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From renovations to new builds and from civil engineering to restorations – Salverda Bouw handles around forty tenders each year. But for a long time, the process wasn’t running smoothly. “We lost a lot of time digging through piles of documents, just hoping we hadn’t missed anything,” says tender coordinator William Bakker. And although he was initially sceptical, he turned things around with the help of AI. In this interview, he shares how.
What did the tender process look like at Salverda Bouw? William explains: “It was intense. The biggest challenge was making sense of the documents. What exactly was being asked, and where should we focus? We’d receive large sets of tender documents and had to figure out for ourselves what was relevant and what wasn’t.
Then we had to track down the right knowledge from different colleagues. One would know the answer to one question, someone else to another – and we had to piece it all together. That meant a huge amount of work for many tenders. And when a new colleague joined, all that knowledge had to be transferred again.”
William felt there had to be an easier way. But all that modern technology? He wasn’t entirely convinced. “In the construction industry, craftsmanship and experience still take centre stage. As a result, technology tends to take a back seat. And all those modern tools – I’m not always the biggest fan. I’m naturally a bit hesitant when it comes to AI and digitisation. I prefer to stick to what we know and focus on what we’re good at.”
So when the Schagen Group – Salverda Bouw’s parent company – started discussions with Brainial about using AI in the tender process, William remained sceptical. “I just don’t have that much faith in technology. It felt like yet another system we’d have to learn how to use.”
But after seeing a demo of Brainial, he quickly changed his mind. “The benefits for Salverda Bouw were undeniable – even I couldn’t ignore them. What normally takes four hours during the screening phase, now takes just one. You upload the documents into Brainial, and within 15 minutes, you’ve already grasped the key points. That gives us time back – which we now spend refining our plans and sharpening our arguments. That’s the biggest advantage of Brainial, if you ask me.”
These days, Salverda Bouw uses Brainial to screen incoming requests, draft project plans with the Proposal Writer, and search complex documentation using the Tender Chat.
“It’s a tool that helps make your work easier and more enjoyable. It doesn’t work miracles, but it does allow you to focus on the areas where your expertise really adds value – instead of getting bogged down in documents. My advice to other sceptics? Just get started. You’ll soon see that it really does pay off,” he says.
Even the onboarding process went better than William expected. “You just need to know where to find the features, but the Brainial team walked us through everything. They supported us really well and were always available whenever we had questions.”
And his advice for other AI sceptics? “It’s about using technology to support your craftsmanship – not replace it. And that’s exactly what Brainial does.”
Curious how AI could improve your tender process? Book a demo now and see how Brainial can support your team.
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