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It’s estimated that around 54% of all businesses use Excel, one of the most popular data management tools ever. But it doesn’t come without its challenges, from siloed workflows to a lack of process transparency.
In this short guide, we take a closer look at whether spreadsheets are right for your business, and how one environmental science leader went from stale spreadsheets to strategic success with the right tools!
Why Spreadsheets are Broken ❌
Tools like Excel are universal. They’re adopted by businesses everywhere, with some still reliant on spreadsheets for process management and data analysis. See, in their heyday, spreadsheet applications were revolutionary.
Programs like VisiCalc and Excel replaced manual paper-based methods for data management, totally reorganizing how businesses operated. A true example of digital transformation applicable to nearly all organizations.
But all good things finally come to an end! Through the rise of big data, cloud computing, automation, and regulatory demands, tools like spreadsheets didn’t carry the same weight of sophistication as we once knew.
Top tip: did you know your hefty spreadsheet data can be copied and paste into edison365 quicker than you can say “digital transformation!”
So, what hurdles does organizations face today with spreadsheets in their quest for collaboration, data management, and success above all else?
Spreadsheets Aren’t Scalable
Firstly, no number of tabs or formatting options can mirror the kind of sophistication found in modern digital transformation software. Ultimately, as businesses grow, Excel tends to struggle to keep up!
With enterprise level data management comes slower Excel experiences. These kinds of tools also do not integrate well with other systems and software, creating bottlenecks in progress.
Siloed Setbacks
In most instances, spreadsheets are hosted on individual computers, saved in folders can get lost in the storage abyss. This isn’t ideal for collaboration, and causes data siloes that organizations could really do without.
Think about all the employees who come and go through a business, and their insights and knowledge that can be lost. Siloes ultimately fragment how businesses operate and disrupt decision-making with no single source of truth.
Extremely Error Prone
Our final reason why it may be time to seek out a spreadsheet alternative for your projects, business cases or general data is their risk of errors. According to one study around 94% of all spreadsheets contain errors.
As tools like Excel rely on manual data entry, spreadsheets can lead to poor decisions, pricing mishaps, financial losses and general operational mistakes. These kinds of challenges can be very detrimental for organizations.
4 Challenges One Customer Faced with Spreadsheets 🔎
With more than 50 years of experience spanning several industries, from forestry to professional pest management, and industrial vegetation management, one edison365 customer faced 4 key challenges with spreadsheets.
Their challenges involved managing and executing business case proposals for new chemical product developments. This level of complexity was a burden on their existing spreadsheet setup, which saw several files hosted in different countries!
Disconnected Processes
Managing their business cases in siloes led to disconnected processes. Teams were unable to collaborate, approve, or make accurate decisions on new proposals. With teams based across different time zones, their strategy was disorganized.
By managing their approval workflows, financial models, and other variables individually, this customer lacked a single source of truth. Somewhere their team could centralize progress and paint a clearer picture.
Limited Visibility
They required a process that took their complex business cases, including best case, worst case, and most likely scenarios, and gave them data-driven decision on new proposals, something Excel typical doesn’t offer.
That’s because spreadsheets often do not support real-time, cross-functional collaboration. See, most insights are static, and changes are only visible once made manually. This gave key stakeholders limited visibility.
Version Control Problems
Unfortunately, spreadsheets often don’t support version control, hindering this customer in understanding how proposals have evolved over time. This means leaders may likely have to sift through numerous files titled “Final V1” or “Final Version 3”.
Such setup typically contributes to confusion amongst colleagues and inefficiencies throughout a business case. Comparing historical data can help approvals reach conclusions swifter, easier and with more confidence.
Complexity Management
Many of our customers experience a level of complexity within their projects and business cases which Excel just can’t handle. This was no different for this environmental science leader, from financial tables to feasibility scoring, risk assessments and more.
To put it simply, they were at a crossroads, unsure how to capture the right data, make the right decisions, and juggle a tonne of moving parts within their processes. This led to complicated, stuffy spreadsheets that hindered efficiency and accuracy.
Recommended read: edison365 vs Microsoft Project Online
The Solution: The Power of Centralization ✨
This customer needed to bring all the complexity of their business cases into one central hub; a place their proposals could pass through the various stages with ease, visibility, and confidence.
