Q & A with Chris Matthews of Specialized Bicycle

About Specialized Bicycle

Specialized Bicycle is a global manufacturer of bicycles and bicycle equipment.

Briefly describe your team

I run the global marketing team across Spain, Italy, Central Europe, France, Asia, Japan, the UK and US. We provide the marketing strategy, advertising, print and collateral guidelines, web content and product specifications to the international subsidiaries. From there, the subsidiaries handle the rollouts with their local market retailers and media outlets.

We have 12 international team members who are responsible for translating our materials in five languages.

How are you using Smartsheet.com?

I use Smartsheet to help my team keep track of the marketing initiatives we’re working on. We’ve used it for a variety of items when we need to update something across the regions and need a quick and easy way to collaborate on the translations, strategy, execution items and timeline.

When did you start using Smartsheet?

October, 2006

What issues were you looking to solve?

We needed a simple tool to solve a simple problem. Smartsheet works for us because it requires no training and the team was up and running in minutes. Before Smartsheet, solving a simple problem required 800 e-mails between people in different countries and time zones. We needed a way to minimize all the clutter. Additionally, I wanted a tool that would encourage the team get involved. I wanted to provide more transparency and improved accuracy of results from our team.

What stood out for you?

We tried other tools and they often made simple problems more complex. My team likes Smartsheet because they see it as an easy, efficient solution. It also created a sense of ‘clear pressure’ among the team. It made team members more accountable, more accurate and timelier with their updates.

What were you using before?

Excel

How did Smartsheet address what is unique to your business?

A great example is a recent project we completed using Smartsheet. We had a web form which needed to be translated into six languages. Normally, it would go into an Excel spreadsheet and we would send it to six people and I wouldn’t get any response or I would get competing responses from the same region. With Smartsheet, everyone can see the submissions for the entire team so it adds a sense of accountability and really encourages timely responses.

What results have you achieved from using Smartsheet?

To update something across regions used to take 2-3 weeks, now it only take two days using Smartsheet.