Organizational Control of Technology Selection and Innovation Transferred to Employees, Data Finds

Smartsheet (NYSE:SMAR), the enterprise platform for dynamic work, today announced that the business disruption caused by the pandemic is forcing organizations to rethink their future implementation of tools, tech and practices, according to a survey of global business professionals conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services in association with Smartsheet.

COVID-19 uncovered the benefits of enabling an agile workforce, but also revealed the inefficiencies many organizations were facing due to technology. In fact, over three-quarters (76%) of respondents agreed the pandemic revealed major gaps in their internal technology strategy citing inefficiencies across the technology stack, from flexibility and speed to user friendliness and functionality. Combined with the finding that 93% agreed it’s necessary to provide teams with the software and tools needed to produce successful work, two-thirds (67%) of respondents stated their organizations are now reviewing their technology strategy.

When asked why their organizations are experiencing inefficiencies, only 50% of respondents reported their technology stack met employee needs while others recognized the need for change. For example, 88% said having empowered, autonomous teams is critical to an organization's future success and 80% said agile and innovative workers played a big role in helping ensure business continuity and success during disruption.

“The pandemic has revealed that many organizations are battling a critical disconnect when it comes to their technology: the platforms they currently use do not fully empower their workforce to drive innovation and have organizational impact,” said Mark Mader, CEO of Smartsheet. “We believe that to effectively compete, businesses must transform to work more dynamically - to simplify, streamline and integrate how work is initiated, managed, and delivered by their people and by their teams.”

As organizations look forward, 86% agree the pandemic has changed the way their leadership is thinking about future-proofing the business. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of respondents agree that going forward, they expect their organization’s leadership to entrust teams with innovating based on their own specific needs. In addition, over half (54%) feel their organization’s innovation will be equally driven by employees and senior leadership opposed to 40% pre-pandemic.

“Organizations without the right technology pre-pandemic not only had to overcome the consequences of technology-based inefficiencies but their workforce also suffered resulting in decreased morale and lower productivity,” said Alex Clemente, Managing Director of Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. “This impact on the workforce is driving a change in how leadership is approaching technology in the long-term, by empowering teams to be the catalyst of innovation and remain productive and competitive.”

You can access the executive summary of the report, “Empowering Employees to Drive Innovation”, here.

*Survey methodology

A total of 642 respondents drawn from the HBR audience of readers (magazine/e-newsletter readers, customers, HBR.org users) completed the survey.

About Smartsheet

Smartsheet (NYSE: SMAR) is the enterprise platform for dynamic work. By aligning people and technology so organizations can move faster and drive innovation, Smartsheet enables its millions of users to achieve more. Visit www.smartsheet.com to learn more.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking” statements that are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about Smartsheet’s expectations regarding possible or assumed business strategies, channel and partner strategies, potential growth and innovation opportunities, new products, and potential market opportunities.

Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by terms such as “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “potential,” “remain,” “will,” “would” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: our ability to achieve future growth and sustain our growth rate, our ability to attract and retain talent, our ability to attract and retain customers (including government customers) and increase sales to our customers, our ability to develop and release new products and services and to scale our platform, our ability to increase adoption of our platform through our self-service model, our ability to maintain and grow our relationships with channel and strategic partners, the highly competitive and rapidly evolving market in which we participate, our ability to identify targets for, execute on, or realize the benefits of, potential acquisitions, and our international expansion strategies. Further information on risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from forecasted results is included in our filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2020 filed with the SEC on June 8, 2020. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons if actual results differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.

Contacts:

Lindsay Bleier
pr@smartsheet.com

Data & News supplied by www.cloudquote.io
Stock quotes supplied by Barchart
Quotes delayed at least 20 minutes.
By accessing this page, you agree to the following
Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.