Software architecture and UI/UX design can change a lot in a decade, much less in forty years. What might have been cutting-edge once can easily hold you back now – time to modernize your proposal pricing toolset. An alternative to ProPricer, OAE is a modern, browser-based, SaaS pricing application with a fast, clean design and flexible deployment options.
Let’s take a look at how OAE and ProPricer Contractor Edition stack up for pricing.
Legacy software doesn’t cut it anymore
ProPricer was founded in 1984, and its UI hasn’t substantially changed since the 90s. The Windows-only software must be installed on each computer. For modern organizations with distributed, remote teams, these are real drawbacks.
IT teams have more important things to do than manage upgrading software on computers.
Even with modern software management platforms that can automate updates to applications, it’s still a process that needs babysitting. Updates go wrong. And any software that IT installs, users expect them to support.
There’s a better way now. Browsers are more than capable of running enterprise-grade software, and they’re already installed on every device – including mobile devices. Your pricers shouldn’t have to be tethered to a laptop.
As an alternative to ProPricer, OAE can run in any browser, and is designed efficiently for low-impact resource consumption. IT already supports browsers, so OAE saves you money by requiring nothing more from them.
Your software shouldn’t dictate what OS your estimators have to use.
Windows is not the first choice of OS for all organizations or teams. It comes with a lot of administrative overhead and additional costs.
And when weighing device strategies for your organization, there are much more important criteria than “will it run this software I need?” – like security. Using web-based software lets you focus on what matters in device management.
OAE lets your users work from Chromebooks, tablets, Linux workstations, Apple laptops, Windows devices, and more – whatever works best for your business needs.
And it should help your teams move quickly, not slow them down.
One hallmark of legacy software is being “movement-heavy,” meaning you have to move the cursor a lot in order to work. Top menus, ribbons, tabs, side navigation, panes, sections, and so on. Companies can cram a lot of features into their software that way, but it comes at the expense of work speed. Users have to remember where everything is, then get there.
And as the speed of business increases, your estimating teams need to keep up. Time spent hunting through menus or clicking between panes and cells and so on – that’s time wasted.
As a ProPricer alternative, OAE is built for speed to let users work as fast as they need to. Why have to reach for the mouse or trackpad to switch between items, when you can just tab there? Don’t let your proposal pricing speed be the reason you miss a bid deadline.
More features is not always the answer
New features can make a real difference, and software that never grows in functionality can’t adapt to the changing needs of its users. At the same time, no one knows better than you what you need proposal pricing software to do. New software features are typically chosen to meet the needs of the majority of users, and that might not be your estimation teams.
But adding functionality doesn’t have to mean adding features. OAE’s flexible configurations allow you to make software work for you, the way you need it to, without always having to wait for a new feature.
Your software should let your teams work the way they need to…
Across differing industries, organizations, and teams, there are myriad ways of estimating. The legacy software approach to supporting all those needs is to add features. In contrast, a flexible configuration model gives you the power to build functionality now, without having to wait for the product to recognize your teams’ needs and support them.
In OAE, for instance, if you want to track Compliance items, you can add Compliance as a Structure column, then define custom item properties for Compliance items – without having to wait for us to add a feature for you.
…But without cluttering screen space or consuming resources with features they don’t need.
The “new feature” approach ensures that a product will continue to require more disk space, RAM, CPU, etc. Over time, this can create a burden on both users and IT teams as devices that the software used to work on become inadequate. And meanwhile, users who don’t need the new products have to contend with increasingly busy menus, ribbons, toolbars, etc. The more features there are, the more time it takes users to find the features they actually need to use.
Because OAE lets you add functionality yourself, we can keep the UI streamlined – and keep your teams and their devices moving faster.
Your organization needs standardization, and your teams need flexibility – don’t settle for just one of those.
New features do make sure that every user has access to new functionality, and standardization makes work more efficient since everyone knows what to expect. But as discussed above, your teams need flexibility too. You don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.
OAE, as part of its flexible configuration approach, uses an implementation hierarchy that lets you maintain standardization while allowing flexibility for nonstandard cases. System admins define the default values that each new project or item inherits. Then, if needed, project admins can modify the defaults for that proposal or team. So using flexible configurations to build functionality doesn’t mean you’re stuck in a Wild West where everyone does things differently.
Organizations need to move fast and nimbly
ProPricer updates are released on a quarterly schedule. Who wants to wait that long for the fix to a bug that’s causing delays – or for new capabilities that enhance your proposal pricing? That slow pace of updates is, of course, good for the IT teams who have to manage those updates. But you don’t have to choose between timely updates and IT overhead.
As an alternative to ProPricer, OAE’s Agile development methodology uses industry-leading tools to deliver improvements and bug fixes as soon as they’re ready. And because it’s web-based, you get the new stuff as soon as we release it. Waiting for software to catch up to the speed of your business is a liability.
OAE: A Modern Alternative to ProPricer
Designed by estimators, OAE is professional grade pricing software meant for clientele needing to bid large work with speed and accuracy. With OAE, you’ll capture senior estimator knowledge, build libraries of best practice bids, improve profit margin, and much much more.
Don’t let legacy software hold you back – modernize your toolset. Make proposal pricing your secret weapon by estimating faster and more accurately at scale, with OAE.
Contact us today!
