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Techday NZ
22-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Smartsheet reports 260% growth in Australia & New Zealand
Smartsheet has reported 260% customer growth in Australia and New Zealand, with nearly 250% growth across the Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) region over the past five years. The company, which opened its first APJ office in Sydney five years ago, now supports clients such as Fiji Airways, First Sentier Investors, Foxtel Group, the Western Australian Mental Health Commission, Wine Australia, and the University of Adelaide. The partner ecosystem in APJ has also expanded by 30% year-over-year. Smartsheet has onboarded nearly 100 partners across 20 countries into its Smartsheet Aligned ecosystem, and recently opened an office in Japan. Helen Masters, Managing Director, APJ at Smartsheet, commented on the company's regional achievements and outlined plans for further growth. "As I travel around the Asia-Pacific and Japan region and meet with Smartsheet customers and partners, I've seen firsthand the impact of our AI-powered platform on hundreds of thousands of users. Their creativity and passion for the platform makes me enthusiastic for the future of Smartsheet and our growth objectives. It's clear this excitement has played a big part in the growth the company has experienced across the region. We opened our first APJ office in Sydney five years ago, and since then we've seen more than 260% customer growth in Australia and New Zealand, with nearly 250% growth across APJ. To help us build on this strong foundation, we have welcomed nearly 100 partners across 20 countries to the Smartsheet Aligned ecosystem, and have recently opened an office in Japan. And we're just getting started," said Masters. Masters also shared the company's strategy for future development and continued progress. "As I look forward to the future, I am excited to share our multi-point strategy for building on our progress, including investing in our product pipeline and further expanding our partner ecosystem." Smartsheet's engagement with regional enterprises has included support for collaboration and business process improvements. The company highlighted its contributions to Fiji Airways, where Smartsheet was used to improve operational reporting processes. By enabling real-time synchronisation and accessibility for crew reports, Fiji Airways has reduced reporting times from three to five days to mere hours, a reported 95% time savings. Another example cited was Foxtel Group's adoption of Smartsheet to manage 40 separate projects within a unified platform. This allowed the organisation to achieve comprehensive portfolio and project-level visibility, live dashboards, improved alignment, and informed decision-making. Masters explained the rationale behind Smartsheet's approach to enterprise support. "Smartsheet has helped organisations like these work intelligently and efficiently by redefining how work gets done. By combining AI-powered intelligence, enterprise-grade capabilities, and a commitment to user empowerment, Smartsheet enables teams to easily collaborate on multiple projects, ensuring everyone can access key data required to make smart decisions, and automating and facilitating communication — without sacrificing security or privacy," she said. In response to evolving business challenges, Smartsheet has made several product enhancements in recent years. Masters stated, "In the past five years, work has changed significantly, presenting new, often unforeseen challenges for businesses. In response to these changes, and in anticipation of those to come, Smartsheet has developed our most robust and user-friendly platform yet. Guided by customer feedback, we've redesigned the user experience, introduced new views, and embedded AI at the core. We are continually evolving, enhancing collaboration across work, content, and resources. We also facilitate enterprise-grade integrations with other platforms, ensuring that as organisations grow and their needs change, Smartsheet scales seamlessly with them." The company plans to further expand customer engagement and product awareness with the introduction of Smartsheet Summits in Australia, Singapore, and Japan. These events are intended to offer immersive opportunities for stakeholders to learn more about the platform and its impact in various industries. "Thanks to the growing interest in our products and solutions, we're excited to introduce our flagship events, Smartsheet Summits, into new countries this year. The event lineup will now include Australia, Singapore, and Japan. These in-person events provide immersive experiences for customers and partners to learn more about Smartsheet technology and to hear from customers how their experiences are driving success in their industries and countries," Masters said. The expansion of the partner ecosystem is a core component of the