Firstly, let me declare my interest in Smartsheet. Eighteen months ago, while researching cloud based project and planning solutions, task list, calendars, Gantt charts etc., with the help of a few colleagues, we concluded Smartsheet was the best on offer and sensibly priced, e.g. a medium sized company with 3 senior managers could have licences for £34.95 pm or £345 for the year and that would allow them to collaborate with unlimited fellow workers and clients. 
Since then, I have been involved in helping a number of clients to implement Smartsheet and see the results, which are mainly focused on how Smartsheet has allowed them to collaborate across teams, with clients, contractors, as never before with flat spreadsheets.
The BIG question for many has been could Smartsheet, a cloud based solution, be used as a serious planning tool, despite the lack of some of the detailed resource planning available in the more traditional and expensive solutions. Microsoft Project is the typical benchmark on this.
The answer comes in from 100% buy in of users, who actually claim to LOVE Smartsheet, YES, LOVE!
This against a background history in many organisations of planning systems being implemented, often at great cost, but for a variety of reasons, they fail to get their users to BUY-IN to their regular daily use.
Given their time again, these organisations, would have maybe chosen a less capable system that achieved the majority of their requirements and was used with enthusiasm, in preference to one that COULD have given them 100% technical capability but achieved a poor uptake AND with the associated cost savings
How come Smartsheet is so well liked? They are constantly developing and improving the product in response to feedback requests and these solutions address real world problems, such as really cool ideas from Smartsheet on how to make our lives easier and get more benefit from the effort we put in at work:
Capturing ideas on a mobile web form
I use a Smartsheet web form to enter my business expenses as they crop up,
mileage, food, drink etc and doing it on the Iphone keyboard is a bit small, so I tried this voice entry and wow! – I love this idea and wonder how come I haven’t used it before…
Good ideas have a habit of arriving at inconvenient moments, usually when pen and paper are unavailable or using a keyboard is perilous. A technology I use to get around this is Apple iOS voice to text. On the iPhone, whenever you’re presented with a text box iOS almost always includes a microphone icon. That means, when you’re on the go, you can record a new idea with the same ease as conducting a Google voice search. Read the rest…
http://www.smartsheet.com/blog/capture-ideas-mobile-web-form?s=10
Smartsheet Loves Mobile 
Erik Rucker’s blog – May 24 2013 – 3:03pm – Add new comment
Today marks the release of version 1.2 of our native iOS app for Smartsheet. Apple users will get into the app and get their work done even faster than before with this latest update. We’ve made the grid more interactive, attachments & discussions easier to work with, and eliminated up to 40% of th… Read more
More ideas and case studies… We know Smartsheet is great for Event planning because the Yorkshire Mafia and many others have told us so.
See the article here… Project Manage your Event planning
http://www.smartsheet.com/blog/project-manage-event-planning
What about Estate Agents? They like it in the UK too, but here is a case study from the USA, what they call Real Estate…
http://www.smartsheet.com/blog/smartsheet-real-estate-lead-gen
What sort of companies can benefit from using Smartsheet?
Answer
Any company that would like to improve their planning and onward measurement of their results can benefit, so a system of continuous improvement can be implemented in the organisation. There really aren’t ANY companies that cannot benefit from using Smartsheet at some level.
Will our data be safe and will we have backups in the event of disaster?
Answer
Smartsheet has an impeccable record of Data security and system availability plus because your DATA IS SAFE, if your premises get washed away or fire damaged or your equipment is stolen, you only need your sign in credentials to access all your data from your new premises. So, the answer for many companies is… safer than ever before!
See also http://www.smartsheet.com/security-info
We would like to review our Project Management Methodology how can you help?
Answer
Working with our Partners at Project Plan Services we offer a comprehensive service of Consultancy and Implementation, plus advice on Microsoft SharePoint, Project Server and Project Online.
