To Excel or Not to Excel

In 1995, I had the honor of being hired by Microsoft to work on the Excel team. Ever since I worked so intimately with the program, I have thought of it as the best thing since sliced bread.

How could I not? I would argue it’s the most robust and versatile application on the market today. I can use Excel to write this article. I can use Excel as a database application. I can use Excel to write formulas, make organized lists, create charts and craft presentations.

It’s more than likely the most commonly used business tool. Even some business intelligence software is Excel-based (on the front end).

You use it, I use it – almost all business professionals use Excel.

And its overuse is a delight to my senses, much to the dismay of our business. Many people have figured out that you can use Excel’s broad functionality to mold the program into a custom application. Some businesses like Excel so much that they use it to serve as many functions as possible. Heed warning, because this can be dangerous. Just because this is common, it does not make it right.

Many of our clients initially misused Excel for business operations. I understand why it sounds like a good idea to someone that needs to cook up a quick solution. Excel has many advantages, many uses and it appears to be cheaper than hunting for and buying new software.

I’ve witnessed Excel being misused to manage projects, store contacts – I’ve even seen it being used as a calendar. Best of all, I have run into some software development companies that use Excel to manage the software development lifecycle, by tracking bugs, features and design changes in various worksheets.

While I am the biggest fan of Excel, I cringe every time I see the product being used as a business solution.

Using Excel to run a business like it’s 1999 is nothing to brag about. The benefits are purely artificial.

Reasons why it is dangerous to use Excel as an alternative to automated business processes:

• The data is not secure.
• Spreadsheet errors/corruption could be catastrophic to your business (and they happen!)
• Ensuring constant data validation is cumbersome and error prone.
• Once the workbook grows in complexity, usage becomes very confusing.
• It still lacks functionality compared to programs built with automation in mind.
• It’s a single file model that is not well designed for multi-user editing. Yes, co-authoring addresses that issue, but with either reduced functionality in the webapps or users stepping all over each other during editing.

Using Excel for ubiquitous tasks isn’t working smarter, it’s working harder!

Excel should not be used to automate your business processes, manage your projects, collaborate, assign tasks and track progress. Programs that are specifically designed for these functionalities will greatly benefit your business, prevent serious errors and save your staff tons of hours.

If your business uses Excel as a substitute for business solutions, it is in a dicey situation. The first step you should take is to talk with a business process technology reseller that can supply your company with appropriate business intelligence software and automation solutions.

Your company can still use Excel, but please keep it limited it to the ways the creators had intended.