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The world runs on Excel. Contrary to popular belief that ERPs and what not is what companies use. Big companies use Excel to verify the ERP data and reports. T

The world runs on Excel. Contrary to popular belief that ERPs and what not is what companies use. Big companies use Excel to verify the ERP data and reports. There was an article shared here on HN sometime in the middle of last year that broke down how versatile Excel is and how different companies are trying to steal just a niche use of Excel (I remember reading about Airtable doing the automation bit much easier than in Excel, some company doing charts easier than Excel and so on). I wish I could find it again.

rubenvanwyk 2y ago
Why do you think have we not been able to evolve beyond this in the enterprise world?
- ExoticPearTree 2y ago
  In simple terms: because it is a tool everyone uses and knows to some degree. It has all the bells and whistles to do pretty much what you want with it. And, I guess one overlooked fact: the data is portable, everyone* in the world has Excel. My view is that if you switch companies, and at the last you used SAP and the new one you have to use Oracle, it is going to be a learning curve with very little added value for you (except the fact that now you know to proprietary systems). With Excel, well, it is going to be the same Excel, just different data.
  - tomatocracy 2y ago
    The fact that it's already installed on almost everyone's computer in any given corporate environment also has a lot to do with why it's so widely used for these types of things I think - noone needs to ask permission to get a new app installed, or jump through hoops to pay for another new piece of software.
- albrewer 2y ago
  For the same reason Python is so popular. It's not the best at anything (besides being really easy to use), but it's top 5 at all the things that matter. When your use case outgrows Excel, then yeah, invest in a specialized system... when budget allows (which is never).
- nikanj 2y ago
  The same reason we have not been able to evolve beyond a spoon. Once a tool matches a use-case really well, the best you can do is make it worse for the sake of being modern
- emeril 2y ago
  as someone who works in the enterprise world as an accountant with some programming experience... excel is flexible and easy for reporting/analysis for data of varying sizes from small to not ginormous whereas doing anything in an ERP requires an, often, low paid SWE with a thick accent in a different time zone at, comparatively, high cost and big delay i.e., I can often solve problems in excel in an afternoon that would take months to solve with one of these SWE's
crohr 2y ago
"The world runs on Excel" - I think it's true and we should bring AI tooling inside the spreadsheet, not build yet another SaaS silo from where your data will never escape. Also opens a lot of doors for integrating with private tools or data sources, especially with MCP tooling or such. I published a POC of what I mean at https://supersheets.ai/ https://supersheets.ai/.
churchill 2y ago
I think you're looking for Excel Never Dies on Packy McCormick's Not Boring newsletter [0]. Featured previously on HN [1]. [0]: https://www.notboring.co/p/excel-never-dies https://www.notboring.co/p/excel-never-dies [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32346288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32346288
- ExoticPearTree 2y ago
  Yeah, that was it. Thanks for the link, I'm gonna bookmark it now.

rubenvanwyk 2y ago

Why do you think have we not been able to evolve beyond this in the enterprise world?

ExoticPearTree 2y ago
In simple terms: because it is a tool everyone uses and knows to some degree. It has all the bells and whistles to do pretty much what you want with it. And, I guess one overlooked fact: the data is portable, everyone* in the world has Excel. My view is that if you switch companies, and at the last you used SAP and the new one you have to use Oracle, it is going to be a learning curve with very little added value for you (except the fact that now you know to proprietary systems). With Excel, well, it is going to be the same Excel, just different data.
- tomatocracy 2y ago
  The fact that it's already installed on almost everyone's computer in any given corporate environment also has a lot to do with why it's so widely used for these types of things I think - noone needs to ask permission to get a new app installed, or jump through hoops to pay for another new piece of software.
albrewer 2y ago
For the same reason Python is so popular. It's not the best at anything (besides being really easy to use), but it's top 5 at all the things that matter. When your use case outgrows Excel, then yeah, invest in a specialized system... when budget allows (which is never).
nikanj 2y ago
The same reason we have not been able to evolve beyond a spoon. Once a tool matches a use-case really well, the best you can do is make it worse for the sake of being modern
emeril 2y ago
as someone who works in the enterprise world as an accountant with some programming experience... excel is flexible and easy for reporting/analysis for data of varying sizes from small to not ginormous whereas doing anything in an ERP requires an, often, low paid SWE with a thick accent in a different time zone at, comparatively, high cost and big delay i.e., I can often solve problems in excel in an afternoon that would take months to solve with one of these SWE's

crohr 2y ago

"The world runs on Excel" - I think it's true and we should bring AI tooling inside the spreadsheet, not build yet another SaaS silo from where your data will never escape. Also opens a lot of doors for integrating with private tools or data sources, especially with MCP tooling or such. I published a POC of what I mean at https://supersheets.ai/ https://supersheets.ai/.

churchill 2y ago

I think you're looking for Excel Never Dies on Packy McCormick's Not Boring newsletter [0]. Featured previously on HN [1]. [0]: https://www.notboring.co/p/excel-never-dies https://www.notboring.co/p/excel-never-dies [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32346288 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32346288

ExoticPearTree 2y ago
Yeah, that was it. Thanks for the link, I'm gonna bookmark it now.