Exodus Adventure Travels is a leading global adventure travel company specialising in small group holidays across almost 100 countries.
With internal operations spanning several time zones and product offerings across every continent involving multiple currencies, Exodus manages complex pricing structures involving accommodation, transportation, meals, and numerous variable costs across thousands of departure dates annually.
Trusted by adventure travellers globally, Exodus delivers authentic experiences whilst maintaining operational excellence across its diverse product portfolio.
Fragmented systems, limited visibility
The company was previously managing hundreds of trip costings across Excel spreadsheets and shared workbooks, creating significant challenges. Information lived in disparate systems, with different team members using varying versions of spreadsheets, making it difficult to maintain data accuracy, consistency and track progress. “We were facing challenges and questions when there were different versions of the Excel sheets in circulation or people who weren’t confident Excel users,” recalls Ben Colbridge, Product & Commercial Director at Exodus Adventure Travels. This fragmentation meant the Commercial team couldn’t efficiently update pricing, the Product team struggled with version control, and inventory management lacked real-time visibility.
To transform their pricing and costing operations, Exodus sought the help of Cheetah Transformation, a Smartsheet EMEA Platinum Partner. “We needed a unified system that could handle the complexity of our operations whilst improving accuracy and efficiency,” Ben explains.
In-person collaboration driving solution design
The aim was to eliminate silos, reduce manual errors, and accelerate time-to-market for new products. Cheetah began with an intensive two-day in-person scoping session at Exodus’s offices. “There is nothing quite like being in the same room around one whiteboard,” says Ben. “That in person time was absolutely crucial – it saved us at least six weeks of back-and-forth conversations.”
“Smartsheet can transform the way teams work—but only if it reflects the right processes,” explains Joanne Kane, Senior Smartsheet Consultant at Cheetah Transformation. “We partnered with Ben and his team to design workflows first, understanding their complex requirements around currencies, cost consolidation and conversion, mandatory and optional extras, upgrades, seasonality, and the ability to reuse cost sets throughout the year.”
Exodus made sure employees were part of the journey from the start. The team designed workflows and templates collaboratively, securing buy-in through testing and iterations before rollout. Cheetah also designed the solution with flexibility in mind, ensuring Exodus’s team could make basic adjustments themselves without requiring constant external support.
A comprehensive, integrated platform
With the foundation in place, Cheetah deployed Smartsheet Control Center to establish a single costing and pricing blueprint. The team then harnessed Smartsheet’s Advanced Work Management platform, utilising advanced features such as Data Shuttle, Dynamic View and Bridge to automate data synchronisation and complex calculations.
The implementation covered everything from supplier cost management to final customer pricing across multiple currencies and seasons. “It is a complex solution,” admits Ben, “but each part of the process is done by different people, and they’ve all embraced their part. We on-boarded the Commercial team first as the primary users of the costing elements of the solution. In turn, they served as ambassadors to help us onboard our wider Product team.”
Seamless integration and immediate impact
In early 2025, Exodus made a concentrated push to migrate several hundred trip costings from Excel into Smartsheet within six weeks. “It was a really intense period, but it was what was needed,” says Ben. “I didn’t give people a choice – this is happening, you’ve got to get behind it.”
The adoption was smoother than expected. After initial onboarding led by Cheetah consultants, the solution became business as usual across most departments. “I hear genuinely no complaints about it,” Ben notes. “It’s working fine, and we’re starting to reap the benefits.” The various teams have since created several hundred more trip costings for 2026 and 2027 as trips are planned so far in advance.
The first major test came with the launch of the Signature Collection, a brand-new product line brought to market in just three months. “The work rate on Signature has been like nothing else I’ve seen,” says Ben. “Smart- sheet has absolutely stood up to that test. The costing and loading process has been seamless.”
Measurable efficiency gains
The impact on operational efficiency has been significant. Ben estimates a conservative 20% improvement in speed-to-market compared to their previous Excel-based process. “I think there would have been errors and questions that would have come up in our old process that just doesn’t happen anymore with Smartsheet,” he explains.
Thirty team members now use Smartsheet regularly, with the system handling all workflow between departments seamlessly. “The accuracy of the numbers that are moving around the business from one department to another has significantly improved,” Ben emphasises.
The solution has enabled both business-as-usual operations and major new product launches to happen in parallel – something that would have required stopping BAU work under the old system.
A partnership built on responsiveness
Throughout the implementation and beyond, Exodus has valued Cheetah’s responsive support approach. “You make us feel like you don’t have any other clients,” says Ben. “We never get a ‘we’ll reply within five working days’ response. It’s always same-day or 24-hour responses, even if that’s just an acknowledgment.”
The comprehensive onboarding sessions led by Cheetah consultants were particularly appreciated. “Habib has been unfailingly patient – he’s a really good trainer,” notes Ben. “Those training sessions were quite an investment of time, but absolutely crucial to getting everybody on board.”
Looking ahead, Exodus plans to extend Smartsheet to their new product development (NPD) process, creating integrated workflows that connect early-stage product planning with operational trip costing. “We’ve come a long way in the last 15 months,” reflects Ben. “We’ve adopted it, integrated it, and we’re using it – and most importantly, it’s delivering the efficiency gains and accuracy improvements we hoped for.”
