Insight
Excel is not a failure. It is the current system.
Most MSMEs run on sheets for a reason. Replace a sheet when two people already disagree, or when last week’s file is the only copy.
Sumit Phule · · Updated
The short answer
Keep the spreadsheet if one person owns it, the columns match the work, and yesterday’s file is still findable. Replace it when two people edit different copies, when formulas have become folklore, or when the owner reconstructs the week from inboxes.
The problem we see
Someone is told “you cannot scale on Excel,” so they buy software. The sheet was doing a job: a job card list, a dispatch sequence, a collection reminder. The new system does not know that sequence. Staff export to Excel again by Friday.
That is not because Excel is magic. It is because the sheet was the process. Software that ignores the sheet ignores the process.
We do not tell MSMEs they are behind for using Excel. Amit Industries needed production, inventory and billing in one place because the sheets could not give the owner a single picture. That is a reason. “Everyone is going digital” is not.
When a sheet is still the right tool
- one owner, one file, a backup that actually exists
- a process that changes every few weeks
- a team that will not type into a second system this quarter
When those stop being true, pick the smallest product that matches the objects in the sheet — invoice, job, enquiry — or build around the steps. Do not start with a platform.
What to do next
Open the sheet you actually use. Write the column names and who is allowed to edit them. If two people already keep a private copy, that is the signal. Send the column list, not a request for “digitisation.”