Spreadsheets are synonymous with business. We use them for a variety of tasks, including expense tracking, data entry, basic calculations, data sorting and analysis, presentation creation, graphs and charts, budgeting and accounting, task planning and scheduling, and more. But are they outdated? Is there a better, more time and cost-efficient way to complete these tasks? Let’s look at some of the different ways that just might be the case and what to do about it.

Everything has to be Entered Manually

If you use spreadsheets for order and inventory management, you might be wasting some valuable time. Stock counts, purchase orders, fulfillment, and shipping processes can all be streamlined with automated inventory control systems. These programs automatically input and track this information, meaning you can spend labor hours doing other necessary tasks, saving you time and money.

Human Error

88% of spreadsheets contain errors. Lack of version control, manually entering data wrong, copy/paste errors, entry over-writes … There are a lot of ways to mess up a spreadsheet. And for a business, one mistake could mean a loss of thousands of dollars and create a big headache for you and your staff.

File Chaos

One of the most difficult aspects of relying on spreadsheets is managing them. Frequently, organizations become absorbed in several versions of a spreadsheet or documents stored in various locations. Not only do you risk making a mistake, but it’s also practically impossible to ensure that your staff members have straightforward access to the data they need when they need it.

They’re Difficult to Share

Spreadsheets can be a nightmare to keep up with and are difficult to share and edit across departments. It can be a pain, if not impossible, to merge them. This can cause any number of issues (loss of information, duplicates of the same spreadsheet with differing information, etc.).

No Way to Think “In the Moment”

It’s next to impossible to make split-second decisions when you can’t share the information in real-time with colleagues, customers, or clients. This can mean a substantial hit to your bottom line by the loss of a sale, giving someone the wrong information, or worse.

What to Do About It

Implementing an order and inventory management system that would make your life easier is one of the most significant improvements your company can make. The right software can help you say goodbye to spreadsheets by providing a centralized system where all information is stored and automatically updated. This data can also be viewed from anywhere you need it and all changes are made instantly and globally.

These automatic systems also give you the power to automatically generate reports and graphs about point-of-sale (POS) information, demand management, customer retention, and anything else your company traditionally logs via spreadsheets. This saves your staff time in compiling this information and creating the reports themselves, freeing them up to complete other tasks.

This information can also be integrated with a forecasting system that will look at the data and extract trends and predict, for example, which of your products is selling the best and what the software thinks will be the trends of its sales over time.

Get Started With PERFEQTA

PERFEQTA has over 3000 solutions for regulated organizations, allowing you to streamline your operations and increase collaboration and productivity without having to log in and out of multiple software tools, or having to deal with spreadsheets or stacks of paper. Schedule a demo with us today to learn more about the solutions PERFEQTA has to offer you.