Dashboard Add-On Change

Stan Adell

As new Smartsheet users we were excited to start implementing Smartsheet and had plans to use the Dashboard. It is disappointing to learn without warning that the Dashboard has been removed and will be an expensive add-on for Team licenses. Was anyone else aware this was happening? Will you just plan to get by without the Dashboard or pay the price? 

Ellen Friedman

I was aware (since last week) and was very disappointed! It's a lot of money, considering our company as whole is not Smartsheet savy, only a few of us. We will do without the dashboard. Perhaps there will be another product down the line that will incorporate dashboards.

Jamison

I am pretty sure they sent an email letting us know that the dashboard would be shut off in early March. 

 

I don't agree with how they are pricing it.  It should be a great addition to an already very good product. It doesn't really differentiate them, it brings them up to speed with their competitors. 

 

If it has to be an add-on, the cost should at least be scaled with the number of users. I don't know what the breakdown of users per team is, but unless small teams are a tiny fraction of their base, this doesn't seem very smart to me. I can't imagine that their b/e point on this investment it optimized at $3k / team while alienating a good chunk of their user base. 

 

I'd for sure go to an annual contract if I could get the dashboard feature. Maybe that is a way to price it into the model?

 

On a side note, I work for a very large company (>40k employees) that is in need of a flexible PM tool. I was all set to champion Smartsheet with my leadership after using the dashboard feature as it is the one place I felt SS was really lacking (multiple choice on a drop down, attachment columns, and form improvements are a few others :-))  I am not implying I can get an entire company to buy into a new platform, but all it takes is a small group to realize the advantages gained by a tool like this for it to catch fire. I think that is the real risk that Smartsheet is taking by approaching the pricing model this way.

 

Just my $0.02

 

Looking forward to any updates from Smartsheet.

Stan Adell

You validated my concern, Jamison.

We worked hard to get a non-company approved software into our system because there was a void. I felt once we prove it is a viable option many other departments will want it and it will grow. However, it was an almost 300% increase since we purchased it last month and I will not be able to justify that cost and may have to re-evaluate one of the other options we considered. Smartsheet is a great solution for the features and values when we bought it, so I hope they reconsider the pricint model. We would consider a reduced price based on users or annual contract, but that doesn't seem to be an option.

 

J. Craig Williams

I too have concerns.

As a small business and supporting other small businesses, I can't see the cost justification.

 

Craig

Stan Adell

J. Craig Williams, You seem to have a lot of visibility and credibility here. I hope they will listen to you because my concerns have been ignored. We chose Smartsheet and expected the Dashboard so I am disappointed because I can't justify the extra cost and will have to get by without it when there are other solutions that might be worth looking at. We like Smartsheet, but this wasn't a good way to build product loyalty.

 

Ricky A

I agree with everyone on this thread. Charging $3K for an add-on that gets SS at least on par with virtually every other PM software on the market is ludacris. The dashboard annual cost is less than the cost of my entire userbase annually. How does this make any sense as a viable business model? I've spoken at length about this pricing strategy with my SS sales rep and SS is holding to their guns. I think we'll be looking for another PM software suite in the very near future if this is any indication of future functionality releases.

Stan Adell

I am pleased to be able to implement the new Sights feature into our workflow. The Sights feature was released today and I have started creating very useful Sights. (It takes awhile to get used to not calling them Dashboards). It is going to be a great feature as it matures. My first Sight includes my most common reports for each team's projects, overdue taks, etc.

Tim Meeks

i was able to convince our agency to purchase, but we are on an enterprise plan with over 65 licensed users. 

 

I think they clearly need a non-enterprise Dashboard price for small businesses that cost less.

 

Tim

Rebecca Leon

Following up on this discussion...

 

My organization has been using Smartsheet since it was a free, full-functionality service (when you weren't limited to a # of owned sheets in a free account and paid accounts didn't exist).

 

When free became a trial, we were happy to purchase. Smartsheet became an integral part of our operations, so we eventually upgraded to a Team account. At one point in time we had Dashboards as part of our premium functionality. Dashboards was then disabled and upgraded to Sights, an add-on for an additional cost. We considered Dashboards a selling point for the Team account. When we were informed it would disappear for improvements, we never imagined that meant we’d have to buy it back!

 

Why couldn’t Smartsheet grandfather in Sights for its long-term customers or let us keep a downgraded Dashboards functionality? Any news on the possibility of a less robust version of Sights (i.e., Dashboards) for the small business customers?

Kennedy Stomps

Hi Rebecca-- I've asked our Sales team to reach out to you personally to respond to your questions and concerns. Let me know if you don't hear from someone shortly and I'll be happy to follow up on your behalf!

Preston

I would like to echo the sentiments expressed by Rebecca. We have come to rely on Smartsheet and it's changed our way of doing business for the better. While our team license is relatively new, we began with Dashboards as well. Sights does seem to offer increased visibility amongst other benefits, but the price tag is a hard sell when there's already an annual subscription fee involved. Are there other options available? 
I appreciate your time, Kennedy.