Case Study: Ontario Centres of Excellence scales grants management and boosts user satisfaction with SmartSimple Cloud

How the Ontario Centres of Excellence Scaled Their Grants Management System To Limitless Heights

Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) struggled with a high-volume, complex grants portfolio—about 2,000 applications per year—while data and tools were scattered across multiple systems, causing delays and inconsistent application reviews. To consolidate operations and improve applicant experience, OCE engaged SmartSimple Cloud and its SmartSimple Cloud grants management platform.

SmartSimple Cloud delivered a single, integrated platform linking CRM, grant management, reporting, payments and Zendesk support, allowing nine Program Managers to implement common workflows and faster system changes. The result: streamlined reviews (external reviews completed in up to three weeks), a measurable increase in user satisfaction, and the ability to process 3,000 reviews on time—demonstrating clear scalability and operational impact from SmartSimple Cloud.

Ontario Centres of Excellence

Farzad Zohouri

Director, Information Systems