RFP Best Practice: The Key to Finding the Right IP Sequence Search Solution

When looking for an IP sequence search solution, one size definitely does not fit all. Each and every business or organisation has its own unique set of requirements and challenges, and what works for one, definitely won’t work for all. Making an investment in an IP sequence search solution needs careful planning because making the right choice of solution is crucial.

You know you need to cover all the relevant data, ensuring you search the data in the right way, and that you handle the results efficiently and effectively. Additionally, you want to keep it confidential. Failure to find a solution that can do all this can negatively impact results and conclusions, leading to flawed business decisions.

Faster, More Efficient, Comprehensive Searching

Ultimately, you want to achieve comprehensive, faster, more efficient IP sequence searching, with an exhaustive and up-to-date database, the right algorithms and parameters for the job, and an efficient way to refine a list of search results into precise answers to your questions. Making the right decisions early on in the process can stand you in good stead for what’s still to come, ensuring your first investment is your only investment.

By the time you’re ready to take an in-depth look at just what the different solutions can offer, you’ve most probably already assessed your organisation’s needs and goals, and shopped around to understand what offerings are available. The next step is the most important: how well each of these systems best fits your requirements.

Avoiding Information Overload

Of paramount importance is defining what exactly you need to know from each provider to ensure you make the right decision. Of course, collating as much information as possible about each provider would be great, but, in reality, who has the time or the resource available to wade through reams of information, pulling out what’s relevant to your particular organisation, only to require yet more information to further refine the list of potential solutions?

The option is there to hire a consultant to take care of the shortlisting process. Of course, this represents extra expense and you’re not guaranteed that the consultant will get to grips fully with your unique organisational needs to pinpoint exactly what it is you require from an IP sequence search solution.

Devising a robust request for proposal (RFP) greatly assists with the selection process. Not only will this detail exactly what information you need from a solution provider, but will ensure you’re working from a level-playing field when it comes to evaluating the merits of each solution.

An RFP Template Expedites Decision-Making

However, creating an RFP can be both time-consuming and challenging. First you need to carry out an in-depth, detailed assessment of all your organisational needs, followed by an even more detailed evaluation of all the solutions available. To help with this, more organisations are taking a templated approach to the RFP stage, drawing on the experience and expertise of industry specialists to formulate a best-practice RFP, specific to the needs of their unique organisation.

Here at Aptean, we recognise how complex and daunting the entire RFP process can be and have pulled together a comprehensive RFP template which you can use as a checklist to better understand what each solution provides. Having partnered with almost all the large pharma, biotech, and agriculture companies to roll out IP sequence search solutions to their organisations, we know what the important considerations are when you’re sizing up your candidates. For example, the template we’ve put together will enable you to assess exactly what each of your shortlisted solutions provide in terms of:

• Security, access, and data protection

• Business model and support

• Sequence content

• Sequence comparison

• Search result analysis

• Reporting and sharing

• Full-text searching

With the right template, you’ll be able to get the precise information you need to assess how a particular solution will meet the requirements that are specific and often unique to your business. And, by using this template with every supplier, you can form a clear picture of your options, and are able to directly compare solutions, like-for-like, determining exactly how they stack up against each other to fully inform your decision-making.

For more information on how our RFP template can help your decision-making process when it comes to choosing the perfect IP sequence search solution to meet your specific needs, contact us today.