Excel vs. Data Warehousing

Excel vs. Data Warehousing: pointing out the limitations of Excel as the core data solution

Excel has always been a fantastic tool for data calculation, and its popularity would continue to flourish in the field of financial processes. However, as business grows, the amount of data is going to mount exponentially. There is going to be a tipping point when Excel is not capable of handling massive amounts of data. It has been proven that Excel alone is not enough to solve all the data issues a business might encounter due to several critical limitations.

These are some limitations with Excel:

• Capability

Since 2007, Excel has been capped at 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns. It sounds like a lot, but let's take a look, if your company needs to do a 5-year analysis with datasets of more than a million records. Well, good luck with that using Excel! When the spreadsheets are massive in data, Excel also becomes slow and cumbersome. It can take a long time to process a file with a few hundred thousand records. Which also leaves the possibility of files being corrupted in the middle of processing them.

• Human Errors

Excel relies mostly on manual data entry and that makes it extremely vulnerable to human errors. A single honest mistake could have a devastating impact on your business. Modern data warehouse software with automation will help reduce these errors.

• Lack of Collaboration

A major disadvantage of Excel is its lack of support for collaboration. Companies with multiple departments definitely need to collaborate in the daily tasks of budgeting, forecasting, and inventory control. When using Excel, the fastest way to exchange data is through email. With people sending files around, it is hard for all members of the organization to keep track of them. And soon, they might have multiple copies of different versions of a single report.

• Lack of Security

Excel is created to be user friendly. Also, it is difficult to implement security when data is tied to each other in Excel workbooks. The way Excel files are shared through email also makes it more vulnerable due to multiple users on different systems.

While Excel seems to be good enough for small businesses, growing companies need a more efficient and accurate way of handling data. Today, modern data warehouse software can adjust to all those gaps from Excel, as well as provide greater possible advantages.

At ParadigmSES, we are equipped with years of experience in business solutions and the latest software for enterprises. We are confident that we can help your companies be more effective, more profitable, and make more informed decisions. Contact us to get started today!