2026 State of Strategic Response Management Report reveals widening maturity gap as top-performing organizations pull further ahead on revenue, efficiency, and AI impact
AI adoption is no longer the differentiator in Australia and New Zealand, with growth now driven by how organizations operationalize it across their revenue workflows. That’s according to the 2026 State of Strategic Response Management (SRM) Report: Australia and New Zealand Edition, released today by Responsive, the leader in Strategic Response Management, in partnership with the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP).
“Organizations pulling ahead are embedding AI into how they prioritize opportunities, make decisions, and activate knowledge across the business,” said Ganesh Shankar, CEO of Responsive.Share
Based on insights from nearly 300 ANZ-based respondents, the report highlights a highly pressurized market where empowered buyers, rising expectations, and compressed sales cycles are forcing organizations to rethink how they manage strategic responses such as RFPs, security questionnaires, and due diligence requests. These findings are part of a broader global study of more than 1,100 decision-makers and practitioners, with half being in a revenue or executive leadership function across industries.
The report shows that while AI adoption in ANZ is progressing steadily, a clear divide is emerging between organizations experimenting with AI and those operationalizing it to drive revenue outcomes. Companies identified as “SRM Leaders” – the top 20% in maturity – are significantly outperforming their peers, with 89% reporting year-on-year revenue growth, 11 points higher than less mature organizations in ANZ as well as leading organizations globally.
However, the report warns that the gap between Leaders and less mature organizations is wider in ANZ than in other regions, creating both greater opportunity and greater risk.
SRM Leaders in ANZ distinguish themselves by operationalizing AI across workflows, centralizing knowledge, enabling self-service access, and using AI to guide faster, higher-quality decisions. As a result:
- AI is delivering real business value: 83% of ANZ Leaders have deployed AI in SRM, compared to just 41% of less mature organizations—a gap more than twice as wide as global averages. Leaders are more likely to use AI for decision support, content validation, and knowledge retrieval at scale.
- Revenue impact is more pronounced: 85% of ANZ Leaders report increased revenue tied directly to RFPs and strategic responses, compared to 72% of ANZ novices.
- Sales teams operate with greater speed and autonomy: 94% of ANZ Leaders report higher sales rep efficiency and 92% faster sales velocity when leveraging centralized knowledge hubs.
- Employee satisfaction is significantly higher: 91% of ANZ Leaders report strong satisfaction, compared to just 63% of novices.
“Organizations pulling ahead are embedding AI into how they prioritize opportunities, make decisions, and activate knowledge across the business,” said Ganesh Shankar, CEO of Responsive. “Their advantage in growth, sales velocity, and rep productivity shows that execution is paying off.”
Leaders and Novices are defined by the SRM Maturity Index, a framework that evaluates how effectively organizations capture, govern, and operationalize institutional knowledge. In ANZ, maturity proves to be an even stronger differentiator than globally, with ANZ Leaders holding a 13-point lead in reporting revenue tied to RFPs compared to their global peers.
At the same time, the report highlights a growing risk for organizations that fail to evolve. As highlighted in Responsive’s 2025 B2B buyer decisions report, Inside the Buyer’s Mind, buyers expect faster, more personalized, and more accurate responses throughout the purchasing process. Organizations that operationalize knowledge and AI effectively are best positioned to meet these demands, accelerating time to revenue while improving the overall buying experience.
To help organizations close this gap, the report outlines a five-pillar SRM maturity model and a practical 12-month roadmap focused on centralizing knowledge, scaling self-service, integrating AI into workflows, and tying response efforts directly to revenue outcomes.
