It’s time to face the facts: spreadsheets aren’t always a reliable fit for a business task. Learn why limits are holding back your business performance and what companies are doing about it.
We are all familiar with Excel and Google Sheets; they are easy to use, flexible, and don’t cost much. Many teams start with them because they work fine for basic tracking and small projects. But what worked in the beginning might now be slowing you down or even putting your business at risk.
There are limits to what spreadsheets can do, especially when your team grows or when decisions must be made fast based on accurate data.
Spreadsheets Can Contain Critical Errors
A recent multi-university study shows that 94 percent of spreadsheets used for business decision-making have critical errors. These can include formulas that give wrong results, links that don’t update, or broken references. Even worse, 90 percent of spreadsheets with more than 150 rows contain a significant error. These problems are common and affect businesses of all sizes.
Real-World Spreadsheet Disasters
The following examples show what can happen when teams stretch spreadsheets beyond their limits.
Fidelity once lost $2.6 billion due to a missing minus sign. An accountant left out the symbol on a $1.3 billion net capital loss, making it appear as a gain. That one error led to a massive overstatement in the financial report.
Fannie Mae had to fix a $1.1 billion mistake in its shareholder equity due to a formula error. It caused confusion and impacted investor trust.
During the pandemic, Public Health England lost nearly 16,000 positive COVID-19 test results. Excel hit its row limit, so the data got cut off. People were not notified, which likely made the virus spread faster.
Spreadsheets Struggle With Teams and Real-Time Work
Excel and Google Sheets rely on manual updates. Someone has to export data, paste it into a spreadsheet, send it to a teammate, and hope they are working on the same version. That causes delays and confusion. As the team grows, the risks multiply.
Excel is great for a single person working alone. But once more users join in—viewing, editing, and analyzing data—the structure starts to break. Everyone branches into their own versions. Changes don’t carry over. The result is a confusing mess of files that can’t be trusted.
Try asking multiple team leaders to submit updates in their own spreadsheets and then compile one monthly report. That task alone can take days. And if you repeat the same process the next week with the same data, you’re likely to get different results. That much manual effort leaves too much room for inconsistency.
Small Businesses Face the Same Problems
A retail shop that tracks sales and inventory in a spreadsheet might enter one wrong number and end up ordering too much stock. That ties up cash they can’t afford to lose.
A contractor might use a spreadsheet to estimate project costs. If a formula breaks, the bid could be too low and lead to losses.
A startup might build investor reports from different tabs in a spreadsheet. If one tab fails to update, the report becomes unreliable.
The cost of fixing these issues often ends up higher than doing things right from the beginning.
Limited Collaboration Slows Teams Down
Spreadsheets are not made for sharing across teams. When more than one or two users are involved, people overwrite each other’s work. Versions get mixed up. Comments get missed. Even Google Sheets, which allows live editing, has limits. There is no audit trail and no built-in logic to ensure consistency across large teams or departments.
When field workers, office staff, and leadership all need the same data, spreadsheets can’t keep up. The more people involved, the harder it becomes to maintain accuracy.
A Better Path: Intelligent Apps and Dashboards
Spreadsheets are flexible and will remain useful for many individual tasks. However, teams and companies need more.
Alpha Software gives businesses a way to move beyond spreadsheets without losing flexibility. Teams can collect data through custom mobile apps. These apps work offline and sync automatically. Submitted data appears instantly on live dashboards. Built-in checks help users avoid mistakes. Changes are tracked clearly, which helps with accountability. And as your team grows, the system grows with you.
Better yet, each app has a custom dashboard to provide managers or the back-office with immediate data and insights. Decisions can be data-driven and confident.
What This Looks Like in Action
Example 1: A construction crew uses separate Excel files to track safety checks and supply usage. Workers enter data by hand, and supervisors must wait for updates. Switching to a mobile app means workers can log updates on-site, and supervisors can view the information right away.
Example 2: A logistics team tracks deliveries using spreadsheets. Drivers report progress by calling or texting the office. With a delivery-tracking app, updates are posted automatically, and dispatchers can adjust plans on the spot.
Example 3: A health clinic uses paper forms and later retypes everything into a spreadsheet. The process takes time and often results in mistakes. A tablet-based intake app lets staff enter data all at once, speeding things up and improving accuracy.
Invest in a System That Grows With You
Spreadsheets helped you get started. But for what comes next, you need a stronger option.
Talk to our solution consultants. A simple 10-minute call is all it takes to get started. You'll be surprised at how fast we can get your first app built and ready to test on your factory floor -- often within a couple days. We’ll listen to how your business works and show what’s possible with custom-built data collection apps and real-time tools.
Alpha Software is faster, safer, and made for the way people work today. It’s time to move past the spreadsheet and build on something better.
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