Smartsheet.com Inc. is enhancing its collaboration software suite with new capabilities that allow employees to further automate some of the more repetitive, manual tasks they perform on a daily basis.

In turn, that should free up employees to focus on more important “high value” work, the company said. Smartsheet today was set to unveil its new automation features in an update to its platform at its inaugural ENGAGE customer conference at Bellevue, Washington. The new capabilities include automated approval requests and automated update requests, so employees can now use the Smartsheet platform to facilitate tasks such as getting purchase requests signed off automatically, the company said.

This is just the first of many new automation capabilities Smartsheet is planning to add to its platform in the coming months. In future, users will also be able to complete approvals requested through Smartsheet by e-signing through DocuSign or via their favorite communications tools including Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Hangouts, the company said.

Smartsheet also touted new notification features on its platform. The idea is to promote greater efficiency by alerting workers as soon as possible when specific changes are made to a sheet they’re working on. As such, users can now customize how they receive their notifications, so they can choose from their favorite messaging applications, email or push notifications on their smartphone via the Smartsheet application. The notifications are designed to alert users when actions need to be taken, or when certain tasks have been completed.

The new features are all aimed to help businesses become more efficient by leveraging automation to accelerate collaborative work processes, the company said. The company cites a newly published survey of knowledge workers it conducted as evidence of a need for more automation in the workplace. According to that survey, 42 percent of knowledge workers admit to spending more than 10 hours a week performing repetitive, manual tasks that could be automated. Moreover, 86 percent of workers said automation helps them become more efficient and productive.

Previous automation capabilities built into Smartsheet’s platform include a feature that allows businesses to automatically trigger reports based on how a form was completed. The platform allows users to remove the steps of manually creating, checking, and sending reports throughout various steps of their business processes.

“We’re entering a new era of collaborative work in which automation will drive significant improvements in productivity, efficiency and innovation for companies of all sizes, in all industries,” said Mark Mader, chief executive officer of Smartsheet. “Employees will be able to spend more time on high-value tasks, such as developing key relationships and improving products and services.”

Smartsheet said the new features are available now for customers on Business and Enterprise plans. The updates come after Smartsheet raised $52.1 million in a Series F funding round last May.

Image: Unsplash/Pixabay