Cobrief plays a key role in the growth strategy of the Nordic consultancy. With Cobrief in the toolbox, Martine Løkka and Isaac Gray in Witted can participate in more tenders — while freeing up time for what really matters.
On the eve of 2024, Martine Løkka, Head of Consulting at Witted Norway, was tipped by an industry colleague about a tool that reduces the time it takes to respond to tenders.
“When I got into it a bit, I quickly realized that this is exactly what we need to grow further,” says Løkka.
Witted is accustomed to competing and winning tenders in the private market. They are going to get on with that, but on top of this they have a goal of delivering more to the public sector.
For a company with ambitions to invest in the public sector — but with a lean organisation and limited resources — Cobrief became a key factor. They needed a tool that allowed them to work against the public in a quick, easy and efficient way.
“The public sector is a new and exciting arena for us. At the same time, it can be time-consuming work. With Cobrief behind us, we have what it takes to scale smart and fast,” says Isaac Gray, Commercial Director in Norway and one of the founders of the company.
Witted was started in 2016 in Finland and is today a publicly traded IT consulting house with offices throughout the Nordic countries. The company provides a wide range of IT services through both its own employees and a large network of self-employed people and partners.
Witted stresses that they are not just a consulting broker. They follow all projects closely from A to Z. They are part of the delivery — building teams, following up and ensuring quality every step of the way.
The model has proved resilient -- even through a tough 2023, marked by major tech cuts and changes in the market.
“We have navigated a demanding landscape and succeeded with a model that is both flexible and quality-assured. Now we have a huge network of specialists: UX designers, full-stack developers, data engineers, cloud architects and cybersecurity experts, to name a few,” says Isaac Gray.
Since the introduction of Cobrief, Witted has responded to more public tenders than previously. Processes that previously could take a full day are now done in minutes.
The company is already using Cobrief on a number of tenders worth several hundred million kronor.
Martine Løkka says that delivering large tenders requires the involvement of many resources, both internally and externally. When time is tight, it is a great advantage to have a tool that supports the entire tender process and makes it easier to evaluate and write the offer.
“We have not always had the capacity to assess and respond to all relevant tenders. Cobrief makes it possible to deliver offers on tenders that we previously had to let go, simply because it would have been too time-consuming without such a tool,” says Løkka.
Even experienced market participants know that extensive competitive grounds often hide crucial conditions—sometimes misplaced by the purchaser. This can make it challenging to quickly assess and respond to the tender.
With Cobrief, Witted gets an overview in minutes. The tool captures hidden requirements, collects everything in one place and makes it easier to prioritize correctly. The result: more precise assessments, more submitted offers and higher accuracy.
See available tenders for IT consultants.
The company has also started a major investment in the toolbox — and is particularly looking at the opportunities AI provides.
They use a variety of AI tools every single day. The AI function of Cobrief thinks they work very well. The time they save by dropping repetitive tasks can be used for much more value-added work for a growing company.
“AI is not about replacing people, it's about freeing up time from repetitive tasks so that people can focus on the core work humans are best at — in dialogue with customers and in the delivery itself,” Gray says.
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Tellef Tveit
Commercial Manager at Cobrief, Tellef Tveit, has followed Witted's journey with Cobrief right from the start. He says that the goal of Cobrief is to reduce the time spent on each tender.
“That's why we're pleased that Witted - like many of our other customers - is experiencing a distinct competitive advantage by using Cobrief,” he says.
Tveit highlights in particular that Witted is good at being early on with new technologies, including Cobrief, and especially artificial intelligence.
“They are forward-thinking and quick to adopt our AI capabilities. That they receive relevant notifications and identify new business opportunities is a matter of course. The really exciting thing is how they use AI to assess and write offers -- it gives them a real competitive advantage.