4 ms·

While I agree in terms of casual use, it is important to note that for a power user, nothing can hold a candle to Microsoft Office. I speak primarily from exper

by greggyb 11y ago

While I agree in terms of casual use, it is important to note that for a power user, nothing can hold a candle to Microsoft Office. I speak primarily from experience in Excel, but I am sure there are points to be made across the suite. Excel as a business analyst's tool is far beyond any competitors. Especially since 2010, with the Power Pivot add-on, you get a seamless promotion path from analyst's desktop to a fully integrated BI solution across the enterprise. I know I might sound a bit fanboyish above, and I'll acknowledge that I speak from my position as a BI consultant for a Microsoft partner. This being said, I'm also in a position where I have seen that transition where an analyst's local Power Pivot workbook becomes the basis for an enterprise reporting solution using SSAS and Power BI + SSRS many times.

Mikeb85 11y ago
> Excel as a business analyst's tool is far beyond any competitors. Honestly, Excel (or any spreadsheet really) is quite clunky for a lot of these tasks. In most of my University classes (economics/finance stream) that require me to analyse data and present it, I use R (w/ R Studio), and it's far superior - both for parsing the data, and for presenting it (and of course R is standard for any statistics course beyond the intro courses). R can even create 'pivot tables' and many other interactive HTML widgets. And while we still learn Excel, we were also forced to learn Python and SQL.
- greggyb 11y ago
  I don't disagree with anything you've said. The fact of the matter is that the majority of business analysts and 100%[0] of the consumers of their analysis are only comfortable with a spreadsheet. I'd say less than 50% of the business analysts we see can do more than write a join in SQL, 90% dump data straight to Excel for processing and presentation. The remaining 10% will use whatever BI tool their company has decided on. [0] Close enough not to matter. Note: the percentages above are based on my experience consulting with primarily non-tech-related clients and are based on my casual observations and those of my coworkers. Microsoft Excel has a stranglehold on the niche we're discussing, because it hits the sweet spot of functionality and usability for the people who are doing this work in most companies.
  - Mikeb85 11y ago
    And I suspect it will change over time. The newer generation has much, much higher computer literacy. Programming (Python and SQL) is required in the University I attend for any stream beyond a basic language degree. R is required for stats. My mother is a business analyst, she uses Excel. Needs to find the IT guy to do anything with a database. Building a database and doing complex queries was an assignment in a required introductory course I took as a freshman. She thinks pivot tables are black magic and prides herself on knowing how to make them. We did pivot tables in two 50-minute classes. I don't doubt your experience at all. But I do think Excel's stranglehold is/will weaken - it's clunky, and newer generations are learning programming even in non-CPSC streams.

by greggyb 11y ago

Mikeb85 11y ago

> Excel as a business analyst's tool is far beyond any competitors. Honestly, Excel (or any spreadsheet really) is quite clunky for a lot of these tasks. In most of my University classes (economics/finance stream) that require me to analyse data and present it, I use R (w/ R Studio), and it's far superior - both for parsing the data, and for presenting it (and of course R is standard for any statistics course beyond the intro courses). R can even create 'pivot tables' and many other interactive HTML widgets. And while we still learn Excel, we were also forced to learn Python and SQL.

greggyb 11y ago
I don't disagree with anything you've said. The fact of the matter is that the majority of business analysts and 100%[0] of the consumers of their analysis are only comfortable with a spreadsheet. I'd say less than 50% of the business analysts we see can do more than write a join in SQL, 90% dump data straight to Excel for processing and presentation. The remaining 10% will use whatever BI tool their company has decided on. [0] Close enough not to matter. Note: the percentages above are based on my experience consulting with primarily non-tech-related clients and are based on my casual observations and those of my coworkers. Microsoft Excel has a stranglehold on the niche we're discussing, because it hits the sweet spot of functionality and usability for the people who are doing this work in most companies.
- Mikeb85 11y ago
  And I suspect it will change over time. The newer generation has much, much higher computer literacy. Programming (Python and SQL) is required in the University I attend for any stream beyond a basic language degree. R is required for stats. My mother is a business analyst, she uses Excel. Needs to find the IT guy to do anything with a database. Building a database and doing complex queries was an assignment in a required introductory course I took as a freshman. She thinks pivot tables are black magic and prides herself on knowing how to make them. We did pivot tables in two 50-minute classes. I don't doubt your experience at all. But I do think Excel's stranglehold is/will weaken - it's clunky, and newer generations are learning programming even in non-CPSC streams.