company's growth strategy. According to Masters, "Smartsheet Aligned, our partner program, includes an ecosystem of solution partners, system integrators, and referral partners. This network of expertise enables businesses to connect work, people, and technology, accelerating ROI by building bridges between solutions and companies. The partner ecosystem in APJ has seen a 30% year-over-year growth rate. Building on this momentum and our deep commitment to partners, we've set an ambitious goal to triple their contribution within the next three years. Partners will be central to our future success in the APJ region. A key element of our strategy involves actively recruiting larger organisations, with a strong emphasis on Global System Integrators (GSIs). To fuel our international expansion, particularly across Asia, we have introduced partner-only countries, like Indonesia and the Philippines, operating exclusively through strategic in-country partners to drive business growth and expansion." To increase support for its partners, Smartsheet plans to implement various initiatives. Masters added, "We will look to deepen the engagement with our strategic partners at an executive level, fostering robust relationships with leaders. We will also strengthen our foundational support by providing enhanced tools and training, empowering our internal teams and partners to collaborate effectively, drive mutual growth, and ensure exceptional customer satisfaction. For example, we plan to host partner bootcamps across APJ, including in Japan, Vietnam, and Australia in the coming quarters. The bootcamps give us an opportunity to enlist our partners in our program, roadmap, mission, and vision, and give them the chance to collaborate and learn so we can maximise our potential together." Masters concluded her remarks by acknowledging the contributions of the team and customers. "We will double down with our focus on our partner ecosystem to drive innovation and growth. By investing in our partner network expansion, we can deliver greater value and support to our customers and fuel achievement of their business goals. I'm proud to celebrate these milestones and company momentum across the region. This success wouldn't be possible without our dedicated, high-performing team and the trust of our customers. We're committed to continually earning their business."
News.com.au
14-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
High definition deal: Sky Racing, Foxtel Group renew partnership
For the first time, all three Sky Racing channels will be broadcast in high definition into Australian homes as part of the racing broadcaster's renewed deal with Foxtel Group. Under the new deal, Sky Racing – which broadcasts more than 150,000 races live annually across Australia and into more than 60 countries internationally – will continue to be featured on Foxtel, Foxtel Go and Foxtel Now. Sky Racing 1 and Sky Racing 2 will join Sky Thoroughbred Central in being available in high definition (HD) for all Foxtel Residential subscribers. Sky Racing 1 is home to wall-to-wall thoroughbred, greyhound and harness racing across Australia. Sky Racing 2 hosts international racing while Sky Thoroughbred Central is the premium home of NSW and Queensland thoroughbred racing, along with the world's premier global races. In another first, Foxtel Business customers (excluding licensed venues) will also have access to all three Sky Racing channels to broadcast at their venues. Foxtel Business customers include gyms, retail shops, reception areas, cafes and restaurants, hotels, aged care, hospitals, mining and workforce accommodation. 'Foxtel Group and Sky Racing have a long-standing partnership spanning more than 20 years and we are thrilled that our Foxtel Residential customers can not only enjoy uninterrupted coverage of the best thoroughbred, harness and greyhound races in Australia and across the world, but they can now do so in crisp high definition,' Foxtel Group Head of Sport and Content Partnerships Nic Goard said. 'As part of the new agreement, we are also introducing Sky Racing coverage to all our Foxtel Business (excluding Licensed Venues) customers, adding value to a premium content offering for our commercial subscribers.' Sky Racing Head of Racing and Sports Media Partnerships Selina Rumble said the new partnership with Foxtel would enhance racing coverage in Australia, with all races now broadcast in High Definition on the big screen. 'Our relationship with Foxtel is one of the longest broadcast partnerships in Australian sport and we're delighted to continue to grow and innovate the way in which all tri-code racing is broadcast and promoted,'' she said. 'Together we're bringing live racing coverage into thousands of homes across Australia, complementing our direct distribution of Sky Racing into circa 4000 retail venues and close to 70 different countries. This partnership is a great outcome for Sky, Foxtel and the racing industry.'
