From Spreadsheet to Applications

“Microsoft’s Excel Might Be The Most Dangerous Software On The Planet”

That was the headline of Forbes magazine back in 2013, and to be honest, several businesses back then had the same belief. But the million-dollar question is where this tool, which served businesses for years, went wrong? Or, it’s just a Neophilia, as new applicatinos were around the corner.
There is no doubt in the fact that spreadsheets served a great purpose in data management and calculations; from 1979, when the first spreadsheet by the name of “VisiCalc” was introduced, spreadsheets made life easier for a couple of decades. After the digital evolutions, we have seen automated alternatives to address the challenges of spreadsheets.

When Spreadsheets Became Nightmares

Challenges arise when you use a product designed for minimal work… you start expecting more and expectations kill relations.
As workloads increased on spreadsheets, shortcomings were identified. Colonization was an initial annoyance user reported. Let’s see what other components drove innovators to work on applications.

It’s a headache to manage the bulk data.

Now consider sales analytics – data that educates you to make a judgment; about your prospects and customers’ market potential. It helps you take your next move. Would you prefer scrolling and frustrating yourself or a user-friendly solution where you find desirables in a single click?
When data exceeds the thousand mark – It’s perplexing to find your desired content.

Control & Security Issue

How will a sales rep react if his booking data is given to a fellow sales rep – Your data is what you live for in the sales universe.
Data security is one of the most daunting challenges of modern times; an issue with spreadsheets is it has minimal roles and no partial sharing option, also, it’s hard to know if someone downloaded or changed anything; all this can lead to mass confusion.

Scaling = Trouble

Your spreadsheets can’t meet the vision you have for your business; you want to scale it, and the spreadsheets are anti-scaling; they can’t handle it, and the longer the sheet – the higher risk of finding errors and broken formulas.

Viewers need binoculars if you present in a meeting.

There isn’t any visual support provided; to minimize the data on sheets, you need to manually design charts, but assembling the data on the sheets can be nerve-racking.
It’s laborious, seems a waste of time, and you badly desire automation in such situations.

The Era Of Dedicated Applications.

With the intent to cover the identified lacking, different industries started to look for dedicated software solutions for ease in their tasks.
The sales industry found CRMs and Sales management solutions which helped them save time and effort to invest in scaling their business. These applications worked as kickers; the energy that was being invested in data management or calculations can now be focused on generating more sales.