Nearly every business person with a computer has access to spreadsheets, but often, they're not the right tool for a job. [YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images]
Microsoft reports that well over 1 billion people use Office, the suite of applications that includes the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Roughly 1 in every 6 people on Earth use it.
It’s certainly easy to get access to spreadsheets, although opinions on ease of use vary. Those who judge spreadsheets easier to use than alternative applications for business tout their low cost, flexibility and familiarity.
The trouble with spreadsheets is that they put a lot of responsibility in the hands of the user, including the responsibility to
- Design the right structure for a given application
- Create the right formulas and references
- Ensure that the spreadsheet is set up correctly
- Document the spreadsheet for users
- Maintain the spreadsheet to keep it up to date and prevent introduction of errors
- Control distribution of spreadsheets, so that users have the correct version and information won’t fall into the wrong hands
That’s a lot of responsibility.
Business users often struggle with work that should be left to programmers. [Image: Shutterstock]
Better alternatives are available. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of alternative products are designed for uses as varied as routine reporting, sophisticated statistical analysis, customer relationship management and a myriad of other common and no-so-common needs.
These products are often designed by application specialists, coded by professional programmers and tested by software quality assurance professionals. They enable businesses to have greater control over calculations and the movement of information, and many provide audit trails to document exactly what did, and did not, go into any given analysis. Most render it impossible for users to mess up the formulas.
The J.P. Morgan London Whale was resulted from accounting goofs due to spreadsheet errors, among other things. [Image: Shutterstock]
Nearly every business person with a computer has access to spreadsheets, but often, they're not the right tool for a job. [YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images]
Microsoft reports that well over 1 billion people use Office, the suite of applications that includes the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Roughly 1 in every 6 people on Earth use it.
It’s certainly easy to get access to spreadsheets, although opinions on ease of use vary. Those who judge spreadsheets easier to use than alternative applications for business tout their low cost, flexibility and familiarity.
The trouble with spreadsheets is that they put a lot of responsibility in the hands of the user, including the responsibility to
- Design the right structure for a given application
- Create the right formulas and references
- Ensure that the spreadsheet is set up correctly
- Document the spreadsheet for users
- Maintain the spreadsheet to keep it up to date and prevent introduction of errors
- Control distribution of spreadsheets, so that users have the correct version and information won’t fall into the wrong hands
That’s a lot of responsibility.
Business users often struggle with work that should be left to programmers. [Image: Shutterstock]
Better alternatives are available. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of alternative products are designed for uses as varied as routine reporting, sophisticated statistical analysis, customer relationship management and a myriad of other common and no-so-common needs.
These products are often designed by application specialists, coded by professional programmers and tested by software quality assurance professionals. They enable businesses to have greater control over calculations and the movement of information, and many provide audit trails to document exactly what did, and did not, go into any given analysis. Most render it impossible for users to mess up the formulas.
The J.P. Morgan London Whale was resulted from accounting goofs due to spreadsheet errors, among other things. [Image: Shutterstock]
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