Let’s be fair to spreadsheets: they are fast, flexible and everyone knows them. The problem is not the tool but what happens when several people need to work at the same time.
Where a spreadsheet is enough
- If one person uses it
- If the number of records stays in the hundreds
- If you don’t have to trace history
- If you don’t need reminders
Where it costs you work
Once three different copies of the same file are circulating, it becomes unclear which information is correct. You can’t see who changed what and when, a deleted row doesn’t come back, reminders can’t be set and it can’t be used from a phone. Each of these is small on its own; together they are the jobs you lose at month end.
How to move over
You don’t have to abandon the spreadsheet overnight. First the customer record and call notes move into a system, reporting stays in the spreadsheet for a while. The system settles in before habits break.
A spreadsheet’s most expensive feature is being free; the bill arrives as a forgotten customer, not as an invoice.
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