Request for Gmail/Outlook Integration in Team Plan
K
Kulbir
I'm writing to request the inclusion of Gmail and Outlook integration in the SmartSuite team plan.
Adding this integration would Improve workflow efficiency for small to medium teams while increasing the value proposition of the team plan. It can potentially boost user adoption and satisfaction. Thank you for considering this request. Please let us know if there is any possibility of this.
Thanks
Kulbir
M
Mary Davy
Hi!
This is NOT a rant or complaint or anything intende to be negative. It is just another perspective to consider ...
I think it is dificult to be a small entity trying to build with and integrate SmartSuite into an overall workflow when some of the key features we have been waiting for (and anticipated) when we signed on with a PAID TEAM Plan are made available only if we upgrade to PROFESSIONAL or ENTERPRISE Plans. My examples are folders and outlook & gmail integrations. These are integral to productive use whether you are big or small. Affordability is compromised when these types of key capabilities are blocked by higher pay wall. I want to be building an effective foundation that will facilitate scaling ... I do not want to wait to build my foundation tools/structure until I have already begun scaling up.
One of the reasons I signed up a year ago (among many) was that I admired the SS pricing process. . . . i.e. prices increased based on how much I used the application (more records, more storage, more automations, more security, more users, etc.) At the same time you made all the FEATURES & CAPABILITIES of the application available to ALL PLANS. That way we could learn and build good foundations to grow on without the high costs of of each of the individual features.
I don't know if I am being clear. Consider in construction, industry apps like Procore, Coconstruct, Contractor Forman, etc. Can have a have a $75 to $150 per user cost BUT can (if you pay for it) provide a full scope of capabilities to manage your business in one package. NO, NOT CUSTIMIZED, but functional and already built for you. I have tried several of these over the last 20 years, some very good, most end up being "just ok" because they force you to adapt to them instead of adapting to the user needs. But again, small companies often choke on the start-up costs of these because there is not (initally) enough users to support the overhead required to adopt and operate the software. Medium companies waste much time and resources because they couldn'y afford to learn, adopt and install the software and systems while they were smaller and USE them to grow.
In our case, I have high hopes for SmartSuite and retained a great consultant to help us start building a custom billing and reporting system. Requires most of the workflows of a standard billing system but we are looking for some pretty extensive and customized output. We have a field service time tracker (BusyBusy) which is pretty good for the field data collection with a friendly user interface. Costs ... First BUSYBUSY with their per user fes, then SmartSuite ... then needed more automation capability than built into SS so... add ZAPIER. Workflow need more complex than basic Zapier so UPGRADE to higher plan capability and cost ... then output capability built into SS document designer not adequte so we add FILLOUT which requires us to add GOOGLE DOCS (we happen use microsoft apps) ... and we still have not completed the workflow for us.
When I discuss this with colleages, most want to jump to our process or critique individual choices in the Tech Stack. I would ask that you resist that and just see the example I intend. That is, we CAN build wonderful, customized and ultimately cost effective solutions with no-code apps ... HOWEVER, at the start of the process for a small company (single or few users) the OVERHEAD COSTS of getting started can be quite high ... more than many industry stadardized programs ... so many companies settle for these ultimately poor substitutes.
I am doing a really crappy job of trying to say that I know SS is fantastic and a great investment for us at any level. I understand that SS also needs to have a healthy financial footing to continue developing the software and providing their superior product support. I am just hoping that you would consider staying with more of your original pricing model, i.e. provide fundamentally all the operational features to all PAID Users and increase fees based on application usage (.i.e., number of records, storage, number of automations, etc.) If it could work for SS financially, I believe it can be an excellent strategy to help new and smaller businesses build SS into their foundations right from the beginning.
Thanks for considering ...
C
Christi Russell
Mary Davy Thank you for saying some of the things I'm always thinking. I'm also in the construction (residential remodeling) world and have tried a number of the construction-specific platforms. With all of them I would have needed to change my processes to work with their system. But, having spent a lot of time getting our workers to be consistent in the way we do things, I just wasn't willing to ask them to change to make my part of their world easier. That's where SmartSuite came in. I come from a world where I used Salesforce on a daily basis and made it do whatever I wanted. Once I figured out that SmartSuite was the Salesforce of the not-sales world, I went all in.
The email integration on the Team level would be magical for us. In some cases, I have 3 different people (sales, design, finance) corresponding with the same client in different email threads with everyone forwarding emails back and forth. If they could all send through SmartSuite and those emails would be captured seamlessly all in one spot, our collective life would change.
I too expected email integration and folders to be widely available. I don't expect to max out on storage anytime soon on the Team level so am trying to avoid moving up. With construction costs the way they are, I'm constantly trying to cut costs where I can. It's more important for me to have all my team members included than to make my left a little easier. With the Team plan, I can afford to have everyone on board but may have to pick and choose if I move to a higher tier :(
M
Mary Davy
Hey Christi Russell. Thanks for replying. I know I was really in a hurry to get a thought down and did some rambling. Thanks for taking the time to add your applications to the thread. Happy 4th!
Jon Darbyshire
Hey Kulbir, thanks for your feedback! I have a few more questions for you:
- Could you please elaborate on the specific features you would like to see in the Gmail/Outlook integration?
- How do you envision this integration improving your team's workflow efficiency?
- Are there any specific challenges your team is currently facing that you believe this integration would solve?