A leading U.S. beverage manufacturer of bottled water and soft drinks sought to modernize and optimize its real estate management and new product development processes. With a vast portfolio of owned and leased properties and an expanding product development pipeline, the company required real-time visibility, automation, and centralized oversight to ensure cost-effective decision-making and efficient product launches. By partnering with M2, a Smartsheet Platinum Partner, the company implemented customized solutions and apps powered by Smartsheet that enhanced real estate tracking, financial forecasting, and new product development workflows. These solutions resulted in improved operational efficiency, streamlined collaboration, and data-driven leadership decision-making, allowing the company to scale efficiently while reducing unnecessary expenditures.
Client Challenges
Decentralized & Inefficient Real Estate Management
The company lacked a centralized system to track owned and leased properties, leading to:
- Limited visibility into property locations, ownership, and lease details
- Inefficient tracking of key expenditures, operational expenses, and budget forecasting
- Missed opportunities to optimize space utilization and expansion efforts
Lack of Standardized New Product Development Processes
The company’s new product development pipeline was managed inconsistently, causing:
- Delays in project execution due to the lack of a standardized framework
- Limited real-time visibility into financials, roadblocks, and overall product progress
- Collaboration challenges among product teams working in the field and manufacturing sites
Manual, Time-Consuming Tracking & Reporting
Real estate data and product development workflows were managed through disparate spreadsheets and manual updates, leading to:
- Slow decision-making due to outdated information
- Difficulty in identifying budgetary inefficiencies and tracking key reporting metrics
- Missed deadlines due to the lack of automated notifications and alerts
M2's Customized Solutions & Implementation
Solution 1
Centralized Real Estate Management System
M2 implemented a Smartsheet-powered Real Estate Management solution, providing leadership with real-time visibility and automated tracking which provided the following:
- Consolidated all owned and leased properties into a centralized dashboard with detailed property metrics
- Automated tracking of lease agreements, ownership details, and financial expenditures, ensuring proactive cost management
- Integrated forecasting tools to flag key operational expenses and upcoming lease renewals, preventing unnecessary spending
- Enabled drill-down functionality, allowing leadership to assess property-level data and optimize expansion decisions
Solution 2
New Product Development PMO & Portfolio Management
To enhance efficiency and consistency in new product development, M2 designed a multi-tiered Smartsheet Control Center solution, allowing the company to do the following:
- Automatically generate project templates for each new product, ensuring a consistent and structured approach from concept to manufacturing
- Consolidate all product development projects into a single portfolio dashboard, providing leadership with real-time financial oversight and risk management insights
- Develop role-based dashboards for product managers, allowing teams to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and monitor KPIs at the product-line level
- Implement Smartsheet WorkApps, enabling role-based access and mobile functionality for field teams, improving on-the-go collaboration
Solution 3
Automated Reporting & Workflow Optimization
To reduce manual reporting efforts and improve operational efficiency, we did the following:
- Automated notifications and alerts, ensuring timely reporting of key dates, budget milestones, and lease renewals
- Integrated AI-powered financial tracking, enabling real-time budget updates and forecasting for both real estate and product development teams
- Streamlined collaboration workflows, allowing cross-functional teams to access data dynamically, reducing miscommunication and redundancy
Results Achieved
Optimized Real Estate Oversight & Cost Savings
- 100% centralized visibility into real estate assets, ensuring efficient space utilization
- 10% reduction in operational expenses through automated budget tracking and forecasting
- Proactive lease management, eliminating last-minute renewals and unexpected costs
Increased Efficiency in Product Development Lifecycle
- 30% acceleration in product launch timelines due to automated workflows and standardized project templates
- 50% improvement in cross-team collaboration, reducing miscommunication between field teams, manufacturing, and corporate leadership
- Improved leadership oversight, allowing executives to prioritize investments in high-performing product lines
Automated Reporting & Reduced Administrative Workload
- Eliminated manual reporting, saving teams hundreds of hours annually in tracking and updating data
- Increased budget forecasting accuracy, ensuring cost-effective expansion and product development decisions
- Automated workflow tracking, reducing missed deadlines and improving accountability
Looking to optimize real estate investments, streamline new product development, and drive operational efficiency?
Contact M2 today to learn how our solutions can improve your company’s performance and cost savings.
