"In today’s competitive environment, how you respond is as important as what you offer. With Responsive AI, we’ve empowered our teams to move faster, answer smarter, and show up stronger in every deal. It’s not just about efficiency — it’s about winning with confidence and consistency."
Krisi Hutson
Senior Director of Sales Enablement at Availity
The gist
Availity® streamlined its Request for Proposal (RFP) process for clients using Responsive AI, driving an 88% advancement in proposal responses and vendor security questions (VSQs).
The rundown
Availity’s response challenge
As a trusted partner to both healthcare providers and payers, Availity operates in a highly regulated environment where data security and compliance are baseline expectations. As healthcare organizations place greater emphasis on selecting secure, compliant vendors, the volume and complexity of RFPs increased along with detailed security questionnaires like the Standardized Information Gathering (SIG) format.
Availity’s internal teams were ready to meet the challenge, but growing demand stretched resources. The IT team was frequently pulled in to support deep technical responses, creating bottlenecks that risked delays. An outdated knowledge base made it difficult to quickly surface consistent, accurate answers across proposals and questionnaires. Meanwhile, the existing RFP software couldn’t scale to support a faster, more complex sales process.
Impact and results
- 88% of Availity’s RFP and RFI submissions advance to the next stage of the sales cycle
- 50% of all Availity’s RFPs, RFIs, and VSQs are now completed automatically using Responsive AI
- Significant reduction in turnaround time: VSQs now completed within hours instead of weeks
- 100% on-time submission rate, even amid surging request volume
Preparing for AI to handle incoming information requests
To keep pace with a growing volume of complex RFPs and VSQs, the Availity Growth Team set out to transform its Sales Enablement and Proposals Group using AI. By implementing Responsive AI and hiring an experienced leader with a strong background in Strategic Response Management (SRM), Availity created a centralized, scalable process that could respond efficiently to all incoming information requests — without sacrificing accuracy or quality.
Partnering with Responsive’s Professional Services team, Availity took strategic steps to optimize its Content Library for AI-readiness. The team — made up of Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP)-certified experts — cut the knowledge base in half, removing outdated or redundant content that had previously hindered intelligent search searches. To ensure long-term success, they introduced a structured content governance framework with regular subject matter expert reviews and best practices for organizing content, including:
- Tagging: Unlimited, flexible tags to visually group and identify content.
- Hierarchical Tagging: A folder-like structure for teams preferring formal organization.
- Collections: Permission-based content groupings tailored to specific teams.
- Topics: Streamlined categorization and classification to enhance AI-driven search and response generation.
"Responsive AI has completely transformed the way we manage RFPs and security questionnaires. We’ve built a system that scales with demand, delivers on time, and enables our team to focus on strategic responses that differentiate us in the market."
Tiffany Ramos
Strategic Response Manager at Availity
Accelerating sales and removing IT bottlenecks
With Responsive AI at the core of its SRM process, Availity has dramatically improved efficiency, consistency, and speed across all sales response workflows. The AI now auto-generates up to 50% of content for RFPs, RFIs, and VSQs, allowing the team to focus on high-value customization and final review.
As a result, 88% of submissions powered by Responsive AI advance to the next stage of the sales cycle, demonstrating the platform’s effectiveness. With IT no longer bogged down by extensive VSQs, turnaround times have reduced from weeks to just hours, ensuring submission deadlines are more consistently met.
In an era where security is paramount in healthcare purchasing decisions, Availity’s success illustrates the transformative power of combining AI with expert human oversight. Responsive AI not only scales knowledge-sharing and improves compliance but also positions organizations like Availity at the forefront of efficiency, security, and growth.
About Availity
Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation’s largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation.
