April Question of the Month - Join the conversation and receive a badge

Arsineh

Hi everyone,

We're ready to kick off April  with a new question and opportunity for you to earn some badges and points while getting to know your peers!  

How would you like to see Generative AI applied to help you do more with Smartsheet?

Get creative or share a practical use case -- all ideas and thoughts welcome! If it’s something you’ve already tried out. Let us know how it went!

(Share your answer in the comments below.)

What inspired this month's question? With new generative technology like ChatGPT and DALL-E making recent headlines, we've seen a growth in curiosity and interest around what this means for each of us in the way we engage with the world, the work we do, and how we collaborate with one another. Last month, Ben Canning, Senior Vice President of Product at Smartsheet, sat down to discuss how generative AI will enable Smartsheet users to be even more effective. 

Now we want to hear from you! Drop your answer in the comments below.

About Question of the Month:

We kick off each month with a new question. These monthly ice breakers are just one way to help you get to know your Smartsheet peers and rack up some badges and points in the process.

Everyone who participates by answering the question prior to the end of the month will automatically receive a unique participant badge once the question closes at the end of the month.

In addition to the participant badge, the top three answers based on Community member votes will receive the Top Answer badge. To vote on an answer click on the upvote icon associated with an answer in the comments below. Multiple votes allowed and encouraged!

Alison Clancy

I know @Brian_Richardson has a great response for this one 😉

Andria Hoyle

What’s next for Smartsheet’s use of Generative AI, for me, is lending a human voice to data, or “telling the story.”

We've seen how Generative AI can help with formulas, etc, but I would like to see Generative AI enhance my life by summarizing in Fun Size packets, across a myriad of workspaces/assets—and maybe even “telling the why” or providing soft-side notes/ a certain tone. I know what my data is telling me, in various places, in all of my Smartsheet assets—all info’s in Sheet Summaries, Activity Logs, Automations. It’d be awesome if these summaries could lend a human voice, either literally or figuratively. Hey, with Spotify DJ app, it feels nice to feel like a human is talking you through what’s happening or happened in a way that is approachable and organized! :)

I want the most from AI-generated recaps that span my jungle of workspaces and make handovers, coming back from PTO better.

“Welcome back, Matt! Andria took care of {{5}} open tasks for you while you were out. She did a great job completing {{task name}}. She did leave a comment for you that she needs your help with {{task name}} so be sure to connect with her before your Tech Transfer meeting at {{time}} today. We’re {{timeframe}} away from thaw on {{program name, batch number}}! We’re {{Risk Level}} approving batch records for {{batch record name}} which we’ll need by {{production schedule date}}. Be sure to follow up with {{Task Owner}} who needs to approve {{batch record}} by {{date}}. Yesterday, {{Contact}} reassigned {{task name}} from themselves to {{Task Owner}} with comment “{{comment}}” so reach out to {{Task Owner}}. Be sure {{Project Owner}} is aware of the update, since this is a {{priority level}} task and we may need to rush processing on {{quarantine report row 1}}….”

LizTo

I've already played around with ChatGPT answering Smartsheet-related questions, which is sometimes helpful, and sometimes less so when is gives me Excel formulas instead.

Ok, so I'd love to see AI-capabilities in Smartsheet that can:

• Write rock solid and foolproof formulas based on natural language inputs
• Generate images to create even more incredible dashboards (e.g. headers, dividers, buttons with text, whole layouts, etc.)
• Draft the text that will be sent during automations - including with {{}} fields, either as updates or update requests - since I've found that a lot of the success of Smartsheet automations comes down to the text that is written to accompany them.
• Have a smart way to easily check for duplicate names in a sheet even if there are small errors (like first and last name being switched, spelling errors, or the inclusion of titles or middle names)

Deanna Vandermeer

I absolutely love Andria's and LizTo's responses and am having a hard time coming up with additional ideas but would like to see AI-capabilities that help enable more powerful workflows and am pleased to hear that Smartsheet is investing more in this area.

