Although the title seem throbbing, here there is still a fairly coherent truth. There is a saying that if the only tool we have available is a hammer, all problems seem to be nails.
Excel tends to enter this category more often than necessary.
We will call any of the variants of the processing of the table “Excel”, whether we are talking about Microsoft, Google, LibreOffice, etc., because they are very similar in functionality and differ more in appearance.
Excel is particularly useful in the scenarios for which it has been conceived, but it is quite left if used in atypical situations.
Usually these situations require dedicated systems, such as a CRM or a task manager.
The reason why Excel Non EXCEL is not there because there are more vertical data and size, which will be difficult to tie them in the form of Excel files, especially if we do not use even an Excel version.
On the traceability we are not talking about. It will be particularly difficult to keep track of a process that starts at point A and goes through N points to point Z through Excel. When you arrived in point D, you don’t know who it was in point B.
I talked about this traceability here.
Many companies need this traceability because they require certain ISO certifications or other operational standards, but in reality this traceability should be the standard for each organization.
What is the point of asking where the information is part of a task or do they meet?
Why is Excel a hammer?
Excel has the advantage of being able to easily enter the data in any format, but this freedom can reach our damage if it is not used correctly and precisely.
For example, let’s assume that you want to model an income and expenses budget or a cash flow.
These data must be organized in the form of a table, so what could be bad?
If we have more people who insert their respective data and we also have calculation formulas, the probability are high to have human errors.
In fact, if we still work with a computer system, it would be good to reorient our way we can prevent human errors or reduce them considerably, otherwise there is no big difference between pen and paper and a pocket computer.
Excel can do these things, can block some cells from editing or still have a spreadsheet such as backups or all types of other similar stunts.
In the case of the cash flow, it would be better to have people responsible for some portions, for example having an excel of revenue and another Excel for payments, and these to pay the data in a centralizing excel where there are also magic formulas.
In this way, several people can work on this process:
- Some will enter the data on invoices/vouchers/receipts
- Others will enter the data from the extracts
- and others will analyze the data separately
This is an example in which complexity can be reduced and in which human errors are prevented.
To communicate the people involved more easily, it would be ideal to use a Cloud Excel version, such as Google (use) or Microsoft OneDrive sheets.
Therefore it is no longer necessary to send and -mail with attachments of the “Last_version_fina_fina4.xls” type
“Okay, Okay, but I know very well excel, it won’t happen to me”
Excellent! We were enjoying this.
If you are not in the Expert category in Excel, we found this course on LinkedIn learning that treats Google or Microsoft Excel sheets. The first month is free and you find other resources there. If you need other ideas for courses, you can write and suggest us.
However, being “expert in Excel” is the title of your role part of the description of the work?
Is it a reason for praise or necessity in the absence of better systems?
In the example above with the cash flow, you can see the incipient limits of Excel.
For example, there are dedicated systems for managing the relationship with customers (CRM) – Idea mentioned above.
However, many companies prefer not to move to such a system that would help them reach the next level of the business, because Excel is easier and work with it for a long time, they have found an organizational system.
The obvious difficulty is that this organizational system cannot be easily adopted on a general level in the organization, without verification keys if it is used correctly, nor the possibility of following as it is used or if used.
As such, there will be a surplus of sessions and and -mail to compensate for this lack of visibility, which defocates people from the real work they have to do to provide more the value promised by the organization to end customers.
The sessions are useful for making decisions together as a group and making live feedback on a certain topic, provided that the management of meetings is made in a way that allows the expression of all opinions, not only the most vocal.
If we keep track of customers in Excel, we will probably need information on their contracts and associated details. If we had important discussions on the phone, somewhere it should be a section of observations. If we have something more to do for this customer, we will need a reminder message. Perhaps we will not use Excel, perhaps we will use a calendar application that will remind us in a few days. So, if we have other information via and -mail, we must manage it and many people do not have a system of priority of messages from the e -mail. If we have another colleague or another colleague who has worked with this customer, we must have a meeting to find out what is not already in Excel or via and -mail.
If we have physical products, sold and online and offline, it becomes even more difficult to manage the situation, above all because there will be some financial metrics that are calculated on the basis of what shopping and depending on the purchase cost (advertising, phones, partnerships, etc.).
There are already many systems among which we walk with our attention and communicate to each other only through people.
The data is not related, it is difficult to obtain information on the performance of a particular contract or a particular customer.
We help our customers make quick decisions according to data, following the digitization of work processes.
But you cannot have real time data if you do not have systems that communicate with each other and Excel is not a system, it is just an instrument.
“It is expensive to take a CRM/ERP/ATS/Other dark acronyms. I will better use Excel and I learn my colleagues.”
It depends on which part is expensive in the entire equation.
Often we overcome the cost of licenses or software implementations and underestimate the work necessary to compensate for their absence.
The “human compensation” is limited, because there are good intentions, if the information is not authorized to circulate free in the organization, when changes are lost in the organization (resignation, promotions, holidays, etc.) and the information that remained closed in the minds and systems of some colleagues.
The cost of the replacement is therefore much more expensive than it would have been to have systems and the people have been relaxed at work, instead of becoming (hypothetically) do not start.
What happened often is that when a new computer system appears in the organization, there are no procedures adapted to this system and a know-how transfer to support people in their activities.
We usually offer short pilot projects in which we work to achieve courageous goals, which have been delayed for several months and work with a person responsible within the customer’s organization to reach them. After this pilot project has been successful, we define the procedures associated with this pilot project, we validate them with the entire team and then in the post-implementation phase, “we draw the sleeve” to continue to achieve their goals and collect feedback to help them.
The IT systems are secondary, the first time are the objectives of the organization in which they adhere to a set of people, which we take into consideration in the execution of procedures, each with metrics and managers, to be used in dedicated IT systems that communicate with each other, so that the information is clear and transparent and the decisions can be taken quickly.
In this way, people can contribute with their creativity to the resolution of the problems that machines cannot solve.
Working mainly with Excel at the organization level, obey some risk factors previously mentioned that it can really put your business at risk.
Innovation is now the date of digitization and the adoption of new methodologies and systems to work together.
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