Alpha Software Blog



Stop Letting Spreadsheets Hold Back Your Business: What to Do Instead

Discover how moving to mobile apps and digital dashboards transforms your data and your decisions.

Spreadsheets have served businesses well for years. They’re familiar, flexible, and often the first tool teams turn to when organizing data. But as work becomes more complex and fast-paced, many teams are finding that spreadsheets are no longer enough.

As your business grows, so do your needs. You must collect a large amount of data. More people need access, and achieving faster results is paramount. That’s when spreadsheets turn into roadblocks. They slow things down, lead to mistakes, and make it challenging to see what’s really happening.

Slows businessWhen Spreadsheets Slow You Down

Spreadsheets can feel like a lifesaver in the beginning. You open a file, input your numbers, build a chart or two, and share it with your team. But as your business grows, so does your team. And when more people work on the same spreadsheet, that’s when this tool struggles to keep up.

You’re working off one version. Someone else has another. Now you’ve got in front of you a couple of dozen or so files with names like “final” or “latest-v2,” and no one’s sure anymore which one is latest. A small mistake gets copied, and then a formula stops working. Pretty soon, you’re spending more time untangling errors than actually using the data to make business decisions.

 

hidden costsSpreadsheets Come With Hidden Costs

Manual tools come with risks. Even small mistakes in a spreadsheet can lead to serious consequences.

One company once missed a minus sign in a financial report. What should have shown as a loss appeared as a gain, leading to a multibillion-dollar overstatement that caused confusion and damaged trust.

A major global bank copied incorrect data into a trading model during a routine update. No one caught the mistake in time, and it snowballed into a $6 billion loss before the error was discovered.

Another major global bank relied on a spreadsheet that contained a small formula error buried deep within a large report. That one issue led to over $1 billion in losses and required a complete restatement of financial results.

These situations show what can go wrong when businesses rely too much on spreadsheets. They aren’t rare or random. They’re reminders that spreadsheets, when pushed beyond their limits, can fail in ways that matter.

 

brilliant ideaA Smarter, Simpler Way to Stay in Sync

Mobile apps and dashboards can do what spreadsheets can’t. Instead of emailing files back and forth, your team can enter data on the spot, whether in the office or out in the field. It updates instantly, so you see the latest numbers without needing to follow up on everyone.

Each member of your team works from the same live dashboard. You’re not guessing or waiting. And you’re not fixing broken spreadsheets. You’re getting the info you need, and the business is moving forward faster.

 

work smarterWhat You Gain By Making the Switch

Once you stop relying on spreadsheets, your team starts getting results more quickly. Everyone sees the same numbers right away, so you don’t waste time comparing versions or chasing down updates. The system flags errors early, so problems don’t spread and slow you down.

You also get your time back. You’re no longer stuck fixing formulas, rechecking totals, or digging through folders for the latest file. Instead, you and your team focus on doing real work: solving problems, serving customers, and pushing the business to new heights with confidence.

 

TransFormReEngagementA Better Way Forward With Alpha Software

Alpha Software gives your team a faster and easier way to manage data. Instead of tweaking spreadsheets or fixing broken formulas, you get tools built around how your team already works. Our team listens first, and we learn how your process flows day to day. Then, we build an app and dashboard that fits into your routine, and not the other way around.

You don’t wait weeks to get started. We deliver your working system in just a few days. And once it’s in place, everything runs smoothly. You stay in control, get answers quicker, and spend more time growing the business instead of patching files together.

Get Started Today

You’ve done great work using spreadsheets, but now you need something that can move as quickly as your business. With the right tools, you can collect, share, and use real-time data without delays or confusion.

Alpha Software is here to help you build a system that fits the way you work today—and the way you want to grow tomorrow. It’s easy to get started, and the results show up fast. Let’s move your data and your team into something better.

 

Related reading:

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Why Spreadsheets Can’t Keep Up With Today’s Fast-Paced Business Needs
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About Author

Amy Groden
Amy Groden

Amy Groden-Morrison has served more than 15 years in marketing communications leadership roles at companies such as TIBCO Software, RSA Security and Ziff-Davis. Most recently she was responsible for developing marketing programs that helped achieve 30%+ annual growth rate for analytics products at a $1Bil, NASDAQ-listed business integration Software Company. Her past accomplishments include establishing the first co-branded technology program with CNN, launching an events company on the NYSE, rebranding a NASDAQ-listed company amid a crisis, and positioning and marketing a Boston-area startup for successful acquisition. Amy currently serves as a Healthbox Accelerator Program Mentor, Marketing Committee Lead for the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge Launch Smart Clinics, and on the organizing team for Boston TechJam. She holds an MBA from Northeastern University.

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The Alpha platform is the only unified mobile and web app development and deployment environment with distinct “no-code” and “low-code” components. Using the Alpha TransForm no-code product, business users and developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a mobile app in minutes, and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha TransForm's built-in programming language. IT developers can use the Alpha Anywhere low-code environment to develop complex web or mobile business apps from scratch, integrate data with existing systems of record and workflows (including data collected via Alpha TransForm), and add additional security or authentication requirements to protect corporate data.

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