Platform for 30 billion dollor opportunities: Responsive CEO

CHENNAI: Over 30 billion dollor worth of business opportunities are managed every month on Coimbatore-based SaaS firm Responsive’s platform, as artificial intelligence changes how enterprises chase deals and manage critical business responses.

“Every month, more than 30 billion dollor worth of opportunities are managed on Responsive. We have crossed 1 trillion dollor in opportunities processed since we started,” CEO Ganesh Shankar told DT Next.

The company has over 2,000 customers, including 25-26 of the Fortune 100 companies. In the past 12 months, it added more than 30 deals with annual contract values exceeding $100,000. Deal sizes range from $15,000 to nearly $800,000 a year.

Responsive operates in strategic response management, helping enterprises manage RFPs (request for proposals), RFIs (request for information) and security questionnaires.

Shankar said the company is not pivoting to AI but integrating it deeper into its platform.“I wouldn’t call it pivoting. We are tightly integrating AI into what we are offering. We are doubling down on what is working,” he said.

The focus is on orchestrating AI agents across an end-to-end workflow. Giving a five-mile hike analogy, Shankar said an individual could arrange water, rest and lunch stops, but an organiser knows where each fits. “In this context, we are the organisers. You can build your agent with Claude or OpenAI, but all those agents will be independent. We know exactly where to put them and package it for you,” he said.

Easy access to AI has also sparked a build-versus-buy debate among enterprises. “Internal IT is the biggest competition for us now,” Shankar said.

Responsive is betting that specialised workflows, agent orchestration and enterprise knowledge will strengthen its proposition against in-house applications.

Customers can restrict its AI to information stored in their SharePoint or Google Drive repositories. “If the answer is not found, our agent can come back and say, ‘I could not find an answer’. Customers would rather have no answer than a hallucinated one,” he said.

This can also expose gaps in an organisation’s knowledge. Its TRACE score grades AI-generated content on trustworthiness, relevance, accuracy, completeness and explainability, and can flag responses based on outdated enterprise documents.

Shankar said AI is also driving RFP and RFI activity as companies reassess technology vendors for fair assessment. “Every large company is re-evaluating the technology ecosystem they have. There is a ton of noise, a ton of providers in the market,” he said.

North America remains Responsive’s largest market, while India too accounts for a sizeable business. Technology leads demand, followed by financial services, healthcare and insurance, professional services and telecom.

The company also has a European presence and has put “boots on the ground” in Australia.

AI engine payments have, however, shaved around 3-4 per cent off margins. “Today, we are writing a cheque to those companies. It is going from the margin we used to have,” Shankar said, expecting the impact to normalise.

Profitable since 2018 and recording double-digit annual growth, Responsive has completed three acquisitions and remains open to more. However, Responsive is not looking to raise fresh capital.

Every month, over $30 billion worth of opportunities are managed on Responsive. We have crossed $1 trillion in opportunities processed since we started – Ganesh Shankar, CEO, Responsive