The problem with Excel
By: Can Yaver
Tags: Application Portfolio, Excel, Too Many Applications

In fact there is no problem with Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application in and of itself. The problem is with how and where it is used.

Spreadsheet applications which consist of pages (or tabs), which in turn contain cells, ordered in columns and rows, essentially mimic the database structures of software applications.

In other words, spreadsheets programs like Excel give you the possibility to emulate the structure and features of a database table: Flick an Excel file, you can immediately start setting field names, enter rows which are akin to entering data in forms. On top of that, you can set filters, draw graphs, take subtotals, assign functions, format cells,… The list is seemingly endless. You can even get a developer to write code to do whatever you want in that same Excel file. I was once told that an international company had a financial forecasting algorithm developed in an Excel macro, which connected to actual database to draw data and produced results with implications worth millions of dollars for the company.

In fact, what we are talking about is not only a ubiquitous software but also very capable one. Take note of this as the first side of the story.

The other side has two sub-titles: state of the software application market and the infinite data access, storage and manipulation needs of enterprises of all sizes. By “state” of the software market, I mean that their very typical characteristic is that they are designed for verticals, silos, or focus areas: There are separate and multiple applications for almost any topic you care to name: HR, training, project management, payroll, inventory management, service management, facility management, ERP, sales … even note taking. That’s fine; you cannot expect an application to be good at more than one topic.

As for the 2nd sub-title; enterprise needs, the issue is a no-brainer: In this competitive age, enterprises need to store, access, manipulate and then make sense of EVERY data type you can think of. The issue here is that data is only meaningful when you can see and evaluate it in relation to the bigger picture. But because the applications which are responsible of storing this data are, by design, only good at in their well-defined and limited perimeter, individually they fail to contribute to the bigger picture.

Examples: Can you evaluate the impact of a sales training on a given sales rep? Can you track the link between project management task performance in relation of the position, seniority or even pay level of the employees? Probably not. The basic reason for all of these is that the data reside in silo-ed applications; in other words, there are gaps in your application portfolio landscape.

That’s where Excel comes to the rescue: Are you a financial controller who needs to do some detailed analysis on your data? You export data from your finance application and slice-dice the data to come to valuable conclusions.

Can you not think of an application to store and report the consolidated financial performance of your projects in a given year? Dump data from your project management and finance app to an Excel file, get analysin’!

The endless nature of typical enterprise data management needs led companies to purchase as many applications as they humanely could. I know about global companies trying to manage over 10,000 applications in their portfolio. Understandably, the gaps/grey areas/ lack of links between these applications do not decrease by the increased application count; on the contrary, they increase.

And yet we come to the same point: Over-reliance on “capable” Excel, to bridge these gaps, even in some cases, to save the day in the absence of specialised software.

Some software vendors offer “platform applications”, which can be, relatively easily, configured/developed to fill these gaps, offer solutions of particular needs. In the long run, I don’t think that this is the answer because having a more capable canvas in your hands will not be helpful unless you have equally capable artists (read: architects, designers). Whereas it is easy to purchase these platforms, it is not so to do the same for this particular type of artists.

Having an application portfolio which consists of right number and capability of applications, without little or no gaps is a very difficult and expensive task to achieve. It requires proper diagnosis, taking lessons from other failed attempts and having the right vision, regardless of its proximity and even probability. (Whatever may seem improbable today, may seem opposite tomorrow).

But in the meantime, you can look at your reliance on Microsoft Excel, if it is the “de facto” business application in your company, you can start worrying…