting services.

Following are few of TenderInfo’s main competitors:

www.tendertiger.com

Tendertiger.com is a recent entry in the public procurement market. It has managed to capture a sizeable market share in the Indian market. It is not active in the global tenders market.4

www.globaltenders.com

Globaltenders was set up in 2002 and publishes international tenders, but it is just an infomediary and does not provide bid consultancy services.

www.tendernews.com

It is an Indian company which maintains a database of international tenders. Its network is not as strong as TendersInfo and it does not provide consultancy services

www.dgmarket.com3

dgMarket(Development Gateway Market) is an electronic marketplace for government procurement information such as tender notices, contract awards, and bidding documents. It deals only with Government tenders, whereas TendersInfo deals all public procurement related tenders. dgMarket has an advantage in that it has a tie up with the World Bank. All World Bank funded projects above a certain value have to follow public procedures and have to list their tenders on dgMarket.com. dgMarket does not provide bid consultancy services. I worked extensively with dgMarket.com during my internship with KPMG.

www.devex.com

DevEx(Development Exchange) provides a variety of services. Public procurement listings are just one of them. It is the largest provider of business intelligence and recruitment services to the development community. It acts as an infomediary by providing tender information to prospective bidders. It also offers job recruitment services.

Despite the presence of all these players in the market, TendersInfo continues to hold a sizeable market share and is still growing rapidly. This is because unlike most other B2B public procurement website TendersInfo is more that just an email alert service. TendersInfo provides consultancy services and can become an integral part of a company’s bidding team that does all the groundwork when the company bids for Public Sector Projects.

TendersInfo follows Porter’s third game plan of focus with quality. Although the services of most of its competitors cost 20-50% lesser, most cannot match the quality and range of services provided by TendersInfo. It has created a niche market for itself in the bidding consultancy services segment and completely monopolizes this service segment.

A few services that are provided exclusively by TendersInfo and are not provided by any other B2B public procurement portal are as follows:

Key Account Manager (KAM)

For every client, TendersInfo assigns a Key Account Manager (KAM) who assists the client at each and every stage of the bidding process, right from research, opportunity identification, procurement of documents etc. to bid submission. These KAM’s are vastly experienced in the public procurement domain. The KAM also liaises with the client on behalf of the company.

Exhaustive information provided to companies

TendersInfo provides exhaustive information to companies about tenders and projects. KAM’s will provide key information such as Schedule of Requirements, Scope of Work, Bill of Materials and even a Draft Copy of the tender document before the tender documents have even been purchase so that companies have enough information to pick and choose the engagements they want to take up. The KAM will also seek any requisite clarifications from the client

Tender Document Procurement

This service offered by TendersInfo is what sets it apart from most competitors. Procuring the tender document is often a very difficult task especially for foreign tenders. TendersInfo provides companies the exclusive service of buying the tender documents on the company’s behalf from countries where it has its associates. Furthermore this service is provided on actual charge without any extra service fee.

Access to their Global Agent Network

TendersInfo has established a strong agent network across over 50 countries. KAM’s also help in identifying appropriate bidding partners in these countries.

TendersInfo’s Consulting Services

TendersInfo’s consulting services enables companies to identify and bid for relevant tenders around the world

Updates on projects and tenders through daily mails

TendersInfo sends companies tenders that might be of interest to them based on keyword searches. Daily mail updates are sent to keep companies informed on corrigendum to the original tender and also to provide any additional information that is garnered by TendersInfo after the tender has been posted on the website.

TendersInfo Discussion Forum

One of TendersInfo’s most unique offerings is the Discussion Forum – the place where companies can share experiences, insights and information and seek help from other individuals who are active in the public procurement domain. Companies can also invite quotations for their requirements, find vendors or subcontractors, post their need for local partners or agents in a foreign country or find the right consultant.

Thus, TendersInfo does not stop at the preliminary stage where you are provided with tender information, but you are walked through the entire bidding process, and provided assistance at every stage.

