Empowering Small Teams to Achieve More with Smartsheet

By Sarfraz Ali

UK businesses are at a critical crossroads in an era of unprecedented economic complexity. The recently announced UK government’s Autumn Budget with its £40bn in tax increases and heightened employer National Insurance contributions has created a challenging landscape in which teams are expected to do more with less.

Slower growth, increased taxation, and tightening budgets are putting significant pressure on businesses across sectors, meaning traditional approaches like across-the-board cuts or simple workforce reductions are no longer sustainable or practical. In the face of these challenges, companies must empower teams of all sizes to continue delivering on their objectives through fostering a culture of innovation, strategic resource allocation, and adaptive management. This will require leaders to reimagine organisational structures, invest in targeted efficiency improvements, and create agile frameworks that allow teams to maximise their potential while remaining within financial margins and continuing to prioritise long-term strategic goals.

The collaborative advantage

Economic uncertainty is like sailing through unpredictable waters. Smaller boats are often more agile than ships. They can change direction quickly, navigate through narrow passages, and adapt to sudden weather changes. The crew’s communication, preparedness, and ability to work together become their greatest asset – not the size of their vessel. Similarly, modern teams aren’t defined by their size but by their ability to collaborate, adapt, and innovate. Often, it is the smaller teams that operate with precision, purpose, and efficiency, with each member understanding their role and working towards a shared vision that cuts through complexity.

The key to unlocking efficiency is not working harder but smarter. As the pressure to become more efficient continues to mount, businesses must recognise the role of technology. Technology is more than a supportive tool; it is a crucial strategic asset. Platforms that offer real-time collaboration, automated workflow management, and intelligent resource allocation should no longer be considered luxuries but essential infrastructure for competitive businesses.

Connecting dots across the organisation

Organisations that are impacted by tightening budgets may see historically robust and collaborative teams face pressure to adopt a more concentrated approach, often resulting in siloes. This shift can cause teams to become more insular, prioritising self-sufficiency at the expense of shared problem-solving. The drive to assume complete responsibility – often to avoid ‘troubling’ others – can lead to missed opportunities to tap into existing expertise and resources from other teams. It can also significantly impede innovation and create systemic inefficiencies, effectively wasting valuable resources.

It is the smaller teams that operate with precision, purpose, and efficiency, with each member understanding their role and working towards a shared vision that cuts through complexity.

To avoid this, leaders need to help connect the dots for teams across the business. This can include encouraging them to ask for help, asking on their behalf sometimes, and making introductions across the organisation. Leaders must also be aware of the work happening in other departments and, importantly, any overlaps that can benefit their initiatives or could be more efficient in terms of unnoticed repetition. By doing so, they can identify opportunities for teams to support each other, leveraging collective knowledge and resources.

Here, technology, specifically collaborative work management platforms, can be the key to unlocking intelligent frameworks to optimise processes, reduce redundancies, and liberate latent potential within existing resources. For instance, project management tools can offer visibility into ongoing work across teams, making it easier to identify where collaboration can occur. By integrating these technologies, organisations can create an environment where asking for help is normalised, and collaboration is streamlined, leading to more efficient and effective operations.

Turning limitations into launchpads

Every great transformation begins with a moment of necessity – when traditional methods fall short, and teams are forced to reimagine what’s possible. In times of economic pressure, businesses often find themselves at a crossroads where they must innovate or risk falling behind. This necessity drives creativity and encourages teams to think outside the box, exploring new ways to achieve their goals with limited resources.

By leveraging Smartsheet, the event management team within HP’s North America Commercial Marketing group significantly increased efficiency and productivity. By automating project tracking and planning, the team boosted the number of HP-led sales and marketing events from six to 26 per quarter, reduced email communications by 90 percent, and cut event turnaround time from 84 days to 54 days. This transformation not only streamlined their processes but also enhanced collaboration and communication, substantially improving their overall operations and allowing them to handle a higher volume of events without additional headcount.

Organisations can transform economic pressure into a competitive advantage by embracing technology that enables smarter working. This isn’t about replacing human talent but amplifying it—creating systems that allow teams to focus on high-value, creative problem-solving instead of getting bogged down in manual, repetitive tasks. Strategic technology adoption is a force multiplier, allowing smaller teams to achieve outsized results, break through traditional productivity barriers, and demonstrate that resource constraints can catalyse innovation.

As UK businesses navigate this increasingly complex economic terrain, those who invest strategically in collaborative work management technology will prevail. The following 12 months will demonstrate that adaptability, powered by intelligent technological solutions, is the true marker of organisational resilience. The businesses that will thrive view current economic constraints not as limitations, but as impetus for reimagining their operations.

Technology is more than a tool in this transformative landscape– it is a strategic lever for reinvention, agility, and flexibility. By embracing a forward-thinking approach that prioritises intelligent innovation and strategic technological integration, UK businesses survive economic uncertainties and potentially redefine their competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive market.

About the Author

Sarfraz Ali, VP, EMEA: As Smartsheet’s VP and General Manager of EMEA, Sarfraz is responsible for its business operations across the region. He is leading Smartsheet’s growth and development, driving Smartsheet’s strategy to increase brand awareness.