Article

This automation engine connects data-driven processes across your enterprise platforms

by Diana Yeh

July 9, 2020

Today, I’m excited to announce that Bridge, our brand new no-code automation engine, is now available for Smartsheet customers. Bridge automates multi-step, cross-platform processes, like adding new leads in your customer relationship management (CRM) software, getting updates on shipment statuses, or surfacing your most recent Smartsheet comments inside a sheet cell for easier status updates.

Too often, the business processes that we use every day rely on multiple systems of record (SOR) to hold data and perform work, which usually require manual steps and human intervention to bridge the gap. 

With Bridge, you can make these processes more accurate and efficient by connecting your systems and automating routine tasks. Now, your team can spend more time innovating on crucial work that moves your organization forward. 

Unlock innovation by automating processes

We’re all human. When we rely on manual processes for exchanging data between platforms, it doesn’t take much to make a mistake. And while it’s normal to occasionally drop the ball, if there’s an error inputting a new lead into your CRM, that could result in lost or delayed business opportunities. 

With the automation provided through Bridge, you don’t need to worry about anyone dropping the ball. Instead, your team can spend less time copying and pasting data from system to system, and more time working on fulfilling projects and work that matter most.  

If you use Bridge, you can eliminate repetitive, manual business processes so that your teams can deliver quality work, faster. You can automate these data-driven steps to ensure the accurate, efficient, and timely completion of critical business processes.

To get slightly more technical, process types can range from simple data transfers to advanced, multi-step workflows across platforms. These workflows can be completely automated by integrating your business systems. 

However, you can still connect with your teammates and stakeholders for approvals and comments in Smartsheet by integrating various chat-based tools, such as Google Hangouts Chat, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. By connecting enterprise software platforms, Bridge helps you better integrate data that is commonly stuck in data silos.

We were able to take our implementation team’s automated emails outside of Salesforce and move into Bridge through the use of an API with SendGrid. This has saved us time and allowed us to accelerate process improvements and process changes by eliminating the need to go through our Salesforce administrator and various approval stages. As a result, we can continue to scale and optimize our team’s workflow. We are better empowered to own our process in its entirety, and as a result, accelerate our team’s ability to support the business as our business adds additional products and services that require implementation support.

Rachel Schiele, Director, Professional Services & Customer Success at Motus

Integrate and access data across business systems

Bridge connects SOR to the right processes, which empowers you to deliver actionable insights on the health of your business. As a result, your team will be able to make informed decisions by integrating your systems to create a single source of truth that allows you to access the most up-to-date information and data. This data visibility can help you make even more confident decisions. 

By integrating your enterprise systems, you can trigger workflows and ensure data alignment across platforms. This can help improve efficiency and lead to efficient and high-quality work execution. Bridge also automates processes across more than two third-party platforms at once, no Smartsheet required. 

Achieve better business alignment 

So far, we’ve covered how automation can help fix error-prone processes and how integrating data systems limits information silos. In addition, Bridge can help you solve the complex challenges that are unique to your business with advanced workflows. 

You can use Bridge’s simple user interface to build complex business workflows without writing a single line of code. If you need to build a new configuration between systems or adapt an existing one, you can make quick changes to meet your evolving business needs.

If you want to learn more about the current integrations that Bridge supports, please check out the technical documentation. Our Bridge product team is hard at work at adding more to the roadmap, and custom integrations are available in partnership with our professional services organizations.

Bridge is a premium product available to customers that have Enterprise and Premier plans.

Learn more about Bridge by Smartsheet or contact us today.