by Renee Hunter

by Staff Writer

There are few better real-life illustrations of the old expression “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” than in the workplace, where individuals -- each with unique experiences, skills, and talents -- come together to drive common goals.

According to a study published in the European Journal of Business, Economics and Accountancy, effective teamwork is associated with a 70.5 percent increase in organizational productivity.
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But merely holding positions within the same company or department is not enough to transform a group of individuals into a team. So, what does make a team? Trust, shared goals, and accountability are three vital ingredients to creating a high-functioning team -- and to accelerating your team’s productivity.
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by Andy Lientz

As the role of IT departments continues to evolve to keep pace with the speed of business, the path forward can seem unclear. While many organizations are undergoing digital transformations to move their systems to the cloud, others aren’t sure how to move forward.

Wherever you find yourself and your organization, here are three actions you can take now to lay a solid groundwork for the future of IT.
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Ovum, an international analyst firm, has just released the latest in its series of “On the Radar” research reports that track vendors that are driving innovation in their markets. The report finds that Smartsheet “bears watching as a strong leader in the collaborative work execution category.”

Among Ovum’s findings:

• Smartsheet enables seamless employee collaboration through repeatable solutions.
• The Smartsheet work execution platform provides a connective tissue that will stop silos of engagement and end fragmented journey management.
• Smartsheet integrates with numerous cloud productivity suites and applications.
• The company's core value proposition is offering a no-code platform that addresses the business end user.
• The company's acquisition of Converse.AI allows users to build intelligent chatbots for automation.

According to the report: “The Smartsheet work execution platform provides a solution to the way enterprises need to work today by creating a persistent, shared conversational workspace where users can communicate and share content in one place. It brings content from other apps into one centralized workstream and creates a portal where users receive persistent messaging, alerts, notifications, activity streams, and content-sharing functionalities.”

Source: By OVUM at Smartsheet Blog
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by Stephen Danos on March 20, 2018

Executive dashboards are powerful business tools that can connect leaders to their entire organization through insightful data streams.

Embracing critical layers of visibility can make businesses more competitive by strengthening connections between C-level leaders, managers, individual contributors, and their stakeholders. In addition, company-wide visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) and business critical information help connect employees to the company’s strategic vision. Executive dashboards deliver the right information from different departments, helping business leaders make the best decisions.
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by Ignacio Martinez on April 26, 2018
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Thanks in large part to the proliferation of enterprise collaboration tools, organizations today face a new work paradigm. These tools, coupled with other advances in technology, have made collaboration and communication easier. Simultaneously, data is now more accessible and available to more people, and more easily shared — both inside and outside of an organization  — than ever before.

At the same time, one just needs to look at any news feed to see that IT leaders and other business leaders responsible for security and compliance are facing increased scrutiny around data security and privacy, as well as a greater demand for the ability to demonstrate compliance and adherence to new regulatory issues.

These changes create competing forces in an organization. People need visibility into and access to the data and information they need to get their work done, without compromising data security or regulatory compliance.
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by Ignacio Martinez on May 25, 2018
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We take very seriously the privacy of our customers as well as their interest in keeping the personal data they entrust to Smartsheet private and secure.

We’re pleased to announce that Smartsheet has updated our policies and practices in light of the changing privacy landscape, including the introduction of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which goes into effect today.
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You can read our updated Privacy Policy here.
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by Katy Beloof on January 24, 2018
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According to Gallup’s recent State of the Global Workplace report, 85% of employees are not engaged — or are actively disengaged — at work. The economic consequence of this translates to approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity.

Gallup defines this overwhelming majority of disengaged employees as those who consistently give you their time, but not their best efforts. These are employees who show up on time, put in their eight or nine hours, and head home, without contributing their best work or ideas. 

Finding and retaining top talent has been a concern for companies for quite some time. But keeping that talent engaged at work proves equally challenging — and failing to do so is costly. There may be an answer to this lost productivity in using automation to free up employee time to focus on more meaningful, business-critical work. 
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