Here are our top three strategies to embrace as we look beyond the now and towards 2021

1. Focus on people, as well as process and technology
2. Build flexibility and cultural change into your strategy
3. Think big about collaboration post lockdown

Along with these three top tips, there’s one final point to remember. Make sure you take your own lockdown learnings forward, reflect on them and consider where to focus to continue your growth and build a dynamic workforce.

Navigating change is never easy, but with the right strategies for success, there are no barriers too high. Empower your people to work dynamically and achieve more than you thought was possible.

See Smartsheet Report: European business leaders on what’s next for digital transformation

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We’ve seen a wholesale change in thinking by businesses large and small, both in the US and UK, all eager to embrace low cost, intuitive cloud solutions and the improved efficiencies they bring.

Excel has always been and will continue to be the tool of choice for deep number-crunching, but as a management tool, it has limitations.  Fast growth companies need real time information and a spreadsheet type solution that provides collaboration and visibility on any platform and device.

Resistance to change is common but those who have embraced new ways of working are now seeing the efficiency and cultural gains

So what are some of these winning solutions?

• Smartsheet alongside Excel and Google sheets.
• DocuSign for Digital Transaction management for NDAs Contracts and Sign off.
• ProofHQ for Reviewing any digital copy through to approval in real time.
• Microsoft 365 implementation and integration as a cloud based solution, means we are helping clients to merge processes to work together… at low cost.
• OverDRIVE provides an Internal Web Portal, that acts like an Intranet or Digital Asset Library and works beautifully in conjunction with Google for Work Apps.

What were our clients’ challenges?

“Skilled resources are not easily acquired, so we needed to provide the existing team with better tools to allow them to do more in less time and take away their repetitive processes, replacing them with intuitive solutions that were enjoyable to work with and got immediate results”.

“ As business grew fast, increasing orders meant we had to become more efficient to fulfill them.”

“We needed Real Time information to get out to our key workers who could be out on site, or in countries in different time zones and languages, so a tool that looks and feels just like Excel, takes uploads from Excel (or MS Project) then provides an almost endless list of new solutions not found in Excel Desktop or 365 was key”.

The solutions Smartsheet provided in response to our clients’ challenges

• Secure access of key data for dissemination and feedback  on any device. 
• Audit trail discussion on any row or sheet.
• Uploads of any file type for review and use. 
• Collaboration, Reminders, Alerts that solve a host of needs.
• Automated Reports and Graphs that provide Real Time status 
• Planning projects has never been easier and no “ology” needed. 
• Resource planning has never been easier 
• Even those who are hooked on MS Project find that working Smartsheet alongside for collaboration and feedback makes their lives easier and results quicker.

If you can identify with any of the above, contact us to arrange your free 1 hour consultation to discuss your challenges.  We’d love to hear from you!

Empower your business with smarter business processes

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Smartsheet, an intuitive work management tool, has led the way here in recent years, yet many Excel users have yet to discover the benefits. Those that have, have discovered ways to save 20 or even 40% of their Admin time. Project planners have often used MS Project, which, like Excel struggles to provide easy collaboration on any platform on any device, which Smartsheet  provides easily.

What are the true benefits of using Smartsheet?  See “The Forrester Total Economic Impact of Smartsheet” Infographic

Our experience has shown that businesses that migrated their complex Planning processes into Smartsheet found that it was capable of about 80% of what they required and did it far better than traditional systems. Smartsheet’s latest feature updates mean that it is now capable of over 90% of typical requirements, removing the need for more expensive and complex systems. Often, what Smartsheet is not best at, can remain in Excel, e.g. for in depth data analytics. The difference being that Smartsheet gathers all the data from collaborators really easily and can deliver it to an Excel dashboard in real time. So, all the reasons for not moving forward have now been removed, which can be a significant contributor to the Productivity of any organisation.

Project Migration and the Change Management of working practices that comes with such migration has many rewards that are quickly accessed.  All that is needed to implement and benefit from this Migration is a team of consultants that understands Microsoft Apps and Smartsheet really well, such that the best tools are deployed and Workflows re-designed to suit more collaborative working practices.

Implementing Smartsheet and associated Symbiotic apps like ProofHQ,  Docusign,  OverDRIVE etc., are virtually instantaneous and inexpensive. Licenses can be provided on a trial basis while the evaluation of benefits takes place and purchases made on an annual renewable basis, which reduces upfront costs dramatically compared to traditional IT system replacement.

What are the key processes that Smartsheet can address better?

• Time and Task planning in Projects of a specific duration and ongoing activities that are not called Projects, yet share many of the challenges of Projects in getting work completed on time on budget.
• Human Resource Planning is now intuitive and easy to set up for most business sizes.
• Improved Project Information provides visuals like the Critical Path i.e. the tasks that will delay project completion if not finished on time.
• Sharing of project information and associated task management is easier than ever before with integration with such as Outlook and Gmail. Tasks updated within an email browser, so speeding efficiency.
• Security: Smartsheet System administration provides far better security of Data and confidential information by ensuring important data is not emailed as an attachment ( and potentially onwards to the wrong people) but permission is granted to View, Edit and Update sheets. Access to which can be removed at the click of a mouse should the need arise. So dramatically improving data security and the need for Version control, there being just ONE version, the LIVE one.
• Creating online WebForms that collect answers and data from those you need feedback from has never been so easy and is cited as the single biggest time saver in Admin office. Say goodbye to Paper Forms, Postage, Transcribing info from paper to spreadsheet, say hello to instant alerts and data analysis.
• Integrating Smartsheet with your other Applications has been dramatically upgraded and now API 2.0  offers a whole range of opportunities to link applications together to remove even more steps from your traditional processes by automating your workflows and updating data in several places with just one entry.

Book your place for our Getting to Grips with Project Management in Smartsheet course or Smartsheet Discovery Day delivered in London, Southampton and Leeds or on your premises for up to 8 people or Arrange your Free initial Consultancy to discuss your Training or Consultancy requirements.  We’d love to hear from you!

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