"Leave my spreadsheets alone!" Are you an obsessive as well?
I've had a series of interesting discussions with potential clients this week, one of which inspired me to sit this evening and write my latest blog. The client concerned was clearly very attached to the spreadsheet based forecasting and budgeting system his company employed and repeatedly took umbrage at the merest suggestion that there may be a better alternative. Our discussions culminated with the guy in question spluttering "Will you leave my spreadsheets alone"
I found his outburst fascinating on a number of different levels, firstly, why did this guy seemingly have such an almost personal attachment to this computer application and secondly why was he desperately defending them?
Furthermore, his attachment, based on the law of averages, can't be an isolated view and many business people must have a similar level of attachment to Microsoft's product.
I then thought back to a time when (as some of us remember) spreadsheets didn't exist and budgeting and forecasting were a painfully laborious processes. All of sudden a product was presented to the Financial fraternity that revolutionised the entire process and made an enormous difference to their working lives. Small wonder there is a loyalty to that product. Then I considered the amount of man hours this client and thousands of others like him have invested into the creation of the spreadsheet based process they use. They have probably spent more time with that collection of spreadsheets then they have with some of their families, again small wonder they defend them.
So my challenge is to build a robust argument to challenge these relationships. Driving home my thoughts were:
1) Would their relationships with spreadsheets falter if they understood the inherent flaws that many of their spreadsheets contain (97% of spreadsheets contain errors according to reliable sources)
2) Do they appreciate the amount of errors that the multiple copying and pasting of formulas over time are likely to have created
3) Are they relying on the information these flawed systems often throw out to make business critical decisions and do they appreciate that these flaws can effect outputs by as much as 5%
4) Do my spreadsheet obsessed potential clients appreciate the huge amount of time that is consumed in checking and maintaining these vast data beasts
5) How on earth do people share information amongst divisions and colleagues and how can they restrict access to suit their needs?
If you share my clients obsession with spreadsheets and need some help then please give me a call.