Smartsheet ENGAGE ’18: 3 Key Takeaways from Smartsheet’s Annual User Conference

Andrew Pate, Product Marketing Specialist

November 20, 2018

Smartsheet and its work execution platform have been on a solid run over the past couple of years, with sustained user growth, increased functionality, a successful IPO (NYSE: SMAR) and hosting 2,000 Smartsheet users from around the world at a recent customer conference.

Smartsheet offers customers the best way to plan, capture, track, automate, and report on work at scale. In fact, more than 76,000 brands trust Smartsheet to accelerate business execution and navigate today’s collaborative working environment. I recently led the team that represented Oracle NetSuite at Smartsheet’s October ENGAGE conference in Seattle and returned back to Austin with some promising takeaways.

A Springboard Platform for Growth

In 2016, Smartsheet elected to implement NetSuite’s cloud ERP platform to run its finance and accounting operations. NetSuite is helping the Smartsheet finance team keep pace with the company’s growth, while alleviating the financial headaches that thousands of other NetSuite customers once confronted with their prior systems. Their finance team can now close their books faster, while increasing data accuracy.

NetSuite and Smartsheet Deliver Further Connectivity 

Announced at ENGAGE ’18, the Smartsheet Data Uploader(opens in new tab) allows customers of both NetSuite and Smartsheet to manipulate NetSuite data in Smartsheet for many business functions through a one-way flow of information. For example, users can report the status of projects, personnel changes, or even key financial metrics all from a single place. This is especially great news for finance teams that are looking to use both platforms to report their numbers, just as Smartsheet does.

The finance team at Smartsheet currently uses this flow of NetSuite data for monthly account reconciliations and period over period variance analysis.

Monthly Account Reconciliations: With NetSuite, automation simplifies and accelerates the intake of account balances. All accounts to be reconciled are compiled and presented in a single Smartsheet, allowing the finance team to work collaboratively and track progress against schedule. The team also has the ability to auto-assign team members, automatically request updates and approvals, and receive notifications of at-risk tasks in order to reduce risks and eliminate repetitive tasks.

Period over Period Variance Analysis: During period end close, Smartsheet uploads the prior period financials side by side with the current period financials and uses formulas in Smartsheet to calculate the variance across periods. Selected variances can then be assigned to team members for analysis.

A Growing Partnership 

NetSuite and Smartsheet have both realized the benefits that supporting one another can offer. Trading appearances at two previous SuiteWorlds and two ENGAGE conferences over the past couple of years is only the beginning. Both Oracle NetSuite and Smartsheet have made it a priority to become closer working partners throughout the forthcoming years, with talks to attend SuiteWorld 2019 already underway.

NetSuite has packaged the experience gained from tens of thousands of worldwide deployments over two decades into a set of leading practices that pave a clear path to success and are proven to deliver rapid business value. With NetSuite, you go live in a predictable timeframe — smart, stepped implementations begin with sales and span the entire customer lifecycle, so there's continuity from sales to services to support.