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I've seen enough cases where the opposite is the case. Businesses running off Excel spreadsheets are often very inefficient, drowning in more problems than solu

I've seen enough cases where the opposite is the case. Businesses running off Excel spreadsheets are often very inefficient, drowning in more problems than solutions and the day to day workflows for employees are awful. I'm not trying to say a small shop should go all in with Oracle or SAP, however a healthy investment in specialised software often pays off extremely well.

TAForObvReasons 4y ago
Specialized software is a market for lemons. Most businesses running off Excel spreadsheets are ill-equipped to judge the vendors in question, and more often than not the net result is worse than the Excel mess.
- cosmodisk 4y ago
  If you are an average business with no internal expertise to evaluate vendors: well of course everyone's going to spin you whilst the money keeps flying out of your pockets. Smarter companies would at least hire people that could advise on such things.
  - lazide 4y ago
    If you had the organizational expertise to hire such a person, and the leadership to prioritize it enough to happen - you already would probably not need them that much.
    - cosmodisk 4y ago
      People like that get hired through recommendations. I interacted with some companies where nobody would know shit about anything tech related but the senior managers were fairly well connected in the business world, so getting someone impartial who could advise on how to proceed wasn't too bad.
iasay 4y ago
You waste it on Excel or you waste it on subscriptions, opex and consultants. Or you hire someone who can shape the business processes towards efficiency with the tools you already have...
hef19898 4y ago
It cuts both ways, doesn't it? Excel is no replacement for a dedicated ERP system, as soon as you need one of those get one. Excel can replace a lot of analytics and KPI software packages, and fill in gaps in any ERP system. It is cheaper to, cautiously, fill those gaps with an Excel solution (if well documented) than developing a customized ERP solution. I currebtly see people using Palantir as the default for anything and everything, only to export stuff from Palantir to Excel anyways.

TAForObvReasons 4y ago

Specialized software is a market for lemons. Most businesses running off Excel spreadsheets are ill-equipped to judge the vendors in question, and more often than not the net result is worse than the Excel mess.

cosmodisk 4y ago
If you are an average business with no internal expertise to evaluate vendors: well of course everyone's going to spin you whilst the money keeps flying out of your pockets. Smarter companies would at least hire people that could advise on such things.
- lazide 4y ago
  If you had the organizational expertise to hire such a person, and the leadership to prioritize it enough to happen - you already would probably not need them that much.
  - cosmodisk 4y ago
    People like that get hired through recommendations. I interacted with some companies where nobody would know shit about anything tech related but the senior managers were fairly well connected in the business world, so getting someone impartial who could advise on how to proceed wasn't too bad.

iasay 4y ago

You waste it on Excel or you waste it on subscriptions, opex and consultants. Or you hire someone who can shape the business processes towards efficiency with the tools you already have...

hef19898 4y ago

It cuts both ways, doesn't it? Excel is no replacement for a dedicated ERP system, as soon as you need one of those get one. Excel can replace a lot of analytics and KPI software packages, and fill in gaps in any ERP system. It is cheaper to, cautiously, fill those gaps with an Excel solution (if well documented) than developing a customized ERP solution. I currebtly see people using Palantir as the default for anything and everything, only to export stuff from Palantir to Excel anyways.