With twelve individual spreadsheets carrying the weight of their proposals, and hosted in different countries, things weren’t so smooth running.
This disconnection was something our Professional Services team knew they could help resolve. Here’s the steps we took to transform their process and replace the reliance they had on spreadsheets:
✅ Executive-ready reporting: edison365 helps deliver reporting in the blink of an eye, for all stakeholders to understand how proposals are progressing. These are accessible in real-time with the click of a shareable URL link.
✅ Sophisticated Scenario-planning: This customer can now wave goodbye to clunky scenario planning that is inaccurate, complicated and unclear. With automation, they can switch between best-case, worst-case, and most-likely scenarios associated with their chemical product proposals.
✅ Streamlined Efficiency: edison365 offers the space to manage their processes, approvals, risks, resources, and more, all in one end-to-end platform. This means they can think beyond approvals, and deliver transformational change within other areas of their business.
✅ Improved Transparency: By migrating their data into a scalable environment like edison365, they needn’t worry about siloes anymore. They can act on changes as and when they appear, inform their wider team on approval matters and move with confidence!
Ultimately, they have found a major solution to some of their spreadsheet nightmares, but this is just the beginning! We’re super excited to see what can be achieved next within our tools and they have all the support of our professional services team to bring their goals to life!
A Message From our Customer 🏆
We caught up with Envu to understand how their feelings around the onboarding experience, and the support they’ve had so far from our Professional Services Team.
“I want to express my gratitude for all the work that you and the Edison365 team have put in to support us up to now.
Your capacity to manage our requirements, keep us informed, and your incredible hands-on approach gives me the confidence that we are partnering with the right team to achieve our short- and long-term goals when it comes to how we manage our pipeline and enhance our processes.
I also want to thank you and the team for accepting our challenges and always finding a solution. Even when it wasn’t very clear, you helped us find the ‘how’ to achieve our ‘what.’ We know the complexity behind our business, and finding the right partner always makes it easier to face the challenges that come along with it.”
A Message From our Professional Services Team 👋
Poppy Barber from our Professional Services team has worked extensively with Envu to ensure they develop a tailored edison365 environment fit for their needs.
Speaking with Poppy, she describes the onboarding experience, and her relationship with Envu’s team by saying, “Over the course of 3 months I worked with 9 Envu stakeholders to create a standardized process for business case and project management.
This was applied across 19 global regions. Working very closely with each other, we were able to bring the needs of different business areas together into one single vision! Envu have a great ethos and work ethic, they were the perfect partner.”
How to Replace Spreadsheets in Your Organization ✅
So, how can you replace spreadsheets, improve your business case management, or organize your process and projects without the stress?
Identify why Spreadsheets Aren’t Working
First and foremost, it’s important to identify key pain-points. Ask yourself, “Why isn’t spreadsheets providing the efficiency we need?” That’s the starting point, and how businesses arrive at the decision to choose our tools!
Is it a bottleneck in approvals? Is it a stream off poor decision? Run a series of surveys throughout your teams and departments and assess the pros and cons of tools like Excel. You may be surprised by your findings!
Focus on Scalability
Scalability is one of the most vital steps a business takes in replacing spreadsheets with end-to-end business transformation tools. There’s only so much progress that can come from rows, tabs, and columns.
Eventually, you may find your need automation, personalized dashboards, real-time collaboration, powerful reporting, and more. These are the features and capabilities that will take your business cases, projects and ideas from good to great!
Find the Right Solution
Finally, do your research! There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. What works for your team may not work for another. But your next step from this guide on optimizing your processes, projects, and more is to uncover a solution based on pain-points.
That way, you’re able to tackle your challenges, bottlenecks, and setbacks headfirst! Of course, we know a thing or two about digital transformation and our tools are enterprise-ready, scalable, and sophisticated.
But best of all? They’re easy to use, and unlike many spreadsheet alternatives, our platform doesn’t come with a dull 1000-page manual, expensive consultants, or a clunky user-interface. We’re actively helping global teams build their future, today!
Ready to find out more? Speak to our super friendly team!
