Wrike announced the appointment of two senior executives this week, hiring a new CFO and CRO. Other PSA, PPM and work management news include several announcements by SmartSheet at its annual conference. Replicon launched a “new” product, though it may just be new messaging. Finally, Easy Projects and Kantata announced product updates.
Easy Projects
The latest addition to Easy Projects Birdview PSA allows customers to choose whether they want project dates to recalculate based on task dates or to manage dates manually. The Dates Rollup feature enables project start and end dates to be recalculated as task dates move. If the date of the first task date is moved, so is the project start date.
Kantata
The latest update from Kantata sees the ability to distribute scheduled hours in the task row based on the resource-estimated hours on the task added within Kantata OX. The feature is part of cross-project scheduling within the Resource Centre. The feature is available in early access.
Replicon
Replicon has launched its Knowledge Workforce Management Solution, built using AI-powered ZeroTime™. The platform aligns projects, time, people and skills in a single platform. What isn’t clear is the difference between this and the Replicon Polaris PSA solution, though the product page includes compliance.
Lakshmi Raj, Co-CEO at Replicon, commented: “Replicon has a strong leadership in providing Unified Time Tracking for Project Delivery, Finance and HR. We have extended the same powerful, loved-by-end-users platform to provide a single source of truth for People, Projects, Skills and Time.”
Raj Narayanswamy, Co-CEO at Replicon, added, “Replicon Knowledge Workforce Management Solution provides the highest level of data accuracy and data quality in real time using AI & ML technologies. It is built to seamlessly integrate and operate within your current ecosystem. It enables data-driven decision-making across all service delivery functions like project management, resource management, billing, revenue management and pay compliance.”
Smartsheet
At its annual conference, Smartsheet announced a new partner program and new features and unveiled how customers are using its solutions.
New channel partner program
At its 2022 Global Partner Summit Smartsheet announced a new channel partner program that will commence in February 2023. The new Smartsheet Aligned program will provide specialized paths for partners to grow their businesses based on the unique value they provide Smartsheet customers. Benefits will include:
- New custom role-based training and solutions certifications designed specifically for upskilling Smartsheet Aligned partners in addition to ongoing sales and technical training.
- Expanded financial discounts and rebates, including differentiated incentives that provide a competitive market advantage.
- New marketing and demand generation resources to raise awareness of their business and drive net new opportunities.
- Access to world-class technical enablement resources, including pre- and post-sales experts, to support partners in delivering complex Smartsheet solutions.
Steve Stewart, Global Head of Channel at Smartsheet, commented: “Smartsheet partners have played a critical role in the growth of our business, from extending our sales and marketing reach to expanding our professional services capabilities. In fact, annual bookings led by partners has grown to 59% since launching the program three years ago.
“As customer requests for increasingly complex solutions continued to grow, it was imperative that our program evolve and offer enterprise-grade benefits to our partners so they can continue to provide best-in-class service for our customers. With the new structure, Smartsheet Aligned will be significantly more robust and focused on complex solution building than anyone else in the collaborative work management market.”
Innovation
Smartsheet announced Project Assistant, an automation tool to start projects rapidly. It also added Capacity View to the Resource Management module. This interactive resource planning view will enable resource managers to visualize the real-time capacity of their teams and individuals so they can better plan, prioritize and staff future work. It will be available soon.
In 2023 it will launch a new, updated Desktop App where users can have multiple Smartsheet items open simultaneously, tab easily between them, and stay up to date with notifications, so nothing slips through the cracks.
The firm also showcased DataTable. As part of the Gold Plan, Data Table enables organisations to access millions of records from third-party solutions, including ERPs, CRMs and databases, within Smartsheet. It also revealed that integration with Okta, available soon, would simplify and streamline account management for their employees.
Other platform innovations include the next evolution of Control Center: Portfolio WorkApps. Portfolio WorkApps streamline project and portfolio management and helps organizations execute their entire portfolio of projects with tailored experiences for each team member–all within a single WorkApp.
In addition to ingesting data, Smartsheet has made it easier to export data with Data Egress. This provides better oversight on what data can be exported and by whom.
Dion Hinchcliffe, VP and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, commented: “Work coordination platforms are becoming the nerve center of many businesses, the place where real work gets done. By building a large data store and two-way data movement directly into its platform, Smartsheet has made it much easier for employees to access the data they need where they’re getting their work done so they can realize the value of data insights via self-service, without the help of their IT team.”
The Kraken stirs again
Smartsheet provided more details of how the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena has leveraged Smartsheet for its marketing program over the last year. The venue for the Seattle Kraken has used Smartsheet as its work management platform for its first year in operation. It has leveraged Smartsheet in several ways:
- Climate Pledge Arena marketing has streamlined and automated event management and ticket sales processes. Smartsheet organizes all event information in real-time, manages event schedules, helps the team collaborate to keep projects on track, and creates a single source of truth for tracking the many moving pieces of events hosted at the arena.
- The Seattle Kraken sales and ticketing team uses Smartsheet to manage its premium suite ticket inventory, including schedules, availability, food ordering, suite donation, and primary contacts. The team is also using custom reports in Smartsheet to save 4-5 hours per week previously spent manually building ticketing reports. During events, the Smartsheet mobile app enables vital, real-time communication about suite customers’ needs, creating a better guest experience for their most discerning clientele.
- Arena marketing employees also use Brandfolder, Smartsheet’s award-winning digital asset management platform, to store all arena and event branding assets, such as the arena’s digital media kit.
Rosie Selle, vice president of marketing at Climate Pledge Arena, commented: “Smartsheet gives us the insight we need to easily track every concert and sporting event to make sure it’s all on schedule. It gives us all of the event information, such as key dates and ticket sales, in one place for multiple departments to access at any time. We recently announced five shows and put them all on sale, with 18 assets for each show. That process was very smooth because of Smartsheet.”
