* Stop hiding critical data inside individual computers
Every growing business eventually moves from an accounting system based on spreadsheets to a real accounting application. If you’re not ready to make that jump, at least stop hiding critical company data inside handmade, non-audited, private spreadsheets on various PCs controlled by individuals.
Some people make spreadsheets do everything. While a tribute to program flexibility and user creativity, stand-alone spreadsheets are not databases, accounting applications, forecasting tools, or page layout programs. If you’re a spreadsheet person, you can do these things and more. But once your business grows, better tools will do a much better job in all these areas. Use private spreadsheets for personal information only.
Three things bother me about spreadsheets used in businesses small and large. First, they’re private. One person creates them, inputs data, and passes along the results. More pairs of eyes will find more mistakes, just as another person proofreading your sales letter will find errors you don’t see.
Second, they’re created by non-programmers with no verification of formulas used. Are the calculations correct? Maybe. Are the assumptions used for things like forecasting accurate and based on outside data? Maybe, but it sure is easy to plug in a row of (SUM) + 10% type numbers in lieu of a real forecast.
Finally, spreadsheets are the wrong tool for databases, and especially contact management. Sales software vendors admit the spreadsheet is the application being upgraded most often by new customers. While a single sales person may be able to adequately manage contacts that way, if your company has a sales manager and multiple sales people, you must grow out of your spreadsheet phase.
Let’s look at the first two problems of spreadsheets being created privately and used privately. The most popular spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel, isn’t a multi-user application. One person opens a spreadsheet, and no one else can do so. If you open a second instance of the spreadsheet, the default is to open a read-only version that you must save under a different name. Bingo, you now have two spreadsheets supposedly doing the same job, but with different information in each. Which is right? How can you handle this problem?
A new group of hosted, multi-user spreadsheet applications have arrived in the last several years. Some are free, some are not, but they all allow multiple people to view, use, and even create spreadsheets. You need never cross your fingers and trust a stand-alone spreadsheet again.
Making the biggest splash, Google Docs and Spreadsheets offers free spreadsheets that can be shared by anyone with a browser and an Internet connection. You can even create spreadsheets together online, no matter where you and your partner — or partners — are at the time. When you upload your existing spreadsheets, others can see, audit, proofread, and even fill in data concurrently, something not possible with the Excel spreadsheets stuck three folders deep inside My Documents on your PC. Go to docs.google.com, or start at the Google home page. Signing up for Google Docs and Spreadsheets is still free, and fast. You can be sharing a spreadsheet in minutes.
More complete than Google but less well known, Zoho offers a complete online office suite, including a spreadsheet. You can get Zoho plug-ins for Microsoft Office, and they have some program interfaces so you can customize your spreadsheets if necessary. You can mark spreadsheets semi-public, so others can use but not modify them. Think expense account templates, for example.
Older than both Google and Zoho, ThinkFree has been offering online applications of all kinds. It also competes with desktop versions of Microsoft Office if you want to get equivalent function for non-equivalent prices. As with the other online options, you can use a browser on any operating system, such as Macintosh or Linux, to interact with PC users and their spreadsheets.
I don’t know anyone at EditGrid, but it supports real-time collaboration on spreadsheets as well. Another company, Xcellery, uses the pitch of “stop sending new versions of your spreadsheets” and share and edit Excel files online instead. NumSum aims its free online spreadsheets at clubs, teams, and workgroups. It has a reference from our friends at PCWorld on its site, so check them out.
More business-like in its pitch, SecureSheet Technologies promises to turn existing spreadsheets into secure, multi-user, Web based business applications and databases. They’re not free, but the company offers free trials.
Are spreadsheets good tools? Yes. Can they be better tools? Absolutely. Using one of these services, or any other service offering these features, will turn your spreadsheets from a personal tool to a collaborative application. You no longer have to hide your spreadsheets. In fact, sharing them will make them even more powerful.
