EXCEL Digital Waste or Productivity Tool?
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There are new no code and low code digital tools that should be consiered as replacements for Excel
So what are some of the issues with Excel?
Errors: Since to a large extent Excel spreadsheets are manually developed it is open to human error. Based on our work 88% of excel spreadsheets contain at least one error. At that rate you can almost assume that every spread sheet has errors. This can cause problems with analysis, lead to poor decisions and requires staff to go through multiple levels of review to ensure quality.
Not designed for data management or detailed analytics. Excel was designed for quick, simple ad hoc analysis and over the years it has moved to a major reporting tool, analytics tool and data prep or cleansing tool. Based on our analysis, 90% of the work in excel spreadsheets is focused preparing the data for analysis or ETL. So, the value add only makes up 10% of the effort
Not scalable: If you are using Excel to accept large amounts of data from company databases it quickly hits limits. Companies have developed key functionality (e.g. Actuary analysis for setting reserves) that is now crumbling on them and limiting growth of the company
Largely manual, little automation: Many argue that they can automate excel through the use of macros but this is extremely limited. As well, the automation if present is dependent on one individual that leaves the company at some point.
Reporting Challenges: Limited types of reporting, its difficult to drill down, very poor at data visualization, etc. How many times have you seen a massive spreadsheet that looks like ants on a white page that provides no quick indication if things are going well or bad? You need more than ad hoc reporting you need robust, reproducible and insightful reporting
Shadow IT: The development of digital solutions outside of IT’s framework. So, data handling, security etc. are handled as one offs by a variety of people that are not skilled in these areas. I find in interesting that IT departments get so upset at the introduction of other digital tools, yet seem to ignore or look the other way when it comes it Excel even though it is proliferated through the company.
Why do people use Excel?
No one heads off to work trying to figure how to make things less productive for themselves or the company. Nor are they secretly using Excel to upset the IT Department. Staff are forced to use Excel for a variety of reasons. Many of existing system solutions are missing critical functionality the staff need. The advancement of existing core legacy systems can take years and people cannot wait that long. Excel is like the “Swiss Army Knife” of software. It can do analysis, reporting, data prep, it’s a data base and provide some automation. So it is quick, flexible tool that anyone can use. It is great Ad Hoc analysis tool but has been extended into the mainstream of digital solutions well beyond its intended design.
If not Excel what else?
Its fine to say Excel is not the right tool, but then what can you replace it with. The answer is there a multiple tools available that have agility of Excel but also infinitely better quality, productivity and performance. There is whole new set of No Code and Low Code solutions that can replace about 80% to 90% of the excel applications in use today. Once they are set up they can execute in 1/10 of the time, if not less, with high automation, high quality, and provide advanced analysis and reporting. Most of these tools can be developed into usable solutions in 4-6 weeks. They have the robustness of system software but allow for citizen development.
Success Story
A large multinational company in the US had been in business for 18 Years and had grown massively. When they started out they used Excel spread sheets to do a lot of there reporting, analysis and data management. They had some enterprise databases and systems, but some basic functionality was missing. For example, they had to convert sales in foreign currency back to US dollars. They did this on a monthly basis using an excel spreadsheet. This took one person 3 days to do the work with multiple reviews from managers. They had tried to automate it is as mush as possible using macros but it was till largely manual and error prone. On top of that the results had to be reviewed multiple times for accuracy which drove multiple iterations. We replaced Excel with a low code Analytics Process Automation (APA) tool. It took 4-5weeks to develop and deploy. The 3 Day process involving one staff member and two managers was reduced to 40 seconds and the manager reviews were eliminated. The error rate fell to zero and the solution was able to provide improved analysis to help them in forecasting.
If you want to improve your productivity, improve analysis and have better decision making then just follow the trail of excel spreadsheets.
If you want to find out more about the different solutions, applications, and how you can improve your digital tools then set up a quick 15 minute chat by hitting the let’s talk button on the web site.