MikeWhite

I would like to see AI in Smartsheet be able to create a Smartsheet solution for a conversation about an upcoming project or product we are launching. Crude ex. "Create a project management solution using an agile product development approach, for a Database product that will have x DBAs, x Prod Mgrs, x software devs, etc."

This would then start the conversation about the other information the AI chat would need to create the solution. Ex. Do you want a project dashboard? What type of reports do you want? etc.

The outcome would be a workspace created for the project with the starting elements and the connections between the sheets and the draft logic for dashboards, reports, emails, etc.

Jenn Hilber

I’d like to see Generative AI that helps build a solution and continue to make enhancement suggestions. It would be amazing if I could create a dashboard and AI tells me what needs to be created (and maybe creates it for me)… metric widget needs grouped report by… sheet needs (these) column types, etc.

AI support for complex formulas: Nested IF statements and complex INDEX/MATCH with COLLECT. Suggested Health formula when column name is Health. Suggested formula improvements to eliminate helper columns when unnecessary to help cut down on the cell count in a sheet.

Automation workflows suggested based on repeated tasks, such as record a date or assign a task. Notification to specific users at certain time based on user activity.

Reports based on filters, column moves, and hidden columns suggested or created for users that create filters or change columns… “suggested report based on your sheet modification - click to create (and Smartsheet builds it)”

just a few ideas!

RebSchr

There have been several fantastic answers already!! I really loved Andria’s and LizTo suggestions! Here are my thoughts on Generative AI features that I could see myself using.

 

• I would like to see Generative AI help build solutions based on my habits.  As an example, my car has the ability to learn my habits. Based on these habits, it presents me with options of customizing and memorizing my preferences. 
• Predicting formulas based on previous uses (formulas tend to be the most complicated item to build). 
• It could also suggest pages for me to review or open automatically in separate tabs (I currently do this via the browser) based on due dates contained in the sheets/reports.
• I would love for it to automatically build out dashboards by selecting various sheets without having to build them yourself – essentially an automated report builder in the dashboard itself with suggested or automated layouts.
• It would also be fantastic for me to use voice commands as a search feature - Like using Siri or Hey Google - "Hey Smartsheet, show me all the sheets that have tasks due today." or "Hey Smartsheet, show me the formula for looking up X,Y,Z on my sheet."

 

I am sure there will be tons of ways for Generative AI to help support my day-to-day tasks in Smartsheet and look forward to seeing others input on this!

 

Rebekah Schreader

JCardinal

I second @LizTo's suggestion:

"Write rock solid and foolproof formulas based on natural language inputs."

Cassi

I am still new to all of this, but I feel like there are great suggestions here for the future growth of AI. I like the suggestion from @RebSchr about learning habits. I think that is key and the prediction of formulas. I even think that making predictions of the next steps would be helpful off to the side to recommend what to do next if you do this.....

I cant wait to learn more!

CatSusk

Great suggestions so far!

I'm a newbie. I'd love to get context specific help. For example, "Hey Smartsheet! How can I show which tasks are behind schedule on this sheet?"

Dballinger

I'm new to the platform! "Smartsheet can you provide me with an update on project X status?" Being new to a platform and learning all the features can be challenging, and so support that its specific and on-demand could be really impactful.

Kyle Black

I have an incident and RCCA system out on smartsheet. It would be cool if an AI could help in the root cause process to help determine causes and show or predict trends or risk.

Alison Clancy

@CatSusk @Dballinger Welcome newbies! So happy you're here (and kicking things off with great answers already!).

Kleerfyre

I think I would like to see a ChatGPT like feature that would help create formulas based on what you are trying to do. That way, you could dictate to the AI what you are trying to accomplish and it could generate the formula for you that would best fit your use case.

Michelle Lempert

I don't want Chat GPT or any of those things! Ah!