Navigating a Proposal Tool Migration: Research, Selection and Key Recommendations

In 2025, we recognized the need to migrate our proposal tools as a strategic marketing initiative for our firm. At Whitley Penn, a nearly 1,000-person, nine-office firm in Texas and New Mexico, we produce over 500 proactive proposals, pitch decks, requests for proposals and requests for qualifications in a year’s time across Audit, Tax and Advisory. With varying needs of the firm, from simple prospect overviews to complex Public Sector and Risk Advisory responses, we needed a nimbler tool that would allow us to scale, respond, and produce high-quality, high-design products that matched the size and exposure of a top 40 firm.

If you are looking for advice on either a new platform or how to approach facilitating a migration or implementation project of this magnitude in 2026, we wanted to share our approach in the hope of helping to save you some time and heartache.

Defining the Challenge & Criteria

Our existing tool, Loopio, excelled at RFP responses due to its comprehensive library tool, but it lacked flexibility for us to visualize our end-product, making high-design, nimble proactive proposals a challenge with a steep learning curve. We decided as a team that we needed a platform that could:

• Enable nimble design and template flexibility.
• Integrate with HubSpot.
• Provide robust analytics and metrics.
• Support virtual proposal delivery.
• Scale for 70% proactive proposals annually, while staying viable for RFX work.
• Offer a comprehensive content library.
• Provide an interactive UI/UX that would reduce training challenges.

The Evaluation & Purchasing Phase

Along with the above key criteria and a few other security and legal criteria, we created a rubric in a shared document that our team utilized for preliminary research. We analyzed our current tool and 16 others against our rubric, using information from online research and Copilot, prompting AI to compare the tools by feeding it our criteria and instructing it to crawl reviews and other credible sources, such as G2Crowd. I would be remiss not to mention that we, of course, also asked our AAM and Boomer friends.

Example Rubric Layout:

From there, we took six into a discovery phase to ask a representative clarifying questions that we could not answer based on our research. We took the remaining four into a post-discovery phase.

After narrowing our selection down to three strong contenders, we brought in our manager over go-to-market, our senior manager, and our CMO to the buying committee and conducted an additional 2.5 calls per technology for the top three.

Lastly, we documented live feedback in a shared notes document and aligned on what we needed for the short and long term, analyzing which tools would allow for scale, while solving our current challenges.

Top 3 Finalists

1. Proposify

• Pros: Strong template flexibility and content library; Off-the-shelf, comprehensive HubSpot integration with the ability to map properties across deals, companies, contacts and tickets; Detailed analytics and engagement metrics; Design and implementation support; Very competitive in cost-to-value ratio.
• Concerns: Too ‘lite’ a tool compared to what we had in Loopio, the ability to scale RFX.
• Cons: Slower than the market on AI adoption, cannot export to the Microsoft Office suite – must download PDF and convert if needed; Doesn’t globally override the library entry from the project editor, but CAN override the page sections and templates globally.
• Who this tool is great for: Firms that require CRM integration with HubSpot, those training global talent in a tool, those needing digital send capabilities, and Firms seeking high-design output in portrait and landscape orientations.

2. Responsive

• Pros: AI-powered proposal creation for speed and accuracy; Robust content library and collaboration tools; Advanced security and compliance features; Best in class tool – market leader; Solves for proactive and response, but geared toward response.
• Concerns: Design UI/UX not as strong as Proposify; Primarily a response tool (with Proactive Proposals being our highest in volume, and being in a response tool already, we didn’t feel the variation in features would outweigh the cost hike in the areas of our needs and pains).
• Why we opted out: Expensive, yet premium product; Ultimately, a more comprehensive version of Loopio.
• Who this tool is great for: Firms whose volume is majority RFX, Large firms with a significant annual budget who need a myriad of departments and professionals in their tool as collaborators.

3. Qorus Docs

• Pros: Deep SharePoint integration for firms with Microsoft ecosystems; Innovative AI Agent-driven proposal capabilities using content from SharePoint; Strong potential for future scalability.
• Concerns: adding a non-Microsoft AI tool into our SharePoint instance; ability to create, teach and scale agent builds.
• Why we opted out: Content migration would be an extreme lift; Output is still 1:1 comparable with that of our current tool, and a Custom HubSpot integration build is required.
• Who this tool is great for: Firms with content libraries built out in their SharePoint instances, Firms running Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics, Firms openly adopting innovative AI.
• One to Watch: We loved Qorus Docs for its forward-thinking approach and plan to revisit when its design flexibility and integrations evolve. We’re not timid about AI and not shy of a heavy lift project, but we decided that some key requirements still couldn’t be met, so this is one we’re watching closely as the product roadmaps evolve.

Honorable mention: If you don’t have a team and want full vendor support in building your tool, Rocket Docs & Rapid Docs offers an environment for small to mid-sized firms that can support both response and proactive formats.

For the full list of technology platforms evaluated, email [email protected].

Project Summary

We ultimately chose Proposify due to its HubSpot integration, flexibility, support and overall UI/UX design. If you’re looking for a Canva-like builder, with a Loopio-like content library, and a PandaDoc-esque sign and send tool, we highly recommend Proposify. We find that it scales with our process, creates all necessary formats, and its permission sets allow us to integrate different types of users to scale our process. Their pricing structure allows us to add seats over time as we grow, enabling us to incorporate power-users and/or a self-service model as needed.

What worked:

• Rubric prevented decision fatigue – the rubric and research approach helped keep us focused and didn’t let us veer away from our criteria when we had ‘shiny object’ syndrome.
• ‘Custom’ demos revealed gaps – go in with hyper-specific scenarios mapped to the criteria you want to test – ensure the sales rep can go off script and get in the tool – canned demos present the technology’s ‘best self.’

Tips For Consideration:

• Start sooner – starting about 1-2 months sooner than you think you need. Summer vacations and service line deadlines impacted demo scheduling, legal and security reviews.
• Security & Legal review – we have a comprehensive approach to reviews – recommend signing NDAs and securing access to trust centers the minute you have your top choices and pull in your IT and general counsel or risk committees ASAP.

Migration or Implementation Recommendations

Here’s a checklist for a successful migration or implementation with your new vendor:

• Ask about implementation or migration support.
• Pay extra for design template creation if needed.
• Collect strong examples of your current work product.
• Curate inspiration from Canva templates, other industries, and other competitors to provide your technology partner.
• Clearly articulate the gaps of your current process, and ways you’ve wanted to level up your product outputs so your reps can support your goals.
• Export your existing content library into a CSV file; clean up your tags and content hierarchy.
• Use your CSV as a project tracker to ensure clean content makes its way into your new tool – add tabs for phases of your build that will get you to a minimal viable product.
• Gamify the project as you delegate ways your team can help build the tool.
• Don’t be afraid to jump in and begin – you can build templates from real work products.

Sourcing and migrating proposal tools in general is more than a technology selection process—it is a strategic initiative that impacts efficiency, scalability and the internal and external customer experience. Given the tool’s potential impact, take your time, and whatever you do, do not get boxed into the wrong tool for your firm’s needs (and a long contract).

By prioritizing integration, design flexibility, and collaboration, we selected Proposify, a solution that positions our team for success in 2026 and beyond. We hope this roadmap helps you find the right solution for your firm! For questions, reach out to the Brand and Operations Manager at Whitley Penn, [email protected]