AI response management lifts revenue, says Responsive

Responsive has published its 2026 State of Strategic Response Management report, which found a gap between companies testing artificial intelligence in response workflows and those turning it into revenue gains.

Produced with the Association of Proposal Management Professionals, the study drew on responses from more than 1,100 decision-makers and practitioners across industries and regions. Half of those surveyed worked in revenue or executive leadership roles.

Its central finding was that artificial intelligence is delivering measurable returns for a growing share of companies involved in bids, assessments and business questionnaires, including requests for proposals, security questionnaires and due diligence requests. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they achieved a positive return on investment from AI in strategic response management within the first year, up from fewer than half a year earlier.

The data points to a gap between adoption and execution. The report introduced an SRM Maturity Index, ranking organisations on how they capture, govern and use institutional knowledge in response processes across the revenue cycle.

Companies in the top 20% of that index, described as SRM Leaders, were more likely to report stronger commercial outcomes than less mature peers. Among those leading organisations, 73% reported higher growth from strategic responses, compared with 60% of less mature organisations.

These more advanced groups were also more likely to report faster sales cycles, using AI in a broader, more embedded way rather than as a limited drafting tool.

Maturity gap

The survey found that 81% of SRM Leaders use AI for strategic response management, compared with 60% of less mature organisations. Six in 10 leaders also reported that most or all of their AI tools were delivering a positive return on investment.

Use cases extended beyond drafting answers to questionnaires. More mature organisations were 16% more likely than novices to use AI for go or no-go decisions and to analyse win-loss data for patterns and insights.

The findings also linked centralised knowledge systems to sales speed and efficiency. Among SRM Leaders, 83% reported higher sales velocity and 88% reported efficiency gains when knowledge was centralised through self-service hubs, while novices saw virtually no uplift.

Employee sentiment was another point of difference. The study found that 83% of leaders reported stronger employee satisfaction, compared with 53% of less mature organisations.

That suggests the companies making the strongest gains are not only adding software but changing how teams work with data, training and internal knowledge. The report found that 43% of leaders were investing across technology, people and training as connected parts of a single operating model.

Revenue focus

The findings come as companies face pressure to show practical returns on artificial intelligence spending. In this area, the question appears to have shifted from whether teams are trying AI to whether they are applying it consistently in day-to-day revenue workflows.

Responsive defines strategic response management as handling information exchanges tied to sales, risk and supplier evaluation processes. That includes RFPs, RFIs, due diligence questionnaires, ESG requests, security reviews and other ad hoc requests that often require input from multiple teams.

For suppliers, these exchanges can influence whether a sale progresses, how quickly it moves and how much internal effort is required to complete it. Faster, more accurate responses can therefore directly affect conversion, sales cycle length and the burden on sales, legal, security and product teams.

The report also linked these operational issues to buyer expectations, noting that purchasing teams increasingly expect quicker, more tailored and more accurate responses during procurement and vendor assessment processes.

Ganesh Shankar, Chief Executive Officer of Responsive, said the companies seeing the biggest impact are those embedding artificial intelligence into decision-making as well as content generation.

"The market has shifted from AI curiosity to AI accountability. The organizations pulling ahead aren't just using AI to draft responses-they're operationalizing it across the business to shape the decisions that drive wins, from which deals to pursue to why they win or lose. That's what's fueling outsized growth and meaningful revenue impact," said Shankar.

The report's framework is intended to help organisations assess how well they manage institutional knowledge and integrate AI into response workflows. The data suggests the strongest results are concentrated among companies that treat knowledge management, process design and staff development as part of the same effort rather than as separate projects.

Across all respondents, the divide between early experimentation and mature use appeared in both revenue outcomes and employee experience, with leaders reporting stronger growth from strategic responses, broader returns on AI investment and higher levels of staff satisfaction.