This is a guest post by Craig Hattabaugh, CIMCON Software CEO and is meant to accompany the video clip – http://blog.cimcon.com/blog/excel-office-romance also on YouTube https://youtu.be/9z7RI1U141w
Two recent articles in the Wall Street Journal (Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs , Finance Pros Say You’ll Have to Pry Excel Out of Their Cold, Dead Hands) that have reignited the debate between spreadsheet defenders and foes as evidenced by hundreds of posts in various social media channels. Excel is perennially derided by software marketers who sell replacement solutions (e.g., “Spreadmarts are bad!”), yet its usage continues to proliferate. If it’s so risky, so error-ridden and/or inefficient, why is it used so often within critical business processes where the stakes are high? There is no single, one size fits all answer. But more often than not, the smart business decision is probably to keep those spreadsheets and/or spreadsheet-based models in place. Here’s why:
The best information comes at the intersection of various data domains and it happens in real time. Data warehousing projects that last months (if not years) don’t come even remotely close to the speed required. To have the agility and flexibility to analyse data at the intersection of disparate data domains, or to rapidly apply innovative mathematical methods, you need to stick with Excel.
It makes no business sense to impede creativity or take away the computing flexibility that is vital to high performance. Fortunately, there is a middle ground which is more effective controls on your EUCs. Bring them to an acceptable level of risk consistent with, or at least closer to the inherent risks of IT managed applications. Technology can play a great supporting role in pursuit of that objective.
So in closing, this is one office romance that you don’t have to discourage. There is no need to choose sides and digress into the stereotypical “good vs. evil” emotional battles. The business need and opportunities persists… so what is the most effective way to address them while incurring acceptable risk? EUCs that underpin a critical business process yet don’t have effective controls represent an unnecessary, and hence unacceptable risk. But stay focused, don’t succumb to an emotional impulse to end the love affair with spreadsheets. Address the core issue – the lack of effective tools to check spreadsheet accuracy and to manage the risk of end-user controlled computing files.