Smartsheet Adoption On the Rise – Check It Out

Our partners at Smartsheet just passed their one year anniversary of launching an integration with VMware Zimbra.  And looking back, we’ve seen a strong increase in Zimbra users embracing the online project management and collaboration app.  In fact, Smartsheet continues to be a favorite, now ranking as a “Top 5 Most Popular App” in the Zimbra Zimlet Gallery. Smartsheet now claims more than 100 joint customers with Zimbra!

For Zimbra users, Smartsheet serves as the perfect union between spreadsheets, project tools and file sharing. While most work projects take shape as a spreadsheet, they break down when you need to get others involved. There’s no way to easily track versions, much less associate notes, share files, set reminders and so forth. Smartsheet allows Zimbra users to keep the spreadsheet layout you like (and already know how to use) and gain the additional automation you need.

For Smartsheet, the momentum is exciting because Zimbra customers typically represent larger enterprise deployments and provide a higher average contribution to the bottom line. That’s smart business.

Why the uptick in momentum?
In addition to solving a real business need, here are a few other reasons that contribute to the popularity of the combined solution:

• Extends the functionality of both apps. The apps are a natural fit. You can show key project dates in Zimbra or overlay a Zimbra calendar directly to a project calendar in Smartsheet. In one click, you can import Zimbra contacts into Smartsheet for easy collaborating and sharing sheets. You can also attach documents from Zimbra briefcase to any row. The apps make each other more useful, valuable.
• Convenient access. With Smartsheet available as a tab within Zimbra, access is seamless and easy. No more having to navigate to a separate web application.
• Scales for enterprise. The combination of Smartsheet’s cloud app being “always available” with the viral nature of “sharing sheets” causes adoption to spread organically across the organization. And because it’s so flexible to set up and use, we’re seeing teams from project management to marketing, operations, HR processes, and sales pipelines, all embrace the tool. After all, everyone has work to manage.
• Provides admin controls and security safeguards required by larger organizations. Most simple web apps don’t offer provisioning controls at a centralized level. Smartsheet is “enterprise ready”, providing group tools for onboarding and monitoring users, transferring ownership of content and managing data access. Providing the ability to self-manage the deployment and ongoing maintenance of accounts and content is definitely one of the must-haves for apps to succeed in larger settings.

Thank you Zimbra community. While Smartsheet’s momentum encourages us, we understand we’ve just scratched the surface. We’re committed to working closely with Smartsheet — and all of our integration partners — to create more value for VMware Zimbra customers.