3 Reasons Excel is Putting Your Company at Risk

Excel is like a Big Mac. They’re both easy to get your hands on, instantly gratifying and relatively inexpensive. But neither are a long-term diet solution. Sure, Excel gets the job done, but aren’t you hungry just a couple of hours after that Big Mac? Yeah, me too.

When we’re talking about your business, we need to think about the best long-term solution. And when we’re talking about Excel, there are far more cons than pros if you’re using Excel to run your company.

Errors

First of all, how many hours have you spent looking for an error in a spreadsheet? Maddening, right? According to a study done by University of Hawaii, close to 90 percent of spreadsheets have errors. That could mean hours you and your team spend finding those errors or, if unnoticed, that could mean lost or mis-reported revenue for your company. And we don’t even want to think about the implications of those things.

Versioning

How many times have you called over your cubicle, “Hey could you save the spreadsheet? I need to update that file.” When you go into your shared documents folder – or even your email account – how do you keep up with which file version you’re on? Is it version 2? Version 17? Version 35.6? Checking and rechecking the Excel file version takes up a lot of precious time.

Security

If you’re using Excel to manage every aspect of your company – HR is likely included. One tricky thing that I’m sure you’re experiencing is how to get the correct information to the correct person, without disclosing the incorrect information? If you’re using Excel to manage payroll and benefits, certain team members should be locked out of viewing that file. But with Excel, you aren’t able to create security permissions based on users. You’re left to your own wherewithall to remember who needs what information.

If you’ve had your fill of Excel Big Macs and are ready to look into an error-reducing, multi-user, secure platform, learn more about our options.