? Why Reviewing RFP Responses Without Athena Is a Risk You Can’t Afford

When you're about to spend millions on a transformation programme, what's more dangerous than a bad vendor? ? A great-sounding one who doesn't actually understand your business or what success really requires. Most SMBs don’t have time or in-house expertise to dissect 80-page RFP responses. And the stakes are high: 70% of transformation projects fail — often because the wrong partner was chosen. That’s why smart CEOs and CFOs are now using Athena — an AI transformation readiness advisor — to review, benchmark and stress test vendor responses before they commit.  

✅ Enter Athena: Your AI-Powered RFP Analyst 

Athena brings 300+ man-years of transformation expertise into your review process — instantly. She applies the O2O (Opportunity to Operations) process and the BusinessGPS framework to each proposal to reveal what’s really there (and what’s missing). Here’s what she found in a recent live RFP analysis:  

? Real-Life Gaps Athena Exposed: 

? No detailed Phase 0 approach: The vendor jumped straight into delivery planning, skipping the most critical phase where success is defined. Athena flagged this as a major misalignment with transformation best practice. ? Underdeveloped change management: Despite lots of buzzwords, there was no concrete plan for internal capability building or stakeholder alignment. Athena highlighted the risk of organisational resistance — a top reason transformations stall. ? No clear connection between roadmap and outcomes: The response lacked hard metrics, KPIs, or a feedback loop — which Athena identified as a lack of outcome focus and long-term adaptability. ? No reference to the client’s strategic intent or context: Athena quickly showed that the proposal was generic — not tailored. A warning sign that the vendor wasn’t truly listening. In under 30 minutes, Athena produced a comparative RAG-scored SuccessMap, plus detailed comments and suggestions — arming the leadership team with clarity and control.  

? Why This Matters 

Vendors often assume your strategy is fully formed. Athena doesn’t. She tests whether your internal alignment, readiness, and roadmap are strong enough to succeed — and whether your vendors are actually supporting or sabotaging that foundation. No more “just trust the PowerPoint.” No more post-signature regrets.  

? Faster. Smarter. Safer Decisions. 

Instead of days lost in stakeholder meetings, Athena delivers: ✅ A comprehensive review of each vendor response ✅ AI-generated insights on alignment, clarity, and completeness ✅ Executive-ready outputs in under an hour ✅ A SuccessMap and action plan to proceed — or pivot  

? What To Do Now 

Before you choose a partner, make sure you're choosing success. Let Athena: 

• Review your top RFP responses 

• Benchmark them against your strategy 

• Highlight blind spots before they become black holes 

? Try Athena FREE today → businessgps.ai/l-athena-executive-free  Because transformation success isn’t just about choosing software. It’s about choosing the right path. Athena makes that clear.