Excel is fast, flexible, and familiar. It’s perfect for financial modelling, quick calculations, and wrangling data in a pinch. In many operations teams, it’s a Swiss army knife – but it starts to show its cracks when it’s used as a database. And that’s exactly what happens in many growing businesses.
It begins innocently. A team builds a tracker. Then another team builds a register. Over time, more and more operational processes get managed in spreadsheets, from project updates, asset inventories, HR data, supplier lists, customer logs. Before long, you’re not just using Excel. You’re running the business in Excel.
This creates problems. Serious ones.
You get spreadsheets of spreadsheets with one file linking out to ten others, each versioned with names like copy_v3_FINAL (2).xlsx. There’s no single source of truth, no audit trail, no access control, and no automation. Just duplication, friction, and risk.
You might hear someone say “it’s all in the spreadsheet,” but which one? Which version? Who updated it last? Is that column formula still working? Nobody knows for sure.
So, is Excel the problem? Not exactly. It’s the way we’re using it.
What Happens When Excel Becomes the Default
When systems don’t support the way teams actually work, people naturally fill the gaps. Excel is the tool most know best. It’s available, flexible, and gets the job done. The problem is that as these workarounds stack up, they become deeply embedded. Teams build whole processes around Excel which brings scalability, security and automation challenges.
You Can Automate Spreadsheets – But There’s a Better Way
Yes, it’s possible to automate workflows using spreadsheets, but it’s not ideal. Automations will rely on spreadsheets following a consistent structure, something which is difficult to enforce in Excel.
The alternative is tools like Airtable, Smartsheet, ClickUp, Monday and Directus. These modern low-code SaaS tools are built to feel as familiar as spreadsheets but with all the benefits of “real” systems: multi-user collaboration, access control, data validation, automation hooks, and version tracking.
The jump isn’t far, but the payoff is huge.
A Simpler, Safer Path Forward
You don’t need to rip Excel out of every corner of the business. It’s about reducing dependency, not banning the tool. Here’s a simple 4-step approach:
1. Identify the spreadsheet-as-database files
Look for the ones used for tracking rather than analysis. Think customer data, project updates, stock levels – anything being used to run or manage a process.
2. Map the process
Understand what the spreadsheet is doing. What data is being entered? Who updates it? What decisions are made based on it?
3. Choose a lightweight, low-code tool
Pick something that allows you to replicate the structure and logic but adds better access control, visibility, and automation potential.
4. Move incrementally
Start with one process. Migrate it carefully. Learn what works and apply those lessons to the next.
Wrapping Up
Excel isn’t the enemy. It’s a good tool, until you start using it as a core operational system. That’s when fragility sets in and things become more challenging. This isn’t to say that automation isn’t possible or worth doing if you’re using Excel. It simply means that more guardrails will be needed (to maintain things like structure), and you will be limited somewhat in how far you can take your efforts.
You may be surprised at how quickly you can move away from a spreadsheet-as-a-database approach. Once the first few migrations have taken place, and the team is feeling comfortable with their new tools, each may only take several hours. Within a few weeks, the transformation could be substantial.
