Since spreadsheets appeared in 1979, they have become the finance professional’s best-loved tool and are ubiquitous in every area of business.
And for good reason… they are flexible and easy to use, especially for planning process models.
However, as the business grows, spreadsheet-based planning processes reveal their dark side…
Spreadsheet-based planning processes become problematic because of:
- Increasing complexity
- Repetitive, mundane tasks
- Difficult to change
- Time-consuming
- Frustratingly slow
- Manual errors
- The planning team must work late hours
- Instability increases business risk
In addition, as the business grows, so does the problem.
In fact, at the same time as the spreadsheet becomes less and less appropriate for the planning process, the planning process itself becomes more and more critical to the business.
So, what to do?
That’s the time to consider how to reduce the risks and frustrations, speed up the processes, and save time and money.
Automating, integrating, and connecting the planning process has other even more important benefits… but I’ll save those for another time…
Meanwhile, at least those scary spreadsheets can’t follow you home… or can they?
