Growing Businesses in Brazil

Customer Inventure Management has quite a story to tell. This week the company, a leading business developer that helps clients establish and run subsidiaries in the Brazilian oil and maritime sectors, had their story profiled in the Google Apps Marketplace. It’s a compelling example of a “best practice” for using Smartsheet for online project management and CRM along with Google Apps. In addition to the Google article, GigaOM/ReadWriteWeb recently focused on how Inventure has cut through  international barriers and collaborates with clients using Smartsheet.

Businesses, including start-ups and multi-billion dollar firms, that want to establish and develop a footprint in Brazil quickly realize that the Brazilian business and legal environments are extremely complex. Add in language and cultural barriers and it’s downright daunting.

Inventure helps clients get through the process faster because it provides instant online access to operational and sales data through Google Apps and Smartsheet. Through the extranet, clients can see all specifics of the day-to-day operations, reviewing changes to the sales pipeline and making updates on daily tasks.

Janis Majors, Project Manager at Inventure Management, says his company’s client portfolio is growing so rapidly that finding the right tools was make or break. “We need tools that can ramp with us as we keep up with the business.”

One of Majors’ key considerations was finding a tool that the staff could access, no matter what time zone they were in. Equally important was making sure that the team was able to use the tool immediately, without training.

“We tested more than 20 software packages that integrate with Google Apps, and when the dust settled only one contender was still standing: Smartsheet, because it is intuitively easy to use, and at the same time actually manages to track everything we need to track. We decided to go all in, and implemented Smartsheet as our only system for project management, task management and information sharing, internal as well as with clients.”

In addition to project management, Inventure also utilized Smartsheet for its CRM system because it is easy to use both with internal staff and external partners and clients. “I was thrilled to discover that we had an alternative to Salesforce.com,” says Majors. “They are the 800 pound gorilla in the CRM market, but the learning curve is so steep, it takes a lot of time to learn and it’s very tough to change it once you have it set up. Smartsheet is flexible and requires no training for my clients. If you know how to use a spreadsheet, you know how to use Smartsheet.”

Thanks to the team at Inventure for telling their story. Hearing how it’s adding value in their business makes us excited to do what we do everyday.

- Jodi