SmartDraw 2007: Conversation with Paul Stannard

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Paul Stannard is the CEO of SmartDraw, a provider of business graphics software. Stannard started the company in 1994 with no debt, no capital, and no outside funding. Recognized for its explosive growth by Deloitte & Touche and Inc Magazine, SmartDraw generates more than 2 million visitors each month. It’s been a while since we interviewed Paul. This small conversation focuses on SmartDraw’s newest release. SmartDraw 2007.

Geetesh: Tell us more about SmartDraw 2007. We also noticed that the tabs do look like you are making this version of SmartDraw a seamless integration with Office 2007.

Paul: SmartDraw is the world’s most popular business graphics software and makes it easy for anyone to create professional-quality graphics, such as flowcharts, org charts, floor plans, and more, in minutes — no experience or training required. Each day more than 6000 people install SmartDraw for the first time and more than 10 million users have downloaded SmartDraw.

Our market is made up of millions of computer users who want to create attractive and effective business graphics, but lack the time and expertise to learn complicated graphics software designed for technical people. The key to SmartDraw’s success is its unique SmartTemplate^TM technology that makes creating business graphics as easy as typing a letter with a word processor. SmartDraw has developed hundreds of SmartTemplates for every conceivable type of business graphic. Each SmartTemplate loads a specific SmartPanel^TM command set and the associated SmartHelp^TM step-by-step instructions. By using a SmartTemplate, a user becomes an instant expert on how to make a complex diagram and with SmartDraw’s gallery of professionally designed styles, an instant graphic designer as well.

We have always supported Office and that goes for Office 2007 too. Many of our graphics end up in PowerPoint presentations and Word documents, and we have always performed as a standard Office-like application. We’ve incorporated one-click transfer to all Office applications from our toolbar so it simply made sense to support a similar interface so users can learn one standard.

Both Office 2007 and SmartDraw 2007 use the new ribbon interface for the same reason: Too many of our users were unable to find the commands and features they were looking for because they were buried in menus and dialogs. Microsoft has indicated than 80% of the features requested for Word were already in Word. The new ribbon interface solves this problem by making commands more accessible, and, like Microsoft, our testing has confirmed that users find it easier to use.

Geetesh: How do you typically use SmartDraw in your everyday work — at the office and home?

Paul: I use it for just about everything. Once you get your hands on a tool like SmartDraw you wonder how you lived without it.

I use it extensively in business planning and communicating those plans to co-workers. I make flow charts, organization charts, Gantt charts, and calendars to explain processes, organizational changes, and project schedules. We used it to plan our move to our current offices. We space-planned using SmartDraw and added layers for networking and furniture to the floor plan.

I also use it for personal projects like my Christmas letter and gift certificate I designed for my kids. My wife uses it to lay out photo pages for an album.

I am always finding new uses for it and even if I don’t know the rules for a particular type of graphic, the SmartTemplate makes me an expert in a few minutes.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.