Smartsheet scales project management for larger customers

Making room for high volumes of data

One example of increased capacity lies in the Smartsheet Control Center, a project and portfolio management tool that automates project creation and aggregates portfolio reporting.

By January, Control Center will be able to support up to 20,000 active projects per program, according to Smartsheet.

[The tools] speak to the opportunity the category has around scaling into more strategic customer deployments.

In addition, Smartsheet's Sheets, which is the platform's data storing interface with the default spreadsheet layout, will be able to host 5 million cells and allow 5 million sheet links starting in 2024. This is 250 times the current capacity, according to the vendor.

Smartsheet is appealing to larger organizations because they are supporting most of the growth in the collaborative work market, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence analyst Chris Marsh. These organizations spend at least $100,000 annually on Smartsheet services, he added.

"[The tools] speak to the opportunity the category has around scaling into more strategic customer deployments," Marsh said.

Work management becoming more prevalent

In general, interest is growing in work management platforms that provide a centralized place for project management, content management and access to a company knowledge base, according to Metrigy analyst Beth Schultz.

Smartsheet's updates help to differentiate it from the pack, she said.

"Particularly important is the ability to leverage data for analysis, and automation is increasingly important for these platforms, as companies look to streamline their processes and improve employee efficiency -- and Smartsheet is delivering on these requirements," Schultz said.

Smartsheet's main competitors include Asana, Monday and Wrike.

Formula generation for faster workflows

Smartsheet also released new generative AI tools to help organizations offset routine tasks. For example, generative AI powers sheet summaries, which give a quick snapshot of a sheet by showing the project name, description and owner.

One new generative AI capability creates formulas that users can embed into the summary to view metrics based on the specified data.

"Removing some of the tactical obstacles users commonly come across, like not knowing what formulas to use in a sheet, allows them to spend more time on higher-value tasks," Marsh said. "That these kinds of capabilities are becoming more standard in collaborative work management tools attests to [generative AI's] growing significance as a category in the wider business application landscape."

The generative AI tools are available in private beta and will be released more broadly later this year, according to Smartsheet.

Interface design changes for better UX

The vendor also unveiled updates to the way users can visualize projects and productivity. One is Timeline View, which shows projects across a schedule layout where each project spans the amount of time allotted to complete the project, with the dates running from left to right.

This tool could be useful to teams managing multiple overlapping projects over a set period of time, according to Ben Canning, Smartsheet's senior vice president of product experiences.

"[Timeline View] will give teams a big-picture look into date-based work," Canning said during a media briefing. "You can organize data into visual groups, for example, by assignee or status, or surface big milestones."

Timeline View is available now for Smartsheet's early adopter program.

Mary Reines is a news writer covering customer experience and unified communications for TechTarget Editorial. Before TechTarget, Reines was arts editor at the Marblehead Reporter.