Excel is a program that's easy to love—it excels at displaying data, charts, and organizing information in clear, intuitive ways. However, Excel isn’t designed to serve as a robust database solution.
Many users push Excel beyond its intended boundaries, often risking the integrity of their business-critical data or introducing inefficiencies into their workflows. Despite these risks, Excel remains a popular choice for storing and managing data because it’s familiar—and better options are often overlooked.
At Level 12, we strongly recommend moving your data out of Excel and into a proper database. Here’s why:
1. Improved Accessibility
Files containing data compiled from multiple sources often require access by several stakeholders—those who analyze the data, implement changes, or adjust figures. In Excel, this shared access can lead to file corruption or unintended edits when multiple users work on the same document simultaneously. Databases eliminate these risks by allowing seamless collaboration without compromising data integrity.
2. Enhanced Storage Capabilities
As your dataset grows, Excel becomes unwieldy and prone to performance issues. To compensate, you might split the data into separate sheets or files, which quickly becomes confusing to manage. Databases, however, handle large volumes of data effortlessly—tables with millions of rows can perform complex computations in mere moments without slowing down.
3. Simplified Reporting and Queries
While Excel works well for straightforward workflows, it falls short when you need to generate complex reports or analyze multiple categories of information. Databases offer the flexibility to customize how you merge and process data streams, making your reporting processes far more efficient.
4. Better Integration with Other Systems
If your business relies on integrating multiple tools or systems that need to communicate seamlessly, Excel simply isn’t up to the task. While some customization is possible, it often requires significant effort and time compared to migrating to a scalable database solution. Many databases also automate tasks and reduce redundancies, helping you eliminate inefficiencies caused by outdated Excel workflows.
It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Excel as Your Database
If your organization still relies on Excel as its go-to data management tool, it might be time to explore more robust alternatives that can better serve your needs.
At Level 12, we’d love to help you find the right database solution for your business. Contact us today to discuss how we can optimize your data workflows and ensure your organization runs smoothly in the long term.