Don’t knock a good spreadsheet

In high school, I worked for my father’s company, filling a wide variety of roles for the business. As a result, he leveraged my technical acumen to maximize the capabilities of the software he used to manage his client data. He always had ideas for ways to bring together key pieces of information or generate reports for clients that would help him, and his clients, make better decisions. Back then, the software’s reporting capabilities were limited and not customizable. The software you purchased was the software you had until you purchased a newer version to get access to upgraded features. The cloud was not a thing.

So, I built a spreadsheet that presented the data as he wanted, and every month I updated the spreadsheet with the most current information. As I got better with spreadsheets, I was able to improve the report. Eventually they were able to track the information within the system, but that was not until after I left the job/went to college and the system was upgraded. At the time, having access to that report was a game changer and using the simple tool of a spreadsheet was a cost-effective way of getting there.

Fast forward to today and spreadsheets are more advanced, easier to manipulate, and accessible via the cloud. An entire team can access the tool at the same time, with all updates visible in real time, and you can integrate data from other sources into the spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are far more powerful and flexible than they were in the early 90’s.

So why, then, when I asked a client how they tracked their team’s capacity, were they mortified to admit they were using a spreadsheet? In today’s age of a cloud system for all needs, businesses feel inadequate if they are manually entering data into spreadsheets and do not have fancy systems for all their data tracking and reporting needs. 

Small professional services firms typically cannot afford enterprise-level software that has all the fancy bells and whistles. Usually, the small firm does not need all the fancy features. Often it is one feature that would be valuable but not enough to justify spending large amounts of money for tons of unused features. 

Spreadsheets can serve as powerful, cost-effective alternatives to expensive platforms. The different ways your firm can leverage spreadsheets are unlimited. Two common examples are:

Contact Database:

• Create a primary sheet with client contact information, including communication preferences

• Add columns for relationship stage, lifetime value, last contact date, next action date

• Use conditional formatting to highlight contacts needing follow-up

• Create linked sheets for detailed interaction notes and meeting summaries

• Set up dropdown menus for standardized categorization

• Use filters to quickly view contacts based on contact type, last contact date, and/or next action date

Project Tracker Dashboard:

• Build a centralized project list with status indicators, deadlines, and assigned team members

• Create separate sheets for detailed task breakdowns linked to main projects

• Use conditional formatting to highlight approaching deadlines or at-risk projects

• Implement simple GANTT charts using cell shading for visual timeline tracking

• Include capacity planning columns to prevent team overload

• Create filters to quickly view different projects and statuses

Spreadsheets have many benefits beyond being cost effective. The ability to work asynchronously on a file means everyone can update their portions at their convenience, and be confident they are working on the most current version of the data. In addition, spreadsheets are a great starting point for identifying what software your business would get the most value from and which features will be most critical.

Spreadsheets have been around for a long time. Each version brings new, easier to use features and greater sharing capabilities. It is a tool we all love to hate. But don’t knock the spreadsheet. It can bring together your firm’s data and key information that will allow you to grow your business to the point of truly needing a dedicated software solution.