Excel remains one of the most popular by far. Spreadsheets are essential tools for businesses to keep a whole army of their processes organised. Despite its benefits, many parts of Microsoft’s spreadsheet solution are particularly inconvenient and even make life harder.
Let’s have a look at them.
It’s easy to make mistakes in shared Excel sheets
As helpful as Excel is, sharing spreadsheets can be fraught with problems when it comes to allowing multiple people to input and amend data. A mistaken input, an inconsistent or incorrect data format (such as a date), or an overwrite of a formula or logic can result in at best wasted time and inefficiency, and at worst financial implications worth thousands.
Applications based on connected spreadsheets are tough to scale
Connecting spreadsheets is a common practice. Linking cells and creating calculations are very useful, but to a certain extend, limited.
Even if the spreadsheets can now be shared and used online, there not user friendly for inexperienced users.
Excel isn’t always secure
Despite being so broadly used and created by one of the software industry giants, Microsoft Excel is a program full of security holes, making it virtually impossible to protect fully. Despite means to “lock”, hide and protect the information, hacks are quickly done, and it takes only a quick online search to figure out.
Now that we understand tin many aspects, we can agree that the use of Excel is not the best option to go online and interact with multiple users.
The web app solution
A web application is a computer program that utilises web browsers and web technology to perform tasks over the Internet.
Web applications use a combination of server-side scripts (PHP and ASP) to handle the storage and retrieval of the information and client-side scripts (JavaScript and HTML) to present information to users.
Those applications allow employees to create documents, share information, collaborate on projects, and work on shared documents regardless of location or device.
They also can be connected to third-party systems and databases, becoming super applications. Do you need the latest all currencies values? Weather conditions? Your providers’ latest price lists? A web application can automatically surely add and interact with external data.
Benefits of a web application
- Web applications run on multiple platforms regardless of OS or device as long as the browser is compatible, even on mobile phones
- All users access the same version, eliminating any compatibility issues
- They are not installed on the hard drive, thus removing space limitations
- They reduce software piracy in subscription-based web applications (i.e. SaaS)
- Automating processes reduce costs for both the business and end-user
- Less support and maintenance are required by the company and lower requirements for the end user’s computer
- Options are limitless by connecting to third-party systems and databases
Conclusion
This pandemic has influenced the way businesses are run. This has led to the widespread adoption of web applications as companies shift from traditional models to cloud-based and grid models.
Bespoke web applications give businesses the ability to streamline their operations, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.
Do you need any help to start your new web application? Contact us and let’s discover together how we can help you.
