No one could have predicted the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For enterprises, it exposed areas where their lack of digital maturity meant they were ill-prepared for the fallout. And for German companies in particular, a culture of digital unreadiness meant needing to react quickly to continue business as usual.
Pre-COVID-19, a Smartsheet report explored the secrets and stumbling blocks of German digital transformation. We found that German companies were slightly behind the curve with 11% of digital transformation projects initiated 3-4 years ago compared to 20% in the US.
It subsequently makes sense that at the start of the pandemic, 73% of German companies saw delays and reductions in operations. And when asked by Smartsheet in October 2020 how prepared their business departments were to face the coming year, only 42% of German respondents replied ‘very’ (compared to 62% in the US).
Time to consolidate tools
Last year we looked deeper into the challenges of the shift to remote work and found that 63% of German executives are investing in team collaboration tools, 56% in project and work management tools, and 43% into workflow automation.
A leader in telecoms explained that “everyone uses different systems” to enable remote collaboration and with so many apps on phones and computers, working has become “a bit chaotic”. This adoption-at-speed has meant their company is relying on technology that is “broken and hasn’t been tested”.
This sentiment of disparate digital clutter is supported by a McKinsey report, which showed almost nine out of ten Mittelstand companies relied on “ad-hoc actions” and short-term solutions to ensure business continued during the beginning of the pandemic. As another EMEA IT leader explained:
“We've had our experimentation period. I think we probably need some consolidation: we’re paying multiple for what in essence is the same functionality… There’s a bit of clean up, there’s a bit of cost reduction.”
An IT leader in Energy
So what’s the solution to managing this chaotic digital landscape of overlapping tools and systems? Companies are now exploring multifunctional tools to help unify tech stacks across organisations, drive enterprise-wide transparency, and eliminate communication silos between teams.
“I use [Smartsheet] across every aspect of my role, from running projects and compiling reports for senior stakeholders, to organising virtual team events and hosting global training sessions for colleagues. It also helps our people make significant weekly time savings; one team reports an impressive 25% time reduction on routine weekly tasks since implementing the platform. With Smartsheet, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.”
Tomasz Kowalski, Senior Project Manager at Delivery Hero
“Smartsheet has offered us the ability to integrate other platforms, information flows, and workflows that our existing solutions were not able to meet. As we have developed these solutions, they have replaced stand-alone applications... And we have seen productivity increases within our product project management organization of 30% and 40%. Same head count, more projects, more improved customer experiences, simply by eliminating waste and utilizing a more efficient platform.”
Bryan Langford, Vice President, Implementation, Planning, and Support, Roche Diagnostics North America
Many have already chosen Smartsheet as the single solution to better manage the following:
Centralising data
Smartsheet provides one data source with multiple data views for varying levels of the same organisation. This means the team members on the ground can have a granular view and access to raw data, customers can access reports that are relevant to them, and stakeholders can see the bigger picture in an overview dashboard.
“Work was decentralised [as a result of Smartsheet]. Redundancy of data entry was eliminated. Status of KPIs is more timely and missing data is visible at the first glance.”An operations leader in manufacturing
Having a central communication and information hub ensures consistent data across the company by creating a common source of truth. This reduces errors and complex version control – and crucially it helps tighten data security. Smartsheet’s security controls mean your IT teams can decide who has access to what data, and when.
Boosting communication
“Clear, instant, and transparent customer communication helped many times to overcome the bottlenecks and the debates.”
A strategy leader in manufacturing on Smartsheet’s benefits
The value of good communication speaks for itself. Using Smartsheet to standardise operations puts everyone – both internal teams and customers – on the same page and speaking the same language. This transparency reduces confusion, misunderstandings and saves time otherwise lost to error and bottlenecks.
“Smartsheet empowers me to collaborate with GRC managers from around the world more efficiently, saving me 35% time per month on average, which is a fantastic outcome.”
Babak Mohtachemi, Delivery Hero’s Global Senior Director of Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC)
Flexible rollouts
A key concern of leadership roles looking to implement new technology is how to get employees using it.
That’s where Smartsheet’s integration capabilities (and open API) are game changing. Smartsheet enables teams to connect with tools they already know such as Google Suite, Microsoft, Dropbox, and Slack – to name a few. As a result, some companies have even replaced their expensive ERP systems with a tailored Smartsheet solution.
“Smartsheet's flexibility allows us to use it in various use cases including sheets, forms, dashboards, formulas, alerts, and notifications. These features also do not require intensive technical knowledge to be implemented.”
A leader from a German enterprise
This combines with an intuitive, no-code interface – making it easy-to-use with minimal training and different view options such as Gantt, project, and kanban views to suit everyone’s preferences.
“If you’re working in a cross-functional team and need automation and controls, but you don’t have budget for that kind of level of IT support, Smartsheet is an easy-to-get-started solution that really works.”
Stacie Barrett, Director of Internal Communications, Domino’s
As the pandemic has permanently changed working practices, there is an opportunity for German enterprises to learn from the digital chaos and emerge with unified tech stacks, consolidated processes, and transparent communication. Smartsheet is the multifunctional and dynamic solution to help them face the uncertainty of the immediate future – and the long-term.
"Smartsheet is essential to our work now, and it’s saved us over 1,000 hours so far. We've learned so much since we started using it, not only about how our business works best, but about technology in general.”
Thassilo König, Interim Manager Procurement and Advisory for Financial and Operational Services at HIT Holz
Read the case study here