Business and Revenue Model

Prima facie, TendersInfo might seem like just an infomediary, although it is much more than a site that just a website that gathers and organizes large amounts of data and acts as an intermediary between those who want the information and those who supply the information. It provides a wide spectrum of consulting services.

TendersInfo does not follow the advertisement revenue model. Only a very small portion of the revenue is generated via advertisements. Hence visitors to the website are not bombarded by advertisements.

The revenue is generated via subscriptions. Currently TendersInfo has over 10,000 subscribers.

The membership fee for subscriptions is as follows1

Membership Options

1 Year

Indian Public Procurement Digest

(Single User License)

INR 12,000 + Service Tax

TI Tenders Digest

(Single User License)

INR 35,000 + Service Tax

TI Public Procurement Digest

(Single User License)

INR 55,000 + Service Tax

(Service Tax @ 10.30%)

TendersInfo offers also free trials during which period companies can utilize all the available services

TendersInfo also charges a nominal fee for the following

procurement of tender documents

submission of bid documents

attending bid opening

customized research for companies

They also have various promotions. The current promotion is as follows: ‘Subscribe to TendersInfo services and get an Economist subscription or a USD 100 gift voucher.’

Customer Value Proposition

TendersInfo adds tremendous value to the customer. If used on a regular basis by the company the Return on Investment (ROI) for the customer can be massive. For example at KPMG, contract values can vary from anywhere between a few lakhs to a few crores, hence even a single successful bid can help a company recover its initial investment. TendersInfo also provides services which may not be possible for the company to perform themselves such as procurement of tender documents from foreign countries etc. Key Account Managers ensure that companies get their money’s worth by constantly sending procurement related updates to the company.

Backend and Statistics

Worldwide Rank5

59,817

Monthly Users*

95,433

(3,138 per day*)

Monthly Page views*

954,323

(31,375 per day*)

www.tendersinfo.com is ranked on position 44,462 within com and has 55 back links according to Alexa. The Site was launched at Wednesday, 17 November 1999 and is 10 years and 9 months old. The hostname or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) www.tendersinfo.com consists of the label www within the domain name tendersinfo.com. The domain is registered under the domain suffix com and is named tendersinfo. The www.tendersinfo.com Server is powered by Apache/2.2.11 (Unix) PHP/5.2.9 web server software and is located in India (Maharashtra). The median load time is 1848 milliseconds which is faster than 44% of the other websites.

Trustworthiness, vendor reliability and privacy of this site are good. It is not listed in any blacklists.

Organic competitors

Domain

Common Keywords

globaltenders.com

tendernews.com

dgmarket.com

indiamart.com

tenderszeal.com

tendertiger.com

tradereader.com

tenders.gov.in

cwctenders.com

Conclusion and Findings

TendersInfo has a very robust customer-centric business models. It is continuously innovating in terms of products and services and has a spectrum of highly differentiated services which competitors are not offering as yet. It has an established set of loyal customers which is evident from the many testimonials on TI’s website. It also has experienced employees who add value to clients due to their vast expertise in the public procurement domain. Hence one can only foresee TendersInfo at least continuing to hold its market share if not growing, in the near future.

My personal experience with TendersInfo

During my internship with KPMG I used TI extensively. KPMG applied for a month long trial subscription. I found that

Their customer care executives are extremely professional. The Key Account Manager provided valuable information regarding tenders that were of interest to KPMG

The User Interface is simple and intuitive with a click and search kind of interface.(Appendix 1)

There are also advanced search options like search by organization, estimated cost, place, tenders closing after certain date etc which help narrow down searches.

They have an excellent and exhaustive database of opportunities. All opportunities that were identified on other websites were available but the opposite did not hold true.

KPMG identified and acted on eight relevant opportunities during the trial period and is considering buying a subscription

Appendix 1 Screenshot of the User Interface

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